Thanks for the extensive data points. I wonder if purchasing USPS money orders will still work. It sounds like they won't given that debit mode with PIN wasn't an option. I think it's like how the card will now fail at Costco.

Depends how their system is setup, so hard to say, especially with the unusual fallback feature of this card. It could be that when they sell a money order, it puts the terminal in "debit mode" so it will automatically only work with PIN debit cards, and thus kick the UnionPay card to fallback to debit mode.

I didn't include this data point, but I tested an Arco chip-capable card terminal inside the gas station building (note: where Arco gas is cash & PIN debit only), & it acted like Grocery Outlet where it rejected the chip, asked for swipe & then required a PIN. Now, this is still different because the Arco terminal is not setup to accept the PBOC chip on this card, whereas USPS is setup for that chip type.

However, there are many possibilities of thousands of configuration combinations between the terminal, terminal software, backend hardware, processor, card behavior, & more that the only way to really know & discover loopholes & flaws in the setup is by testing a real transaction.

Maybe you can buy a small money order as a test & report back. ;)

Such a transaction may result in an immediate call from ICBC. :o

Even if it still works, there's no way to scale if you're interested in accumulating cash back without a likely shut down.

I agree. I wasn't really interested in scaling it up (money order at USPS), but more as an option in the toolbox if it is ever necessary and as an interesting study on what card modes are possible in real life in a chip-based US-based environment, and not just as a fallback swipe-based trick. If debit-based Arcos switch to adding PBOC chip support, this will also tell us if a chip-based debit mode is possible on the ICBC UnionPay credit card, or if it will then be blocked from use.

UPDATE ON MERCHANTS

CVS - full PBOC chip credit card support; no PIN, no cashback

Rite-Aid - chip reject, swipe fallback with choice of PIN Debit mode or Enter for Credit mode; PIN option allows cashback

Confirmed FAIL. Tested just for curiosity to see if I could buy a money order. Clerk said card was rejected. It didn't give me chance to enter a PIN, & since they support PBOC chip, there was also no opportunity to swipe & get the debit fallback mode.

No ICBC phone call & I used the card elsewhere without issues after this.

Thanks for the data point. I imagine that it would quit working when they moved to support PBOCCARD. The only MS opportunities it seems now would be at grocery stores that don't support PBOCCARD and require a swipe. (Still not scalable.)

I applied for add Mrs. Majuki as an authorized user on my card for an upcoming China trip. (I had actually applied back 3 years ago, but her authorized user card never got added.) Her card appears with the standard red, blue, and green UnionPay logo, not the holographic gold style logo that's on my card. The chip design has changed slightly as well. On the back, the hologram has changed and the standard contactless logo replaced the QuickPass logo.

When activating the card, the authorized user selects a new 6-digit PIN. I've not had another real chip-and-PIN card with an authorized user before, so the only authorized user Visa/MC cards she's had have shared the cash advance PIN. The last 5 digits of the card number are different, and she doesn't have an online account. We will do a test purchase and report back.

My card is on the top and Mrs. Majuki's is on the bottom:

http://i.imgur.com/ve4CteCm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xQqdYBYm.jpg

I thought the card was signature-preferring? If that's still the case, I wouldn't really call it "true" chip and PIN. (I reserve that designation for cards like the Diners Club MC that ask for most attended purchases.) Of course, I'm sure I've lost that semantics battle a long time ago by this point. :p

It generally is. I was simply pointing out the process when activating the card.

My point was that I've not had another credit card where a PIN, cash advance or otherwise, could be set independently for an authorized user. I've never set a cash advance PIN on an American Express card, which does carry a different card number for authorized users.

It seems to be more common with debit cards. The joint bank account I have, for instance, has separate everything for both cards (PIN, PAN, expiration, etc.) but is linked to the same source of funds. It might simply not have been a priority for most CC issuers to do the same given that PIN theoretically shouldn't be needed for any purchases here.

Anyway, maybe the contactless feature on the new card will work better hopefully, if nothing else. Though I'm not sure that's anywhere close to guaranteed.

My guess is that QuickPass won't work, but I'll report back if it does.

I was hopeful that this signage outside of a local 99 Ranch would mean that QuickPass might work. Mrs. Majuki tried her card, but she got the "chip not accepted" message similar to when contactless was broken at Safeway. Furthermore, she tried inserting the card, which also didn't work. Finally, she swiped the card, and the transaction went through in debit mode with a PIN, similar to when I have used my card at Safeway. The pending transaction is showing up on the online account.

http://i.imgur.com/6WHDvp9m.jpg

Wasn't 99 Ranch reported here before as supporting the PBOC chip card?

Also, here are the merchants in the US with PBOC chip card support AND also accept contactless cards of other card networks:
McDonalds
Walgreens
CVS

Thus, they would be good candidates to test QuickPass contactless using the ICBC UnionPay card. Supposedly there are thousands of merchant locations in the US that support QuickPass (I read somewhere 250K claimed), but not clear who & where they are.

Home Depot, USPS, and Walmart have PBOC chip card support but do NOT accept any contactless cards or phones.

I only used my UnionPay card once at 99 Ranch to claim a UnionPay merchant offer. I thought PBOC was supported, but I could be mistaken. I can try CVS today with my card and report back. (I imagine the QuickPass support is the same on both cards.)