Money thing..

[Eric&Yuhui]

there has been a lot of talks here about sending / using money in China.. ATM cards, Wire transfer, Western Union.. blah blah blah

 

Has anyone here ever used paypal.com ?

It lists China as a participating country.... And the fees are a heck of a lot less. Practically nothing to receive and zilch to send from a US account Check it out. I don't see the downside right now

 

[se_lang]

Here is why I won't use it PayPal problems

 

http://www.paypalsucks.com/

[Bryan_Qunying]

Here is why I won't use it PayPal problems

 

http://www.paypalsucks.com/

Ouch!

[hypoclear]

there has been a lot of talks here about sending / using money in China.. ATM cards, Wire transfer, Western Union.. blah blah blah

 

Has anyone here ever used paypal.com ?

It lists China as a participating country.... And the fees are a heck of a lot less. Practically nothing to receive and zilch to send from a US account Check it out. I don't see the downside right now

 

Bea and I am looking in to this right now but from the reverse way. Setting up a on line business and recieveing payment from usa and transfering funds to China/HK.

 

We have narrowed it down to 2 banks Bank of East Asia or BEA www.Bea.com and HSBC. With the BEA my wife Bea can open an account from mainland China in HK. I will be going there tomorrow to open an account in the states from HK. I can also contact HSBC in NYC and have the papers sent to Mainland China and signed and pay DHL to return toNYC I believe Bea can do this also as my wife.

 

What this will do is allow us to wire funds thru HSBC for $6.50 per transaction. The recieving bank does not charge fees only the sending bank. IF you have the ATM and or Debit card you can use the atm's here in China and HK look fur the Plus and Cirrus symbols.

 

Bea Bank will also give my wife a credit card when she opens her account. This is good as it will help her establish a credit history now which she will have in the states. we are not sure what HSBC will offer as they have a minimium balance of $2'000.00 and suggest seperate accounts.

 

As for yahoo pay direct and others, my understanding is they can NOT recieve payments from the states. They can how ever make payments to the states. I think this is the reason HSBC is connected with yahoo as they are no doubt looking to the future when the rulles change so that on line businesses can recive payments world wide.

 

Mark

[mikem]

there has been a lot of talks here about sending / using money in China.. ATM cards, Wire transfer, Western Union.. blah blah blah

 

Has anyone here ever used paypal.com ?

It lists China as a participating country.... And the fees are a heck of a lot less. Practically nothing to receive and zilch to send from a US account Check it out. I don't see the downside right now

 

I am a PayPal verified user and use them mainly for e-bay type work.. How ever I have delt with Chinese companies ie China Flowers as they do acept PayPal and I feel if something went wrong PayPal would difenately stand behind the transaction..Ok why is it so difficult to get money to China..? Number one reason? China does not use routing numbers on their accounts.This was told to me by the Bank of China in Sanfransisco..this is also my fiances bank..I deal primarially with Bank of America and send money to China via wire transfer for $45.00 per transaction it gets directly to her bank within 3 or 4 days OK so why not use a ATM debt card would it work? It sure would the problem is not every town has worldwide ATM access ShenZhen no problem Guongzho no problem Shanghai no problem Beijing no problem cities like Ningbo 1Million plus people still do not have access to the outside world for these transaction.. I have been there and tried it just does not see the card yes I went to different banks/atm's So my fiance who lives in a small town would have to travel to Shanghaia 5 hrs by bus to use her Bank of America card. I have used my card there many times in atm's and have had RMB kicked right out like I was in U.S. but in big cities only.

As for PayPal I have never had any problems with them at all I was able to call and talk to them about the Chinese account as you can pay anybody anyplace who has a e-mail account with PayPal however a ROUTING NUMBER IS REQUIRED.. China has not caught up with the rest of the world in this aspect.

One more thing about PayPal due to so many unscrupulis rip-off artists on the net they have to control the company very strictly. I would want it that way and yes you pay a fee for this service but you do have recourse and protection I take great pride and having one of the highest ratings they offer there indiviual customers as Verified I have been doing business with them for several years I even have their Visa Debit card free of any charges.. they sent to me by asking me if I wanted it. If I could send money to China via paypay and it was $20/transaction I would do tomorrow. (Instant delivery)

The only thing we could figure out about the Chinese companies that are doing business on PayPal is they must have a Western bank in China they are doing business with that has or uses routing numbers.. I would be interrested in hearing anyone elses thoughts on this provided they know what they are talking about.

