It’s quite simple, once you know how. Really. But then the same could be said about nuclear fission, or perhaps crossing the road in Naples.
For foreigners used to the convenience of credit card as a means of online payment making a purchase in China can, by comparison, seem an insanely complicated affair. Thanks to tight government controls on financial institutions here there are still complications with the use and issue of foreign currency cards. Domestically debit cards are linked via the UnionPay Network (银联网) – but this does not extend to online purchases, where users are directed back to their issuing bank for payment processing.
Unfortunately banking in China is still very much regional – which means online shops may have restrictions regarding which banks are supported, or in which city your bank account is held. This makes online transactions a very inconsistent and circumstantial affair – a frustrating experience for someone who just wishes to make a quick purchase.
It doesn’t help that each bank’s gateway is in Chinese only, and often designed exclusively for Internet Explorer.
By comparison, Visa and Mastercard are both widely accepted networks that do not discriminate between issuer and are generally universally accepted. This would be my desire for Unionpay, at least domestically.
Companies such as PayPal or local firms Alipay (支付网) or YeePay (易宝网) provide for a convenient payment gateway, but topping up those accounts is… well… just like purchasing anything else! And they’re not accepted everywhere.
It’s certainly not nuclear fission – but don’t try to understand Chinese banking in a day!
