【2021.5 Update】Discover and Diner’s Club credit cards are now supported. HT: Daya. Meituan charges are probably mostly coded as dining as well. All Discover cards have no FTF and no annual fee, which is very solid:

  • Discover it (5% in rotating dining categories, doubled to 10% in the first year, $50 sign-up bonus)
  • Discover Miles (1.5% on all purchases, doubled to 3% in the first year, $100 sign-up bonus)

If you’re going back to China or already back in China, it’s time to get a Discover Miles.

【2021.2 Update】Previously, Meituan payments with international credit cards only supported VISA/Master cards. Any improvement is better than none. HT: Sister He’s Little Trick Cat

Image from Sister He’s Little Trick Cat

【2020.11 Update】According to WeChat reader Corduroy Warrior CX Xiao, Meituan has now greatly expanded the payment scope for foreign credit cards, including U.S. cards, covering almost everything (one reason WeChat Pay was so powerful in the first place is because of Meituan and Dianping). I tested it, and currently the following categories can use international credit cards (not all of them work; feel free to test and report back):

  • Food delivery, foot massage, meal vouchers, bike sharing (the earliest categories opened up)
  • Meituan ride-hailing
  • Hotels/homestays
  • Movies, entertainment, bars, pharmacies, haircuts, beauty, fitness, and other lifestyle categories

One thing to note: Meituan also has two billing descriptors

  • Meituan Beijing, dining category; most charges are this one, and it can trigger dining multipliers on U.S. cards
  • Meituan Dianping Beijing, service category; so far I’ve only seen this on Meituan ride-hailing charges, and it cannot trigger dining multipliers

Let’s take a look at this Meituan Dianping; I have a bad feeling about it:

WeChat reader Corduroy Warrior CX Xiao, ride-hailing, charged to Prestige, only 1x

【The following is the article from November 1, 2020】

【Additional update】Reader vera reports that PayPal Key cannot be linked. I tested it, and mine can only link PayPal Key with the 5205 BIN; 5508 will show a verification error. When there’s a promotion, using 5205 PPK + PayPal multiplier credit cards/Amex/Discover is still worth considering (PPK has a 1.1% FTF and potential FX loss; I’d recommend using it only if you can get at least 3% back, such as PayPal’s quarterly 5x). It seems not everyone’s 5205 will link successfully either, so it’s pretty YMMV; if interested, give it a try.

5205 PPK really is a magic BIN, and it can also be nested with Privacy.

Preface

In the era of universal WeChat Pay, KUKU will introduce more ways to use U.S. credit cards directly in mainland China. This article explains in detail how to use U.S. credit cards on Meituan and Ele.me (cards issued outside mainland China also work).

Mainland China’s food-delivery market is monopolized by two delivery groups: Meituan (Tencent is the largest shareholder) and Ele.me (Alibaba is the largest shareholder). So on WeChat mini programs you can order from Meituan and Dianping (the two have merged) as well as Ele.me, but on Alipay mini programs you can only order from Ele.me.

Meituan and Ele.me’s business volume is huge and their fees are very high. Supporting foreign credit cards along the way, the tiny card processing fee not only doesn’t hurt profits, it can also attract international friends to order food.

Related updates

This article is compiled from three earlier KUKU 101 updates:

Thanks to WeChat reader CK for providing lots of tips on using U.S. credit cards with Meituan and Ele.me.

Meituan

Meituan is not just a food-delivery platform; it has also merged with Dianping, so the businesses it supports are broad. You can probably use it for things you can think of or not think of, such as foot massage, flower delivery, dining vouchers, and more—almost every aspect of daily life.

If you’re using Meituan inside a WeChat mini program, or using the Meituan app to jump to WeChat Pay, and then using a U.S. credit card through WeChat Pay (supports VISA/Master/Amex/Discover/JCB), you can refer to my super-complete WeChat guide:

Meituan also has the Meituan app and Meituan Waimai app. Both apps can be directly linked to U.S. credit cards, but at present they only support Visa and Master cards. Next, we’ll go into detail on how to use U.S. credit cards in the app.

Meituan sign-up

Meituan has a sign-up bonus. It’s not much, but when it comes to deal-hunting, even small amounts shouldn’t be missed. My referral QR code is below (needs to be scanned with WeChat):

Linking Visa/Master/UnionPay international credit cards

Meituan (the all-in-one app) and Meituan Waimai (food delivery only) both support adding overseas Visa and Master cards. If you absolutely want to use AMEX or other cards that earn extra multipliers through PayPal, you can consider switching via PayPal Key (there is a 1.1% FTF and potential foreign-exchange loss). Based on my tests, only PayPal Keys in the 5205 BIN can be linked right now; 5508 will show a verification error. When there’s a promotion, using PPK + PayPal-multiplier credit cards/Amex/Discover is still worth considering.

