Loading a Starbucks card in USD/whatever your home currency is and using it overseas also gives a good rate IME.
(I have done this successfully for cross border transactions in HK/UK/USA/Canada/Mexico.)

Just experienced my first DCC terminal in Australia that's not in an airport. It was just at a tiny little restaurant in Melbourne which happens to have a brand new ANZ EFTPOS terminal. Exchange rate offered was .8184. XE gives the rate at present as .79934, so that's a fairly reasonable 2.33% markup. However, the AUD is rising rapidly at present, and Mastercard would only charge .786, making DCC 4.12% more expensive.

Of course, users have to hit "cancel" to avoid DCC.

Yes, Starbucks gives very good exchange rates on the Starbucks card.

Fortunately with the migration to chip-and-PIN most places will hand you the terminal. I'm convinced that it's the only way I was able to dodge DCC at a cafe in Brisbane. It was also an ANZ terminal.

I've found this to be the case too, but I only tried it a couple of times in Canada and the UK to see if it would work.

I didn't know I can do this! I've been missing out a lot!

HKD app or physical card also OK?

Wait, a US Starbucks card can be used outside of the US, like in HK? I'll give that a try....

From Starbucks site:

Can I use my Starbucks Card when I travel internationally?

Starbucks Cards activated in any of the participating countries can be used to make purchases and be reloaded in any other participating country. Starbucks Cards must first be activated by loading money onto the card in the country of purchase before being used internationally. The participating countries are; UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Mexico, and the Republic of Ireland.

Yep, use it all the time. App works too any you can earn stars. Can't redeem free drinks though...

What kind of restaurant? Like very fancy or 5-star hotel restaurants? I found 5-star hotel restaurants to be very knowledgable about DCC, and how to avoid.

On the other hand, lots of small restaurants who accept Visa/MC really don't know anything about DCC, and some of the employees don't dare to void any transactions, fearing future punishments if the banks charge them something canceling-transaction-related... It's pretty much why most of the service industry in China sucks... Poor quality of the workforce and even worse employment relationships...

So Starbucks actually has its own network~ It really is a big company... :D

It was a Citi VISA card. What I said is that the merchant charged for an amount higher than authorized by me. The merchant then responded with a copy of the voucher, where I clearly wrote down that I rejected DCC and wanted to pay the RMB amount. It had a hand written note from the merchant accepting a lower USD amount.

It was a high-end restaurant, they were polite but refused to void and run the transaction again. It might have been a combination of a new employee and not the best English skills.

A hotel in Beijing also DCCed me but promptly reversed it on the spot and charged me in RMB at my request. They really knew what they were doing.

Ok, I get that DCC is to be avoided. However, is it possible in some cases that staff truly believe that it's "helpful" for the guest to be presented with a home-currency tab?

Anything is possible in 'some cases'; though I believe that most of the time the frontline staff honestly believe the lies of "it's just for reference" or "if you use DCC there's no FTF". It's only the person responsible for negotiating credit processing who definitely knows the truth.

That said, I don't go easy on them. If you DCC me, you're gonna hear about it and fix it :mad:

DCC is a scam, plain and simple. I am a regular visitor to Asia and most times the front desk people or at the restaurant just feign, ignorance and run it through. For known culprits, I give my Amex card. But from now I am going to be actually filing a charge back. This is the only way to push back this scourge. Many travellers are not even aware when they are DCCed. I can see a class action suit coming up by some US lawyers to slam Visa and Master Card.

I don't care what truth/lies the employees say, I'm still following my SOP.

If faced with viag8's case I would've defaced it English (and Chinese since I can), signed, ***taken a photo*** and present a prima facie chargeback case to my issuer.