[hypoclear]

Mikem

I'll let you know more as I learn it while in HK. We did spend about 4 minutes with an HSBC rep here in Shenzhen discussing what it is we wanted to do. Open a personal account in the states and 1 in shenzhen. The rep told us it would be better to open the account in HK and use ATM's to withdraw money. Again as she wrote down on the paper work inbound remittance$6.50.

 

As for yahoo pay direct the funds have to go into a USA bank they can not go into an account here in China or HK other wise we would not go thru the expense of opening so many accounts.

 

Mark

[hypoclear]

Mikem

I'll let you know more as I learn it while in HK. We did spend about 4 minutes with an HSBC rep here in Shenzhen discussing what it is we wanted to do. Open a personal account in the states and 1 in shenzhen. The rep told us it would be better to open the account in HK and use ATM's to withdraw money. Again as she wrote down on the paper work inbound remittance$6.50.

 

As for yahoo pay direct the funds have to go into a USA bank they can not go into an account here in China or HK other wise we would not go thru the expense of opening so many accounts.

 

Mark

oooops!!! bad key board.. 45 minutes speaking with the rep as we had many questions etc..trying to figure out the best way to do this. get funds from the states back here in RMB.

[mikem]

Mikem

I'll let you know more as I learn it while in HK. We did spend about 4 minutes with an HSBC rep here in Shenzhen discussing what it is we wanted to do. Open a personal account in the states and 1 in shenzhen. The rep told us it would be better to open the account in HK and use ATM's to withdraw money. Again as she wrote down on the paper work inbound remittance$6.50.

 

As for yahoo pay direct the funds have to go into a USA bank they can not go into an account here in China or HK other wise we would not go thru the expense of opening so many accounts.

 

Mark

oooops!!! bad key board.. 45 minutes speaking with the rep as we had many questions etc..trying to figure out the best way to do this. get funds from the states back here in RMB.

Thanks bud I know it is frustrating we are spoiled here..I agree 100% with what you are saying you are right it is easy to send to U.S. but not to China and I think the routing,, this is the reason I am willing to bet that if you speak to that rep she will tell you the bank in HK(been there too) is on routing numbers and it would not surprise me if they are doing in HK because of some type of western connection to routing numbers.

M

[warpedbored]

I was sending Bing money via Ikobo. It is sort of prepaid ATM card. Cheaper than western union with a better exchance rate. Tonight Bing said she is havinig a problem with it. There is still 1400 yuan on it but the ATM won't let her have it. I don't know if it is Ikobo or the ATM machines in China. I know I had some trouble with them when I was in Nanning. I will have to wait and call them in morning when there is a live person there.

[frank1538]

I was sending Bing money via Ikobo.  It is sort of prepaid ATM card.  Cheaper than western union with a better exchance rate.  Tonight Bing said she is havinig a problem with it.  There is still 1400 yuan on it but the ATM won't let her have it.  I don't know if it is Ikobo or the ATM machines in China.  I know I had some trouble with them when I was in Nanning. I will have to wait and call them in morning when there is a live person there.

Had a similar problem when I gave Jingwen an ATM for a separate US account that I had set up. Despite available funds, the ATM kept rejecting the withdrawal. And, because the ATM was in my name, BOC wouldn't to a thing to help Jingwen. Ended up having to wire transfer some funds.

 

It turned out that the ATM card had gone bad somehow. Ended up having to get a new one to send to her. Of course, trying to add her name to the account so I could get the ATM in her name was impossilbe, at least according to Bank of America - no SSN, blah, blah, blah.

 

I might add that the B of A card costs $2 per transaction, with an exchange rate of 8.19:1

[mikem]

I was sending Bing money via Ikobo.  It is sort of prepaid ATM card.  Cheaper than western union with a better exchance rate.  Tonight Bing said she is havinig a problem with it.  There is still 1400 yuan on it but the ATM won't let her have it.  I don't know if it is Ikobo or the ATM machines in China.  I know I had some trouble with them when I was in Nanning. I will have to wait and call them in morning when there is a live person there.

Had a similar problem when I gave Jingwen an ATM for a separate US account that I had set up. Despite available funds, the ATM kept rejecting the withdrawal. And, because the ATM was in my name, BOC wouldn't to a thing to help Jingwen. Ended up having to wire transfer some funds.

