Wechat wallet

[xiaofan]

Ya damn sad. I can no longer receive money from my friend anymore.
How about alipay ? Does it works the same?

Yes it is the same. You need a mainland China bank card.

In fact there was no loop holes in Alipay, unlike WeChat. But now WeChat plugs the holes.

 

[adgjl321]

So if I’m going to Shanghai for 8 days, what should I be using? Wechat Pay?

Or is any contactless payment ok too? E.g Youtrip or any contactless credit card

 

[xiaofan]

So if I’m going to Shanghai for 8 days, what should I be using? Wechat Pay?

Or is any contactless payment ok too? E.g Youtrip or any contactless credit card

If you have WeChat pay, then you can use it.

If not, Credit card for hotel or other places which accept that, Cash for places which do not. Exchange enough cash in Singapore because the rate in China is lower.

 

[Taxiboy]

Yes it is the same. You need a mainland China bank card.

In fact there was no loop holes in Alipay, unlike WeChat. But now WeChat plugs the holes.

Is alipay able to send and receive money ? Or only wechat blocked it ?

 

[xiaofan]

Is alipay able to send and receive money ? Or only wechat blocked it ?

If you are going to sign up for Alipay now, you can not do anything, you will not be able to finish the real name authentication without a mainland China bank card. You will not be able to receive money and therefore can not send money. This is the case of my testing Alipay account -- received RMB10 but the money is in pending status waiting for real name authentication.

If you have existing fund inside Alipay, then you should still be able to spend money. I think you will not be able to top-up.

Same for your wechat wallet, even though your account can not top up now, you should still be able to spend the money left in the wallet.

 

[sango65]

I last time use my Singapore passport to verify my Alipay a/c. Although I dont have full capability as I dont have China bank card, at least I can ask people to daifu and send me RMB to my Alipay a/c. Dont know now it still works

 

[xiaofan]

I last time use my Singapore passport to verify my Alipay a/c. Although I dont have full capability as I dont have China bank card, at least I can ask people to daifu and send me RMB to my Alipay a/c. Dont know now it still works

The tightening started last year.

 

[sango65]

I last time use my Singapore passport to verify my Alipay a/c. Although I dont have full capability as I dont have China bank card, at least I can ask people to daifu and send me RMB to my Alipay a/c. Dont know now it still works

Does this work?

 

[xiaofan]

Does this work?

No. This no longer works if you do not have a mainland China bank card.

Basically Alipay is for Chinese citizens or foreigners living in China. But I know there are people who got lucky and got the bank card when visiting China as a tourist.

Official Alipay instructions
https://cshall.alipay.com/lab/help_detail.htm?help_id=215132

港澳台及海外用户申请个人认证流程
1 登录支付宝账户（ www.alipay.com），点击【账户设置】—【基本信息】—【立即认证】

2 进入认证页面，点击【立即认证】

3 进入到身份验证页面，选择国家地区（图例：中国香港）。填写好姓名、证件号码、证件有效期，选择好出生日期，换证次数后点击证件有效期下面的“确认并提交”按钮

4) 身份信息补全成功后，可选择用“银行卡验证”方式

温馨提示：因为产品目前正在升级，证件扫脸认证暂时无法使用。请您使用大陆地区开户银行卡进行认证。

如选择银行卡验证，则进入绑卡页，直接进入快捷绑定环节：

注：
（1）该卡需要是中国大陆发行的卡
（2）如需进一步补全身份信息，获取更多账户功能，不同地区，需要上传的证件也不同：
台湾用户可提供：台湾居民来往大陆通行证（简称台胞证，只提交基本身份信息页即可）
海外用户可提供：护照（上传时提交基本身份信息页+入境盖章页）
港澳用户可提供：港澳居民来往内地通行证（只提交基本身份信息面即可，纸质通行证或塑料卡两种）

如选择“扫脸验证”，PC端进入引导扫二维码至APP端扫脸验证：

 

[sango65]

No. This no longer works if you do not have a mainland China bank card.

Basically Alipay is for Chinese citizens or foreigners living in China. But I know there are people who got lucky and got the bank card when visiting China as a tourist.

Official Alipay instructions
https://cshall.alipay.com/lab/help_detail.htm?help_id=215132

港澳台及海外用户申请个人认证流程
1 登录支付宝账户（ www.alipay.com），点击【账户设置】—【基本信息】—【立即认证】

2 进入认证页面，点击【立即认证】

3 进入到身份验证页面，选择国家地区（图例：中国香港）。填写好姓名、证件号码、证件有效期，选择好出生日期，换证次数后点击证件有效期下面的“确认并提交”按钮

4) 身份信息补全成功后，可选择用“银行卡验证”方式

温馨提示：因为产品目前正在升级，证件扫脸认证暂时无法使用。请您使用大陆地区开户银行卡进行认证。

如选择银行卡验证，则进入绑卡页，直接进入快捷绑定环节：

注：
（1）该卡需要是中国大陆发行的卡
（2）如需进一步补全身份信息，获取更多账户功能，不同地区，需要上传的证件也不同：
台湾用户可提供：台湾居民来往大陆通行证（简称台胞证，只提交基本身份信息页即可）
海外用户可提供：护照（上传时提交基本身份信息页+入境盖章页）
港澳用户可提供：港澳居民来往内地通行证（只提交基本身份信息面即可，纸质通行证或塑料卡两种）

