Shenzhen Means of Payment

Notes as of August 2019 as things can change quickly Shenzhen. 2019-11-04

• Alipay for travelers: https://twitter.com/tks/status/1191319805686452226?s=21

• 7/21

  • I can no longer use WeChat Pay to get money transfers from Chinese people.

  • Tsuraumi. I got caught by this the day before yesterday and could not recharge… I can no longer use the method of having a Chinese person send money to me and receive it (when I receive it, I am sent to the account verification screen). I can still receive Alipay, but … Maybe it’s just a matter of time.

    • Takuma Iwasa

• Alipay HK (Hong Kong version) may be used in some cases with a credit card

  • 7/12 [Good news: I was able to use Hong Kong’s version of Alipay (AlipayHK) to make payments in mainland China | Cabreblog
    • Hong Kong travelers should include! How to Activate Hong Kong’s Version of Alipay AlipayHK | Cabreblog
    • Hong Kong (+852) phone number required
      • SIM card or eSender
        • I bought a SIM, but haven’t tried it.
        • eSender: Forward SMS to WeChat
          • A must for China business travelers!　eSender” to get a Chinese phone number for SMS without having a SIM | Shiftall blog
            • In this explanation, you get a mainland China phone number, but all you need is a Hong Kong number
            • It says Real name registration is needed for mainland China, so maybe real name verification is only needed when getting a mainland number.
    • I could create an account.
      • (8/6) Error when trying to register credit card
      • Local: Error again trying to register another card

• (8/1)

  • If you use regular Alipay (not the Hong Kong version), it is not so difficult. You can use your Japanese phone number. The rest is passport and a selfie. [Shigeru Kanemoto https://www.facebook.com/nishiohirokazu/posts/10218875643858664?comment_id=10218875738461029&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A% 22r%22%7d]

    • This was tried on 7/11.
  • (8/2)There are reports that you can create an account for the continental version of Alipay with eSender.
    • Server busy kept coming up on 8/1, but they were able to do it on 8/2.
  • (8/5) There is a report of passport authentication with a Japanese number.
  • (8/6) I was able to create an account with a Japanese number.

    • The continental version of Alipay requires you to create an account with a Japanese phone number and then enter your passport number to get a review, but I don’t know where to enter that (the remaining balance screen, I was told).

    • 

    • It was from the “me” button in the lower right corner, not from the buttons on the top page.

    • Me→Balance and you will get a screen asking you to add an ID (I forgot to take a screenshot).

      • 
      • If you select Face, you will be asked to select your country, and if you select Japan, you will be authenticated with your Passport.
      • When sending a picture of my face, I mistakenly sent it even though it wasn’t taken properly.
  • (8/7)
    • I got an SMS notification.
    • 
    • already yǐ already
    • The testimonials you submitted at the time of your Zipteco operating status examination have already passed the Artificial Nucleus.”
    • Nucleus: Examination
    • So you can pass it.
    • But when I open Alipay, I get “Failed: Server busy”.
      • Pressing Retry keeps that screen on.
      • I hit cancel by mistake.
        • I’m back on the home screen.
    • It looks like I could do it because the balance screen no longer asks me to submit ID, but I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do.
      • Does it mean that the screening was completed and only the screen showing the results of the completed screening was server busy?
      • After this, I was actually able to receive the money transfer locally, so it seems safe to ignore this server busy

• I left Japan in this state, but it was a painful mistake.

  • I could get a local resident to send money in this state.
  • But when I press Pay, I get the following display
  • 
  • This Enable should have been done in Japan.
    • When you try to Enable, you will be asked to create a Payment Password.
    • At that time, an SMS will be sent to the Japanese number you used to create your account, asking for verification.
    • If you try to do it locally, there is no way to read the SMS sent to your Japanese number.
      • I thought of a move to use au’s worldwide data flat rate, but it didn’t work (I’ll try again below).
    • Trying to change to an e-Sender phone number.
      • Indication to the effect that “someone has already created an account using this number, so it cannot be used”.
      • 
      • I think this simplified button is for merging accounts, but I’m not sure who created the account and merged it…
        • There have been similar cases of putting money into someone else’s account where the balance and payment history is still available.
    • The Hong Kong SIM that I use for internet connection locally has 10 digits after the country code, and I can’t use it because it says “incorrect mobile number format”.

• 8/10 au’s “Global Data Flat-rate” is now available!

  • Pointing to a local SIM and installing au’s “Global Data Flat-rate App”.
  • When I used the “Global Data Flat-rate App” with an au SIM pointed to it, I got the following error
  • 
  • I had given up earlier because following these instructions did not resolve the error.
  • In the process of writing what I did on this page to organize the current situation, I opened the PC version of the World Data Flat Rate web page and the instructions were different
    • 
  • I followed the instructions in the web version and successfully got a “flat-rate worldwide data plan”.
  • Now I could receive SMS.

• 8/11

  • I could be the payer in a person-to-person transfer.

    • Splitting the cost of food and drink
    • The other party sends a QR code via collect, we scan the code and send the amount of money.

  • Could pay at a convenience store.

    • Enter the amount of money into the reader at the convenience store
    • This one gives out a QR code with pay, and the machine reads it.
    • 

  • I haven’t tried it, but it should be possible to make a payment at a store that doesn’t have a reader terminal as well, since it’s essentially a person-to-person transfer.

• 8/12

  • It worked with subway ticket machines.
    • Scan the QR code displayed on the ticket machine
  • The subway seems to have a worse internet connection during the rush hour to get home, and I had a timeout (super time) once.

---

This page is auto-translated from /nishio/深圳支払い手段 using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.