PayPal & Bank Cards

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  • #42526
    Avatar photoMerior
    Participant

    It looks as if I now need a Chinese bank card that PayPal will accept but I do not have bank accounts here in China. Can anybody recommend a combination of Bank (I don’t speak Chinese) and a Card compatible with PayPal. Can that be a Debit Card or will PayPal only link to a Credit Card, if so, which one? How about a Union Pay Card which many retailers in the UK are now accepting?

    #42529
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    I think it depends on what you mean by compatible with Paypal. You can add funds to a Paypal account with all the major Chinese banks – I use Bank of China. I have two Paypal accounts, one based in the US and one in China. I use the China one to draw funds from a Chinese bank account and then send those funds to the US Paypal account. From there I can pay online merchants or use a Paypal Mastercard which I have that draws directly from the US Paypal account. Hope this helps.

    #42530
    Avatar photoVincent
    Participant

    I use the China one to draw funds from a Chinese bank account and then send those funds to the US Paypal account.

    Does this also work the other way around? Could I send USD from my normal PayPal to my Chinese PayPal and then withdraw it to my Chinese bank? I guess I would end up with USD on my bank though, probably. Or can you exchange USD/RMB on PayPal?

    I have a Chinese PayPal but I never got around to verifying it because something went wrong the first time a few years ago. But if the above would work, it would help me a lot.

     

    Merior, here’s a lot of useful information regarding your question:

    PayPal in China

    #42531
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    I use the China one to draw funds from a Chinese bank account and then send those funds to the US Paypal account.

    Does this also work the other way around? Could I send USD from my normal PayPal to my Chinese PayPal and then withdraw it to my Chinese bank? I guess I would end up with USD on my bank though, probably. Or can you exchange USD/RMB on PayPal?

    I have a Chinese PayPal but I never got around to verifying it because something went wrong the first time a few years ago. But if the above would work, it would help me a lot.

    I think you will be able to do that. When I make the first deposit using the Chinese Paypal account, the money is converted from RMB into USD. It’s better to have a verified account but you don’t need one – you’ll just be limited in the amount that you can send, I think.

    #42547
    Avatar photoWoodWERD
    Participant

    I have two Paypal accounts, one based in the US and one in China. I use the China one to draw funds from a Chinese bank account and then send those funds to the US Paypal account.

    What are the fees on this? I was planning on opening a BoC account for their demand-draft feature, but our school made us get Bank of Communications instead.

    #42553
    Avatar photoAl the Dead
    Participant

    Screw BoCm. leave for in China usage.

    Get BoC or CMB. I prefer CMB but thats only cause BoC internet bank make me rage.

    Also get a credit card if you can, both BoC and CMB debit cards are impossible to use for instant payments in some cases.

     

    #42649
    Avatar photoMerior
    Participant

    Sorry – been off sick.

    Many thanks for your replies Charlie. Are PayPal going to be satisfied with a Chinese Debit Card (e.g. Union Pay) where the Chinese bank will only release your funds to PayPal if I have a sufficient balance in my bank account or do PayPal want a Credit Card that I can use independent of the balance in my bank account?

    My PayPal account is already registered to my address in Chengdu so provided that the Card is registered to the same address I assume that there shouldn’t be a problem with PayPal’s security – they can be a bit anally retentive about addresses and ISP etc etc.?

    #42651
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    Sorry – been off sick. Many thanks for your replies Charlie. Are PayPal going to be satisfied with a Chinese Debit Card (e.g. Union Pay) where the Chinese bank will only release your funds to PayPal if I have a sufficient balance in my bank account or do PayPal want a Credit Card that I can use independent of the balance in my bank account? My PayPal account is already registered to my address in Chengdu so provided that the Card is registered to the same address I assume that there shouldn’t be a problem with PayPal’s security – they can be a bit anally retentive about addresses and ISP etc etc.?

