It’s times like these that I wish I didn’t live in this backwater hole in Dalian… Actually, I’m sure there’s a way to pay your bills online up here too, but likely just not in English yet.
Anyway, all you guys in Shanghai, consider yourself lucky – SHFFT has just created an online bills payment system and yes, Virginia, there is an English version. (Nevermind that their company name sounds like how you’d spell a fart – ha ha, SHHHFFFFTTTT!)
Here’s what you can get done via this website:
- pay your mobile phone bill
- pay your gas bill
- pay your water bill
- pay your electric bill
These days, with winter coming, I find myself becoming more of the opinion that going outside is for suckers only. As a matter of fact, just the other day I found myself huddled in a blanket in front of my computer, ordering GuoqiaoMixian (crossing the bridge rice noodles) over Skype. That’s what happens when you don’t pay your phone bill…
So how about you guys?
What sites do you use to make daily life in China just a little bit easier?
h/t to Wang Jianshuo for pointing out this one!
Why, this one of course! 😉
I keep asking my wife if Bank of China has online banking and it may, but she’s not found a way to hook it up and do stuff with it. It may be her un-tech-suaveness, and I certainly hope so, as I’ve been using online banking with my Canadian account for more than a decade.
Grrr. Like Ryan I’ve been using online banking for ages in the UK and Chinese banks in general drive me NUTS. I do have online banking with China Construction Bank, but it only allows me to look at my account (as far as I know)… but it’s a start.
Ryan – pretty certain Bank of China has online banking but you need to go and fill out a load of forms, at the exact branch where you opened the account, to be registered. I’ve thus far been too lazy. What you can actually do once you have an online account, who knows ???
This deserves looking into actually…
Nevertheless, it’s a good start to China 2.0.
@Tam: It probably allows me to get first glimpses of Olympic advertising, see what services they offer and apply for credit cards. 😉
@Patrick: Why does China 2.0 have to be Western 0.0.1 beta?
We actually provide bill payment assistance to foreigners living in Shanghai. There is no registration hassle and you can make payments using foreign credit cards, Paypal, etc.
Link for more info: http://asiahelp24.org/2008/11/asiahelp-24-bill-payment-assistance-form/
Hey Dima.. the link doesn’t seem to work…
I just launched a new online menswear shop for expats (www.daftshopping.com) and I’m interested to know about your services. Drop us a line some time. cheers,
I am new here in China, at least as far as working here and I was wondering if it is possible to get a debit card to pay bills on line in the US. I teach American accounting and asked my assistant but I think it got lost in translation. Any advice would be great, and thank you before hand.
As far as I know this isn’t possible with a regular Chinese bank account. I believe Bank of America had a partnership with China Construction Bank though, so you may want to check with them and see if there’s some way to open dual-country accounts of some sort.
By “debit card”, do you mean a Visa-style debit card, where you’re able to use it as a credit card? I’m not from the US, but I know this is a common feature of US debit cards. It isn’t a feature of Chinese debit cards as best I know. You could look at getting a Chinese credit card that has CNY/USD balances (I know these exist as I have one) and use that to pay for bills if your bills can be paid by credit card.