 

It turned out that the ATM card had gone bad somehow. Ended up having to get a new one to send to her. Of course, trying to add her name to the account so I could get the ATM in her name was impossilbe, at least according to Bank of America - no SSN, blah, blah, blah.

 

I might add that the B of A card costs $2 per transaction, with an exchange rate of 8.19:1

Sounds like we are signing from the same sheet of music.. I did the samething with Jing.. Opened a second account and got a ATM visa with my name on it as she had to be there in person to sign no SSN just like you but at least they are consisitant at BOA.. I have also had good luck with their card in China and so has my gal..as long as you are in a major city..I think their (China) banking system is still a little antiqueted.

This I think is the cheapest easiest way to get money to China. Transfer from your (Bank of Amrica)accout over the net to "her" actually your other(BOA) account funds are in the account right away and she can draw on them provided she is in a city that is on line for the card. At two bucks a pop its a deal compaired to wire transfers.

Mike

[Bryan_Qunying]

I was sending Bing money via Ikobo. ?It is sort of prepaid ATM card. ?Cheaper than western union with a better exchance rate. ?Tonight Bing said she is havinig a problem with it. ?There is still 1400 yuan on it but the ATM won't let her have it. ?I don't know if it is Ikobo or the ATM machines in China. ?I know I had some trouble with them when I was in Nanning. I will have to wait and call them in morning when there is a live person there.

Had a similar problem when I gave Jingwen an ATM for a separate US account that I had set up. Despite available funds, the ATM kept rejecting the withdrawal. And, because the ATM was in my name, BOC wouldn't to a thing to help Jingwen. Ended up having to wire transfer some funds.

 

It turned out that the ATM card had gone bad somehow. Ended up having to get a new one to send to her. Of course, trying to add her name to the account so I could get the ATM in her name was impossilbe, at least according to Bank of America - no SSN, blah, blah, blah.

 

I might add that the B of A card costs $2 per transaction, with an exchange rate of 8.19:1

Sounds like we are signing from the same sheet of music.. I did the samething with Jing.. Opened a second account and got a ATM visa with my name on it as she had to be there in person to sign no SSN just like you but at least they are consisitant at BOA.. I have also had good luck with their card in China and so has my gal..as long as you are in a major city..I think their (China) banking system is still a little antiqueted.

This I think is the cheapest easiest way to get money to China. Transfer from your (Bank of Amrica)accout over the net to "her" actually your other(BOA) account funds are in the account right away and she can draw on them provided she is in a city that is on line for the card. At two bucks a pop its a deal compaired to wire transfers.

Mike

I have had good luck with my bank "First Federal" here in Wisconsin. They allowed me to put my wife on the account when I showed them the marriage booklet with English Translation (Made extra copies from the I-129F). I was able to get my wife her own Visa checking card and her bank takes our card with no problems. The ATM has a 2500RMB limit per transaction but no limit per day. My bank allows 3 free outside transactions before I get a $1.50 charge per afterwards. I only loose 0.10RMB per $ exchange.

 

Just my 2 Yuan worth.

 

Bryan

[Dean Hall]

I too gave my wife the Bank of America extra account card, and we have used it for several years now. We have had very few problems. The biggest has been that eventually the magnetic strip has worn down necessitating a new card.

 

She is from a rather small town outside of Chongqing, but we have been lucky in finding atm's.

 

China has recently approved foreign banks to start up in China, and as the Olympics 08 draw closer, I believe we will see rapid improvements in the international transfer of money in China.

 

Visa ATM international finder:http://visaatm.infonow.net/bin/findNow?CLIENT_ID=VISA

 

Master Card ATM's : http://www.mastercard.com/atmlocator/index.jsp

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

I found iKobo and sent $100 to ShuPing. She got her card in the mail, went to the bank but either didn't know how to use the ATM or it didn't work for her. She lives in Nanning and there were plenty of ATMs listed on their web page for Nanning. I'm not sure what went wrong, but the money is still sitting there and she can't get it. I plan to show her how to use it when I get to Beijing, but if the ATMs don't work in Nanning, it won't matter much.

[se_lang]

I have had good luck with my bank "First Federal" here in Wisconsin.

LOL Bryan I gave my MM a card from my "First Federal" account also but not in her name as we are not married yet Yes I live in Texas now but still have 1 of my accounts up there, it is a great little bank.