Cashless payments in 7-11

7-11 is the last place where I regularly go and still pay by cash since PX Mart has started to accept all Taiwanese cards including my contactless Chunghwa Post debit card a few months ago.

http://www.pxmart.com.tw/px/smart_detail.px?id=20361

So as I live in Kinmen I won’t be able to open a bank account where I could use the debit card in 7-11 due to lack of bank branches. 7-11 takes cards from just 4 different Taiwanese banks.

http://www.7-11.com.tw/service/Pay.aspx

But on their English website they are claiming that they are taking all foreign contactless JCB credit cards.

http://www.7-11.com.tw/in/en.html

So it seems that the easiest way to be able to pay cashless in 7-11 would be to wait until the quarantine restrictions in Taiwan and in my home country Thailand are lifted and applying for a contactless JCB credit card while I’m in Thailand. Or does anybody have a better idea how to pay cashless in 7-11? By the way I’m not a fan of mobile payments as there isn’t any faster way than to pay with my contactless card. Also I usually leave my mobile phone at home when leaving my house for not more than a few hours.

I don’t mind to use cash in Thailand as without cash it’s very difficult there. But here in Taiwan where everywhere cashless payments are possible it’s a pain in the ass to still use cash at 7-11 only. Taiwan is by far the most developed country for cashless payments in the world. Even in China on airplanes (at least on Lucky Air) and for paying the bus for a single ride they still only take cash. When I’m in Xiamen I still need to put in 1 Yuan in a box at the driver in cash as they don’t take Alipay or WeChatPay for this. Obviously if you would use a reloadable card for the buses in Xiamen then it would be possible to reload the card using AliPay or WeChatPay. In Europe they often don’t take credit cards in smaller shops and in America they usually either have inflated prices for credit card payments (especially at gas stations) or have a lower limit of $5 for credit card payments.

do you have Samsung Pay app? I have it hooked up to my US acct, and it works at 7-11, just cant buy trash bags.

Same with a foreign card using Apple pay. Don’t know about trash bags.

FWIW, That same card doesn’t work when used physically.

I strongly disagree with this statement.

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If your phone does not have NFC for Google Pay, then you can try Easy Wallet. It uses QR-Codes for transactions in 7-11 stores. The top up can be automatic if you link your bank account.
The registration for the account is a little tedious. No English.

Yeah, that was my first thought too. I’m glad I wasn’t drinking anything when I read that. Easycard etc. are pretty convenient though, of course.

I just tried Apple Pay in a 7-11 before and it was working. My Apple Pay is linked to TransferWise. Normally I use my TransferWise USD balance to pay for stuff which I buy on the Mainland Chinese Taobao website using freight forwarder Yoybuy. So for converting THB into USD I lose about 0.4% using Siam Commercial Bank’s blockchain network Ripple and TransferWise charges me another 0.85% to pay in TWD. So I’m losing about 1.25% for using Apple Pay in 7-11 which is still acceptable.

So as my problem with 7-11 is solved I could live for months here in Kinmen without using any cash. I’m usually only shopping in 7-11, Family Mart, Hi-Life, Carrefour, Poya, Cosmed, Tsannkuen, PX Mart and some other supermarkets which accept cards as well. As they take cards everywhere I effectively don’t need any cash anymore. Even when I go to Sushi Express or to a gas station with my motorbike to refill gas they still take credit cards.

Could I exclusively pay cashless in China, Europe and America? I don’t think so as on many Chinese flights on Chinese airlines they only take cash and I still have to pay by cash for a local Xiamen bus (¥1) as I don’t want to buy a reloadable card. In Europe many smaller Asian supermarkets still only take cash and buying a kebab would also be difficult without cash. In America paying for gas at a gas station is in most cases more expensive when using a card and I always find some smaller shops where they have a lower limit of $5 for paying by card.

I don’t know about Xiamen in particular, but the issue there seems to be that you absolutely can pay cashless but don’t want to buy the reloadable card that allows you to do so. :man_shrugging:

If I choose not to buy an Easycard or equivalent in Taiwan, I also can’t pay cashless, can I?

For the airlines, no idea. Are you guaranteed to be able to pay cashless on Taiwanese airlines, or everywhere in Taiwan for that matter?

I usually use cash anyway because the cashless methods aren’t really appealing to me, but my impression of living in China (Nanjing) was that by around 2015/2016 cashless payment methods were way more developed and utilized than anything I’ve seen elsewhere, including Taiwan at present.

On many Chinese flights on Chinese airlines you can effectively only pay by cash for snacks and drinks and this is clearly stated in their onboard magazine. On almost every airline outside China including Taiwan they take credit cards everywhere. Why should I buy a reloadable card in Taiwan when I just can use the contactless function of my Chunghwa Post debit card to enter the MRT gates in Kaohsiung? I don’t know about Taipei but in Kaohsiung it’s working like this.