Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
10) You will now be asked to swipe your bank card (
请刷卡付款
) and then enter
your PIN (
请输入密码
). After you do this press
确认
(Confirm). A receipt will then
be printed. Done!
To put money into your Zhifubao account, the steps are similar to those above. For
point 3, however, you should instead select option 2 (
购买支付宝充值号
) to buy a
recharge number. If you make any mistakes at any point, press
返回
to return.
LAKALA
Lakala is a relatively new but rapidly expanding payment system. It works in a similar way
to Zhifubao, but rather than storing your money it really is more about transferring money
from your bank to wherever it needs to be. You can use it to transfer money between dif-
ferent banks, pay off a Chinese credit card, recharge your cell phone, check the balance on
your Chinese debit card, pay bills for cooperating stores, purchase goods on Taobao, add
credit to Zhifubao or Tenpay, and more. Transactions incur a minimum fee of RMB2 and a
maximum of RMB50.
In general, when using Lakala to pay when online shopping, you select the Lakala option
when you reach the payment step. You will then be given an order number, which you take
and enter into a Lakala terminal, website, or mobile device, after which you swipe your
UnionPay bank card to make the payment.
There are various ways to access Lakala. The most straightforward way is at conveni-
ence stores such as Quik or 7-Eleven, or at supermarkets. They look like a point-of-sale
(POS) machine and are usually set up just inside the door. The store person or a Chinese
friend can help you make the transaction if you're unsure. Then there is a cell phone app,
which can be downloaded for free, but which must be used in conjunction with a device that
you plug into the headphone jack, which allows you to swipe your UnionPay bank card.
There is also a home POS machine and a device that can be used with your computer—all
of which are available for sale from the
www.lakala.com
or online stores such as Amazon
and TMall.com.
PAYPAL CHINA
If you're going to be earning
rénmínbì
rather than dollars, you may want to think about
opening a Chinese Paypal account, especially if you have continuing payments to make
back home but don't want to use your savings there to do that. You may have already set
up a Paypal account in your home country, but to have it working successfully with your
