What is the best alternative for cash payments in Thailand?
Is there any payment system in Thailand that can be used instead of cash payments?
There is AliPay in China, Sberbank in Russia; Visa and Mastercard are accepted almost worldwide, but I couldn't find such a wide-acceptable payment system in Thailand.
About Visa/MasterCard/Union/...: a lot of shops, gas stations, restaurants, pharmacies, hotels, etc. don't accept any card at all — they just ignore all known types of cards. 7-Eleven shops accept cards only when the total is greater than 600฿, thanks gods there is FamilyMart (no restrictions, and a lot of tiny shops).
I saw True Wallet, but it is only for Thai-citizens (there are no other versions of the app excepting Thai-language version). And it doesn't look so popular (maybe I am wrong).
But the whole world is moving towards e-money. So, does anybody know how to stop using cash in Thailand?
Best Answer
If you mean a cashless payment system I saw a lot of people in Thailand use LinePay (with Line application), Paypal and a Samsung app with NFC. But sure applications and cashless systems are not really famous and used like China, Korea, and Japan.
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Quick Answer about "What is the best alternative for cash payments in Thailand?"
- TrueMoney: At 16.8%, the TrueMoney wallet tops the list of Thailand's preferred payment methods. ...
- PromptPay: In 2021, Thai customers used PromptPay for an average of nearly 800 million transactions every single month (Bank of Thailand).
What is the best way to pay for things in Thailand?
Cash is the most widely accepted payment method in Thailand; you'll need it for smaller shops and market stalls. There are ATMs all over the country; these usually charge a THB200 foreign transaction fee per withdrawal, so consider taking out larger amounts of cash at a time.What are the payment methods in Thailand?
In the Thai payments market, cards have a 17% share of the market. 19% use e-wallets, 31% bank transfer and 22% prefer cash payments [4]. The remaining 11% is shared among various cross-border and Thai local payment methods [4]. The card market is dominated by Visa, with a 68% market share [4].What other payment options are there besides paying cash?
Alternative methods of payment are means of making a payment other than cash. Alternative methods of payment (AMOP) include payments made using a credit or debit card, loyalty program points, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or virtual wallets like Google Pay or Apple Pay. Another popular AMOP is Venmo.What payment apps work in Thailand?
There are several mobile wallets available to consumers in Thailand, with TrueMoney being the largest, followed by RabbitLINE Pay, AirPay, mPay, GrabPay and others. In parallel with mobile wallets, the real-time payment scheme PromptPay is gaining significant traction.Top Payment Methods in Thailand
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Answer 2
There are several. LinePay, Lazada Wallet, RabbitCard, Paypal, PaysBuy (bought out by Omise ???), BluePay, Mpay. You already mentioned TrueWallet. You want official links? How about the Bank of Thailand (pdf version; 20% English but with logos)
Most banks have some sort of method where bills can be paid directly via online banking. Some banks you can actually initiate and/or collect WesternUnion incoming transfers via online banking. You can pay most people via direct bank transfer either online or via cash deposit machine (CDM).
Technically PromptPay is connected to your bank account (and a Thai mobile #). And currently you can transfer up to 50k baht to different banks instantly FREE via mobile/online banking (maybe a limit of 5 or 10 interbank transfers per month) same-bank transfers are normally free "unlimited" online also. But a CDM or ATM machine may have a charge for receiving accounts that are opened in a different region (province) than the origin of the transfer.
Tesco, Big C, 7-eleven, ThaiPost have ability to pay bills, but I think you must pay in cash in most cases. Orange Machines (in front of most 7-elevens and convenience stores) can also be used to pay certain bills.
Plus a lot of mom/pop shops can be used to topup or pay a bill....usually mobile sim topups.
Visa/Mastercard are accepted in most larger companies/chain stores. Technically Visa/MC are credit or debit (which is usually attached to a bank account). Don't you also have to topup AliPay, Sberbank, etc with cash before you can start using it?
At the core of this question, there is a need to exchange the money into THB before it can be used in Thailand. So you do end up interfacing with a bank at some point, even if the exchange is automated (like at the ATM or a Visa/MC payment). Cash is still king in this part of the world. Just like computers were supposed to make things paperless, but it produced more paper; it is similar with money. Money has been electronic for quite some time now....but there will still be a need for cash. Central banks already have a lot of trust.
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