如选择“扫脸验证”，PC端进入引导扫二维码至APP端扫脸验证：

Yep, I completed steps 1 to 3 using my Singapore passport, I can see my Alipay wallet, but I cant topup as I dont have China bank card, so I use daifu service and ask someone to send me RMB to my Alipay a/c

海外用户可提供：护照（上传时提交基本身份信息页+入境盖章页)

 

[xiaofan]

Yep, I completed steps 1 to 3 using my Singapore passport, I can see my Alipay wallet, but I cant topup as I dont have China bank card, so I use daifu service and ask someone to send me RMB to my Alipay a/c

海外用户可提供：护照（上传时提交基本身份信息页+入境盖章页)

Yes I know there are 3rd party services which seem to still work -- like in your case you are still be able to top up your Alipay wallet with 3rd parry services. Same for WeChat Pay.

I do not know how they do it to bypass the system. Maybe they have real/fake bank cards or real/fake Chinese ID cards temporarily linked to your account to fool the system.

Have you tried different 3rd party services? Supposedly if they link to a mainland China bank card, the name got logged in the system and could not be changed again. So the second 3rd party service may not work if the system detected a different name.

 

[helloamberchan]

do you use it often?

 

[sango65]

for a few times, purchase items in 1688 platform

 

[XER]

I saw some Singapore merchant able to receive Alipay payment. How does this work? Would the local merchant being paid in Singapore by Alipay user have credits in their Alipay account to be able to use it normally in China?

 

[xiaofan]

I saw some Singapore merchant able to receive Alipay payment. How does this work? Would the local merchant being paid in Singapore by Alipay user have credits in their Alipay account to be able to use it normally in China?

I believe that is different. That is B2B (business to business) arrangement between Alipay and the local merchants. The local merchant will receive payment from Alipay in SGD or USD.

Alipay and WeChat Pay are meant for Chinese Citizens and foreigners living in China. They build up business relationship with foreign merchants to expand the usage of Alipay and WeChat Pay for the Chinese Citizens who go overseas for business or for leasure (tourists).

Alipay (and Alipay) also increasingly invested in foreign payment companies to gain a foothold. Wechat Pay (Tencent) is lagging behind in this case.

Ref: https://www.businessinsider.com/ant-financial-expands-alipay-launches-new-services-2019-3/?IR=T

Quote from the above article.
Alipay's rapid product and market expansion efforts have been proving successful so far: Chinese tourists paid for 32% of transactions overseas with their phones in 2018, overtaking cash for the first time overseas, which can likely be attributed to the widening availability of mobile payments in popular tourist destinations.

 

[XER]

I believe that is different. That is B2B (business to business) arrangement between Alipay and the local merchants. The local merchant will receive payment from Alipay in SGD or USD.

Alipay and WeChat Pay are meant for Chinese Citizens and foreigners living in China. They build up business relationship with foreign merchants to expand the usage of Alipay and WeChat Pay for the Chinese Citizens who go overseas for business or for leasure (tourists).

Alipay (and Alipay) also increasingly invested in foreign payment companies to gain a foothold. Wechat Pay (Tencent) is lagging behind in this case.

Ref: https://www.businessinsider.com/ant-financial-expands-alipay-launches-new-services-2019-3/?IR=T

Quote from the above article.
Alipay's rapid product and market expansion efforts have been proving successful so far: Chinese tourists paid for 32% of transactions overseas with their phones in 2018, overtaking cash for the first time overseas, which can likely be attributed to the widening availability of mobile payments in popular tourist destinations.

But the merchant being paid by alipay will have money in their alipay account. Can this be used normally then?

 

[xiaofan]

But the merchant being paid by alipay will have money in their alipay account. Can this be used normally then?

I believe they do not have normal Alipay account. You can ask the merchant.

Not sure where you are coming from though. What do you want to achieve?

 

[XER]

register as an alipay merchant to receive money and then use alipay to pay for things. since there is a restriction on foreigner using alipay.

 

[xiaofan]

register as an alipay merchant to receive money and then use alipay to pay for things. since there is a restriction on foreigner using alipay.

I see. Then you should check with the merchant and Alipay directly.

However I am pretty sure you will not achieve what you want.

Still good example of thinking out of the box.

 

[xiaofan]

You can see the merchants most likely go through a solution provider like ccpay. You can try check with them. I believe there will be fees associated as well.
http://www.ccpay.sg/

You do need to register with ACRA as a business first.