Getting paid by wechat while living in Europe

[Gollygordon]

Would not trustless be a bad thing?

I doubt OP has a HRP, and for opening an account in China he would probably need a visa that’s valid for more than 180 days .
Give up !!!

Trustless in the sense that you don't need an intermediary or third party to process your transaction and hence don't need anyone to 'approve' your wish to transact.

Ie, you don't need to deal with all the annoying middle men being discussed in this thread as the 'trust' element of the transaction is placed upon a decentralised network as opposed to a specific body or platform.

The Brit did rightly point out that technically this tech is illegal in China (basically because they know it has been used to evade their capital controls for years) and thus sadly wouldn't work here for a professional transaction.

Just as a general rule, I would advise anyone wishing to wire money to another individual or entity to look into doing so via stable coins. Depending on circumstances it will often be cheaper, faster and less stressful than your other existing options.

[lighthse003]

You can activate overseas withdrawal function and withdraw cash from a HK ATM card in other countries. You will need a wechat or Alipay HONG KONG account to link up with a HK bank account.

[lighthse003]

Use a reliable moneychanger in HK.
Small fee or no fee.
Process only takes about an hour.
But the amount each time should not be large.

What other way is there to get money from China?

1) Paypal. But the fees are absolutely horrendous. It would cut my (small) margin of profit.
2) Bank transfer: cheaper but takes a very long time.

I just got a new customer this morning. The work isn't much, but the margin of profit is very small, so I can't pay high fees when transferring the money.

[Philips]

I am not in HK.
What about alipay? I forgot about that
Does it work well and with low fees to get payments from China?

[mengfei]

I am not in HK.
What about alipay? I forgot about that
Does it work well and with low fees to get payments from China?

as I said before Wechat Pay AND ALIPAY in china is Limited in china ONLY, you can't cross border transfer & even local transfers have limitations also. This is how they control funds here in the middle kingdom.

Wechat pay/ ALIPAY HK does not equate to Wechat/ ALIPAY pay china

What i do for a friend is transfer to his HK bank via my HK bank while I receive the rmb here in china, charges may apply & exchange rate may vary.

Last choice would be Western Union BUT the rates are low & the fees are high

[angeluscomplex]

The 'fee' is hidden in the rate.

[angeluscomplex]

Use a reliable moneychanger in HK.
Small fee or no fee.
Process only takes about an hour.
But the amount each time should not be large.

All fees form part of the exchange rate.

Eg. 500 GBP to HKD = $20 exchange rate. (Hypothetical)

The $20 has the fee for the service built in.

[HSY]

What other way is there to get money from China?

How about one of those middlemen services like Silkpay? They cater to small businesses and potentially individuals (or at least site faq says that) - no harm emailing them to ask. If eligible, it's free to open account, fee only payable per transfer. Not ideal solution but if their commission isn't too outrageous compared to the cost of your bank transfer or paypal fees, at least this offers your customers the payment method they prefer and they can avoid the forex admin required in order to pay you via bank transfer. Could be helpful in attracting more work from China.

https://www.silkpay.eu/