    A bank card will work. You don’t need a credit card, although I suspect that will work also. I don’t think you’ll have a problem with Paypal security. Just don’t use a VPN when you access your China account, but I always access my US Paypal account through a VPN in America.

    #42681
    Avatar photoMerior
    Participant

    Many thanks Charlie. With just a bank card I can probably set up a bank account with a small local bank who probably won’t want DNA samples verifying my identity in conjuction with a hefty monthly income as security.

    I have to take a deep breath before I turn the VPN off for the likes of the bank, PayPal and even Yahoo. Ironically, I don’t use a VPN for privacy/security reasons but to provide a decent/faster connection to outside of China.

    #42697
    Avatar photoBrendan
    Moderator

    It’s been a while since I’ve jumped through this hoop, but I do remember that to set up PayPal on a Chinese domestic account, you have to use the /c2 version of PayPal (https://www.paypal.com/c2/webapps/mpp/home)

    Setting this up was one of the trickiest things I’ve had to do yet since being in China. Considering the valuation on PayPal, they really don’t have their shit together in this regard. The fun starts with an Indian/Sri-Lankan based customer service call…

    #42861
    Avatar photoMerior
    Participant

    It seems that PayPal will accept the Chinese Union Pay card but only if it is issued by one of the Chinese banks on their list and activated for internet use. Bank of China is probably the next stop as they didn’t accept the Union Pay card issued by the China Minsheng Bank. I suspect it has something to do with making payments in foreign currencies.

    So there this clerk was, in possession of my passport containing an up to date picture of me and he expects me to know what my passport number is to prove my identity. Jobsworth!

    #42942
    Avatar photoMerior
    Participant

    I now have a collection of 4 cards – 2 UnionPay Debit cards and a Debit and Credit card issued by HSBC in the UK against my bank account registered to my address in Chengdu. While the cards are all active, working and enabled for internet use, when I try and add one (I have tried all of them) to my PayPal account, Paypal does not appear to have a feature enabled for me to select the type of card e.g. Visa, UnionPay or whatever and reports back “Invalid Debit or Credit type.”

    I have sent them an email but since this is PayPal I am not expecting a solution.

    #43011
    Avatar photoMerior
    Participant

    Finally resolved it:

    Credit cards and debit cards must be issued in the country where your PayPal address is registered before you can link them to your PayPal account. If you use a UK card against a UK account and are on a computer in China or on a VPN then alarm bells are liable to go off in PayPal’s security office.

    China Construction Bank supplied a UnionPay debit card which now works. You need to upgrade the China Construction Bank debit card before you can use it so that it can be used on the internet. For a week or so PayPal refused this card as being an “Invalid debit or credit card type” as they did with every other card I presented. However, it seems that this is not necessarily a problem with the card but may well be with the flaky connection between China and the rest of the world. Perseverance is advised and the signal is typically better in the morning than the evening.

    The UnionPay debit card from China Minsheng Bank did not work with PayPal. The Bank of China took about a hour before they gave up trying to open an account for me because of “system failure”.

     

    #43012
    Avatar photoJerryS
    Participant

    You still have issues using paypal to launder money to yourself back home via paypal?

    I use ICBC as my bank (online shopping enabled and also have no limit buying shit.. Such as Taobao, ctrip ect ect).

    A 2nd paypal account (use ur 2nd email, i have 2 gmail accounts one specifically for paypal china and other linked to my primarily account).

    Use no VPN when using China’s paypal and VPN when signing onto your primary paypal account.

    Have to use internet explorer for online checking buying/ confirming sending money via paypal.

    Takes a few days to confirm ICBC and paypal for it to continue. Make sure names are in order.

     

    Done.

     

    Be warned, using paypal you are paying 4-5% round trip to send money. Use bitcoin, easy to send money. I send 5k rmb back to my US account with quite ease in matter or 20 minutes (4 days for it to hit my bank back home). Cost for bitcoin? 1-2% or even making 1% due to arbitrage.

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