Pacific Epoch reports that Tencent plans to offer an offline recharging service for its online payment tool Tenpay. Tenpay plans to send employees to collect customer money in person in exchange for a RMB 15 service fee and that customers can use the service to recharge Tenpay accounts with RMB 10 to RMB 1,000.
Pacific Epoch reports that Tencent plans to offer an offline recharging service for its online payment provider Tenpay. Tenpay plans to send employees to collect customer money in person in exchange for a RMB 15 service fee and that customers can use the service to recharge Tenpay accounts with RMB 10 to RMB 1,000.
Although this may seem as a step back in terms of technological innovation this is a step forward in terms of usability. I have written before about the use of cash-based alternatives in China's online payment market that is the result of the lack of credit card acceptance in China. Cash is by far the favorite and most widely used form of payment in China. For convenience, for perceived security, for a lack of other payment options (notably in smaller towns and villages), and even for no better reason that it being a lifetime of ingrained habit, cash is king.
In most western countries, the operators of online payment platforms are largely based on existing credit (and debit) card networks that had already been established. In China, however, while the first credit card was issued over 20 years ago (by the Bank of China in 1986), credit card acceptance and the credit card network are still not developed enough to fully support third-party online payment platforms.
Comments