The way to add it is the same: find "Wallet" inside the app, then add a bank card:

Payment scope and category

Currently supported payment scope: all food delivery, some non-food-delivery services (such as foot massage and tui na are also supported), and some offline QR-code payments. I’ll cover this in more detail later. The transaction is coded as MEITUAN, and the category is Food & Drink, simple and straightforward. You can consider using cards with dining multipliers, such as CSP/CSR/Citi Premier/Citi Prestige.

Meituan Waimai is probably still expanding this business. From initially only allowing card addition, to supporting food delivery, and then to supporting all-purpose services and some QR-code payments, it’s expected to open up more in the future.

  • Food-delivery business: basically all of it. In some regions, WeChat mini programs still can’t use foreign credit cards, but the Meituan app doesn’t have this problem; it just only accepts Visa/Master.
  • All-purpose services: such as the foot massage and tui na shown in the image. Flower delivery services may be included later as well.
  • Offline QR code scanning: At the moment, Meituan supports very few offline QR-code scans. Some restaurants allow offline voucher purchases, and there’s another one you might not expect: Meituan Bike. It does indeed support using VISA/Master credit cards inside the Meituan app. If you need it, don’t miss it.

Meituan risk control

Currently unknown; it doesn’t seem sensitive. If more people use it in the future, there will likely be related policies.

The future of Meituan Pay

The author personally believes that, for now, using U.S. credit cards in mainland China is strongest when combining WeChat Pay + Alipay + Meituan app + Klook. The four work together; in many places they complement one another, and in some cases they don’t conflict at all. Sometimes only one method can be used. I’ll explain this in more detail later. Right now, many restaurants actually route payments through Meituan as the intermediary. In the future, it is expected to be able to stand up to WeChat Pay and Alipay. Stay tuned.

Ele.me

Many readers who use Ele.me tend to default to the built-in Alipay mini program. In fact, if you use it that way, you can’t use a U.S. credit card. Ele.me has its own app and website. By placing orders through the app or website, you can switch to WeChat Pay, and then use a U.S. credit card. Since the payment has to be routed through WeChat Pay, strictly speaking this is still not independent direct payment with an international credit card. It is expected that an international credit-card payment feature may be launched in the future.

Ele.me sign-up

Ele.me: sign-up link (the author’s refer, up to RMB 15 reward), or scan the QR code below with Alipay (cannot be scanned with WeChat)

Using a U.S. credit card on Ele.me

First, do not use Ele.me inside Alipay. After registering, download the Ele.me app or place an order on its website (https://www.ele.me/). Follow these steps:

  • Ele.me will usually default to Alipay for checkout, sometimes automatically. After it redirects, do not pay.
  • Go back to the app or website, find the unpaid order, and then choose another payment option.
  • You can also use the Ele.me mini program in WeChat and then pay with a U.S. card, but that won’t trigger Asia Miles’ shopping portal. It’s better to go through the Asia Miles portal first, and then check out in the Ele.me app or website.
  • After it redirects to WeChat Pay, you can choose your U.S. credit card to pay. Recommended: CSR/CSP/Premier/Prestige
  • Note: when using WeChat + a U.S. credit card on Ele.me, it is now recognized as WeChat Pay, and most cards only earn 1x rewards.

The web version works similarly; the app is recommended.

Payment coverage and categories

Unfortunately, as the name suggests, it only supports delivery and does not include general merchant services or offline QR-code payments.

Ele.me risk control

Since the payment has to be routed through WeChat Pay, it’s really subject to WeChat Pay’s U.S.-credit-card risk-control mechanism. See:

Shopping Portal

Originally there wasn’t one, but Cathay’s Asia Miles launched a promotion. For details, see:

Note that you need to follow the binding method in the Asia Miles official account. For detailed steps, see the Asia Miles WeChat official account. I don’t like copying things verbatim, so I won’t spell it out here. This rebate rate is quite attractive. You know, Grubhub’s rebate on Rakuten is often only 1x. If you can stack WeChat or Meituan dining multipliers + Asia Miles 2.5 rebate, the maximum can reach 5x TYP + 2.5x Asia Miles, and the value is already over 10%. It’s hard to imagine getting 10% cashback on food delivery in China!

These rebates post very quickly, basically the next day after you use them up. The image below shows WeChat reader CK using WeChat Pay + CSR to buy from Ele.me and earn Asia Miles. This method also works for readers who can’t transfer points; order a takeaway and keep your Asia Miles alive. Posting to the account may be slow and can take about three months. HT: reader Curtis

Image from WeChat reader CK

Note that you cannot place orders through the built-in mini programs inside WeChat or Alipay, but checkout can use WeChat Pay or Alipay.

Conclusion

We’re very happy to see more China-related merchants and platforms support foreign credit cards, including U.S. credit cards. I believe this is also the general trend. Foreign credit cards will also likely have to yield to the power of WeChat and Alipay and proactively lower card-processing fees to accommodate the mainland market. But the rebates offered by the U.S. banks that issue the cards themselves definitely won’t be going down in the short term. Looking forward to more promotions in the future, such as AMEX offers and BofA/Chase offers for spending at mainland merchants and platforms.

Related articles

China + U.S. credit cards series highlights: