It’s definitely no secret that transferring money out of China can be a very painful process. Many expats in China often experience moments of frustration while transferring or exchanging money between China and their home country.
Regardless of what you want to do with it, whether it be to family, friends, or your own account to pay off debt or save money, it seems that expats are usually left with very few options. They often have a hefty fee or require a long process of paperwork and headaches.
Have you ever been to a Chinese bank to exchange and left feeling ripped off by the ridiculous commission fee?
Have you ever popped into an idea that your Chinese bank to “quickly” transfer money from your Chinese account to a foreign account and left with mission incomplete or HOURS later hoping the money appears on the other side? Later checking your foreign account to find the money did in fact arrive but not without extremely high fees and you wonder was it even worth it?
If you’re nodding your head yes to any of these, then read on.
There is an easier way to transfer and exchange money!!!
Introducing, Swapsy, the new simpler and more convenient way to transfer money digitally!
Theswapsy.com is a digital currency exchange platform that connects you to other users interested in doing an exchange (or “swap”) and allows you to do so using yourAlipay, WeChat Pay, Zelle, and PayPal accounts. Once the introduction is made, you and the other user can exchange USD for RMB (or vice versa) directly on Swapsy.
For example, an American expat in China looking to exchange some of his RMB to USD can log into Swapsy and be automatically paired with someone interested in exchanging their USD for RMB.
Sounds too good to be true, right? There must be a crazy fee or exchange rate, right?
Wrong! Fees are as low as .4% with a 0% exchange rate from USD to RMB!
**Transaction fees may vary based on your preferred e-payment method.
Swapsy simplifies the entire money-transfer process down to 6 easy steps:
Step 1: Verify your identity with an ID
We just want to make sure that you are, in fact, you.
A quick upload of your passport or local ID will do the trick. Then you need to get selfie verified. Every user must upload a photo I.D. along with a picture of themselves holding the exact I.D. previously uploaded. A quick upload of your passport or local ID.
After this step is completed, you will need to wait until your uploaded photos are verified before moving on to the next step.
Once verified, both the “Photo ID” and the “Selfie with the same ID” box will be green.
Step 2: Upload info for e-wallet
For the time being, Swapsy only accepts 4 e-wallets: Alipay, WeChat Pay, Zelle, and PayPal accounts.
You’ll need to upload the e-wallet that you wanna receive the money.
Make sure to upload the correct information under the corresponding e-wallet so that you are able to receive the money from your matches.
Once your IDs are verified and wallets are uploaded, you may start the swapping process!
Step 3: Specify your currency and amount
Select which of the 2 currencies you’re exchanging and how much. Easy peasy!
After this step is complete, you’ll also need to select the e-wallets in which you would like your money to come from and be placed in.
For example:
If you want to exchange $1,012 USD to CNY. After entering 1,012 in the text box, you can either pick the $763 Swap via Zelle from the list on the left or the $1,305 Swap via PayPal from the list on the right. These are the best matches recommended by Swapsyfor the two e-wallets respectively.
Or, if you want to exchange exactly $1,012 USD, you can create your own Swap by clicking either one of the buttons on the bottom, depending on the e-wallet you want to use to send the USD.
Step 4: Send your request
(Skip this step if pick from list)
Once you’ve sent your money transfer request, just wait while our awesome team finds the perfect match for you.
If you start your own Swap in Step 3, you will be waiting to be matched with another verified user with similar currency needs. If at any time during the transaction you decide to cancel, you may do so by simply clicking on the “Cancel Swap” icon.
Sometimes you may get a match after submitting your own Swap request. In that case, you will see the screenshot of Step 5 and need to act accordingly.
Step 5: Congrats! You have a match!
If you pick a match from the list in Step 3, you get a match immediately and land on this page to send money to the other verified user’s account. You will have 1 hour to complete the transaction. Before clicking on the icon indicating you have sent the requested amount of money, you should include the given transaction code in a note so that your match is able to confirm the transaction. You can also upload your transfer proof to accelerate the process.
If you start your own Swap and get a match later, you will have 18 hours to send the funds.
The last step in this entire process is just as seamless as the others.
Step 6: Confirm receipt of payment
Now that you’ve sent your match’s requested amount along with the transaction code, you should also confirm that you have received money from your match. To increase the matching efficiency and help you get the money faster, the funds sometimes will be split into multiple payments. You need to confirm each of them respectively. Once this step is taken, you will have fully completed your transaction and your e-wallet will contain the swapped currency!
Double check that you’ve received the transfer in the other currency, and voila! You’re all set!
See, with these 6 easy steps, you are able to exchange and transfer money without even leaving the house!
Thanks to Swapsy’s verification process, users need not worry about potential defaults as the risk is entirely born by the platform itself. What this means is, in case of a user not following through with their transfer, Swapsy will reimburse you the full amount!