My card's chip is glitchy so I cannot try its PBOC feature now. I will do it once I get a replacement mailed from CN.

Just some more info, as for the QuickPass I used to try the e-cash feature in a Chinese McDonald. Although I had enough e-cash in my card, the amount was still deducted from my CCB checking account. The bank later told me the POS will always try an online transaction first. I suppose the e-cash feature is more reserved for QuickPass-based public transit cards (such as China T-Union).

I don't know situations about UP but I used to have name issues with my China-issued Visa card. On that card, my name is the pinyin of LN-FN with spaces between Chinese characters, instead of FN-LN. On some American online shopping websites, I need to reverse FN and LN otherwise the transaction would be declined.

1. The processing fee for domestic UnionPay cards is 0.0-0.6%, as V/M charges 1~2CNY+2.x%. Many merchants just don't want to pay the extra fee.
2. Per regulations, CUP is the only allowed processing network for domestic cards, therefore legally (though not practically) only foreign V/M cards can be used on China Mainland POSes. Merchants targetting locals won't bother to get the POS with V/M support.

Good data points! Yes, my use of the card in China has resulted in some surprised reactions since merchants don't expect an apparent 外国人 to carry a UnionPay card. It's great since it's a (mostly) solid payment method with no possibility of DCC or cash shenanigans.

I mostly applied for a UnionPay card with ICBC (in branch) for purposes of international travel (especially as anti-DCC tool in areas with high DCC use but low Amex/Discover acceptance), but I am also interested in card acceptance issues of all types in general in the US & around the world.

Thus, once my card arrives, I am interested in testing additional merchants in the US to help expand native UnionPay PBOC chip & contactless acceptance knowledge.

The first one I will test with is Target to see what the UnionPay chip card acceptance looks like (now that they are done with their contactless-enabled terminal rollout).

The US merchants that people have reported native PBOC chip support for seems to be: Walmart, USPS (post office), QFC grocery, Ranch 99 grocery

Are there other strategic merchants that people would suggest, especially those who have UnionPay credit cards but haven't tested yet?

Try smaller merchants that use Clover devices. I tend to see UnionPay (and less commonly Alipay) signage at those around here, but YMMV.

I've never got QuickPass to work in the US, but I don't have many data points. I haven't tried Target in awhile, but it required a fallback via Discover the last time I tried. I also almost had a transaction rejected as a smaller merchant who had to do a fallback. Essentially any merchant whose system doesn't support PBOCCARD will work as a fallback over Discover's network, but with the liability shift merchants don't like to process these types of transactions.

AFAIK liability is still the issuer if fallback is used. Some of the card networks have restrictions on the maximum share of transactions that can be fallback, however, so merchants may be hesitant to run them fearing going over that limit.

I think there is a lot of merchant ignorance there just like before chipped cards became common and there were reports of European merchants rejecting "American" cards. The chip error/fallback usually results in closer scrutiny of the card if the cashier is performing the transaction, which may lead to a rejection based on unfamiliarity with UnionPay and its interoperability with Discover.

I received a limit of $5K. Not sure what factor ICBC values most in getting $8K limit. My Experian score was above 780 and credit reports are very clean. I do have a number of new cards in the last 12/24 mo, high total credit line across cards vs income, and income below $100K.

ICBC UnionPay credit card testing report just today:

1. USPS (post office) - Accepted as PBOC native chip as reported by others. Interesting that I have to sign for $3.

2. Safeway - NOT PBOC chip native
Gave error on contactless, then again on chip, prompting me to swipe; however, I wasn't interested in swiping the UnionPay, so I inserted a different chip card (MasterCard) and it accepted that as usual.

3. Target - NOT PBOC chip native
Gave error on contactless, then again on chip, prompting me to swipe; however, I then tried to insert a different chip card (MasterCard) and it ignored it, even after reinserting to be sure it was getting good contact; I swiped the second chip card (MasterCard) & it worked.
Conclusion: Once a Target terminal prompts you to swipe, it can't accept anything but a swipe, no matter what card you use. This behavior is thus restrictive because you can't switch gracefully to another payment type.

So it seems as though things haven't changed since I last tested the card. Safeway has some fun options if you use this card for the transaction. These are best left up as exercises to the user, however.

ICBC UnionPay credit card testing for ONLINE transactions:

Note: These tests are mainly due to curiosity in determining the limits of UnionPay compatibility.
There were other websites which flat out said my card was invalid when I tried to enter.

Charged as full amount to completion:
1. Amazon - as many of you know Amazon supports UnionPay; I did notice a curious difference though:
Reload balance - NO; card is NOT available for this; it shows other cards like Amex & Visa cards that are in Amazon account
Buy Amazon eGift card - YES; worked fine; I then redeemed the card into my Amazon balance
Anyone know why the difference? The second one is just a longer process

2. PG&E (power company) - YES; paid towards bill without issue; just worked, did not select card type

Accepted card, but no charge yet to confirm success:
3. Verizon - YES; accepted & added card, auto recognized as Discover; it performed the 1c check to determine if valid

4. Netflix - YES; accepted & added card, auto recognized as Discover; NO test charge made by Netflix

5. Geico - YES; accepted & added card, auto recognized as Discover; NO test charge made by Geico

Appeared to work, then failed:
Costco.com - allowed me to add card, but erroneously auto-identified it as a Visa (note that the logos of Visa, MC, Discover, JCB, & Diner's were shown as types they accept); allowed me to place small order, but then later order was cancelled due to "billing information is incorrect"; I double-checked that info on my order & it was fine.

I just remembered that last time I used a signature-preferring card (MC, IIRC) at the manned counter there, I didn't have to sign at all. Could it be something UnionPay mandates even for smaller amounts?