Written by Miranda Chen
Monday, 03 December 2007 16:00
Recently we looked at Yeepay's merchant ranking competition. At the time, Yeepay had only been running the activity for two weeks; few merchants had signed up, and many participating sites had not added the Yeepay voting banner to their sites. Almost a month later, more than 300 merchants have signed up and 150,000 votes have been cast.
C2C auction website Eachnet is currently the top vote-getter, but without the voting banner on it. When we checked, it had received over 15,000 votes – more than 6,000 ahead of the next company. As the picture below shows, voters can place one, two, or ten votes:
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Written by Boaz Rottenberg
Tuesday, 20 November 2007 16:00
99Bill, one of China’s third-party payment providers, completely revamped their website on November 17.
The new look offers a less complicated and more intuitive interface. Merchant partners are now divided into separate groups based on their sector. The whole look and feel of the new website is much more user-friendly, in my opinion, and looks a lot like the site for PayEase, one of 99Bill’s competitors.
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Written by Miranda Chen
Monday, 19 November 2007 16:00
YeePay, a
Chinese payment provider that we have been covering for a while, has recently launched a new marketing campaign where users get to rank their favorite online merchants. In this campaign, which lasts until January 15, YeePay’s merchant partners are competing for prizes totaling approximately RMB 1 million (~ USD 135,000).
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Written by Boaz Rottenberg
Sunday, 18 November 2007 16:00
In most countries online payment platforms are largely based on existing credit and debit card networks. In China, however, a large number of China’s potential e-commerce consumers are still without credit cards or debit cards, or just simply "unbanked".
In September we illustrated China's reliance on cash by comparing credit card penetration and total population in China and the US. Cash is by far the favorite and most widely used form of payment here, and although it may seem like a step backwards in terms of technology, the added convenience of a cash-based e-payment channel is fitting for the current state of payments in China.
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Written by Dave Carini
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 16:00
Maverick China contributed research on mobile payments in China to a report for the Telecommunications Research Project entitled
Mobile Payments in Asia Pacific: Information, Communications, and Entertainment, released in September 2007.
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Written by Edmund Hung
Monday, 05 November 2007 16:00
Last night, it took me only 15 minutes to apply and pay for my tourist visa to Cambodia using their e-Visa online platform. After I finished, I felt a bit bewildered and didn’t know what to do with myself next - there has to be a next step, or at least an error to attend to, right? Perhaps I have been living in China for too long, but the Cambodia e-Visa application process and subsequent payment (using my U.S. MasterCard via PayPal) was so seamless and simple that I was in disbelief. After having been jolted back into the realization that payments outside of China can just be THAT convenient, I felt inclined to emphasize in a blog entry just how far the China payments market has to grow.
My point is not to knock on Chinese third-party payment companies, but is to emphasize the stark difference between the environment for payments in China versus that of most Western countries. While my list is long, I will describe three of the biggest differences below:
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Written by Junelyn Han
Thursday, 27 September 2007 16:00
David Wolf of
the Silicon Hutong blog recently wrote about the
International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) June 1, 2008 deadline for airlines worldwide to completely switch from paper tickets to electronic tickets. According to David, as soon as early next year, China will lead the world in e-ticketing and the switch over to e-tickets will save Chinese airlines up to $9 per ticket issued. Based on 2006 figures, David estimates that China Eastern Airlines would save as much as $315 million with a complete switchover to e-tickets.
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Written by Boaz Rottenberg
Thursday, 20 September 2007 16:00
Third-party payment provider Chinapay has a newly revamped website highlighting its English slogan: "Chinapay - the Pacemaker of E-Payment". We were surprised at the news, since we had not heard of any serious health problems, aside from normal growing pains. China’s electronic payments sector is in its infancy, but its vital signs are strong, and the range of new payment technologies is only improving the circulation of goods and currency throughout the country. We wouldn’t normally advise such an invasive procedure on such a young patient, but with the excellent technology available these days, we foresee a long and healthy life ahead.
We will be covering Chinapay in October as part of our series of profiles on China’s third-party payment companies.
Written by Boaz Rottenberg
Monday, 10 September 2007 16:00
Tang Bin, Yeepay’s CEO, has recently given an interview for Chinese portal eNet. Yeepay is one of China's leading third-party payment providers, operating telephone, mobile, and online payment platforms. In the interview "The Direction of Electronic Payment," available in Chinese only, Tang Bin talks about Yeepay’s performance in the market and about the state of China’s third-party payment industry as a whole. In this interview Tang Bin made a few interesting points; some of the key ones are summarized below, along with commentary by Maverick China analysts Boaz Rottenberg and Miranda Chen.
The Chinese e-payment industry is 10 years lagging behind the USA, mainly due to China's credit system and financial infrastructure which are not yet developed.
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