Is the international economic structure faltering before our eys right now?

[JimKnopf]

Two weeks ago, i could place one of my small orders on PCBWay and pay (as usual to me for international orders) using my VISA Card.

It seems to me that PCBWay, one of the major PCB manufacturers, no longer wants to serve international customers. They have dropped VISA Card, one of the most widely used international payment methods, as a payment option. Currently, I am only offered Payoneer or bank transfer for an extra fee of $30 to pay my orders.

Is our international economic structure currently faltering? Does it no longer make sense to outsource orders to China? Have you had recently similar experiences with other companies/other industries?

[jonpaul]

Everything will be fine.

Just use a different chicom vendor.

OR BUY AMERICAN!

j

[ebastler]

Their website, updated a week ago, says they still accept all major credit cards (but not Paypal apparently):
https://www.pcbway.com/helpcenter/paymentprocess/Which_payment_methods_can_I_use_on_PCBWay_.html

Which country are you based in? Or could this be some limitation on your Visa account?

In any case, your choice of thread title is either a very sweeping generalization or clickbait. One karma point deducted.

[nctnico]

They have dropped VISA Card, one of the most widely used international payment methods, as a payment option.

You have got this bit very wrong. VISA sucks pretty bad and has been leaving a lot of markets. My bank (located in the Netherlands) gave me a Visa debit card about 10 years ago but after two weeks I had it exchanged for Mastercard. The acceptance of Visa was already piss-poor back then. The Visa card didn't even work to pay for parking at the biggest airport in the Netherlands  How can they issue a debit card which isn't accepted locally? So far Mastercard has worked the best for me both locally and across the world.

[magic]

Funny, I might start using LCSC if they accept AliPay instead of VISA and PayPal

[soldar]

They still list Visa/MC/Discover on their website.

[JimKnopf]

After overcoming some hurdles, I was finally able to pay using Payoneer today. They sent me an invitation link and I was able to use my VISA card.

However, customer service was always friendly and helpful at all times.

[soldar]

I am quite relieved to know the international economic structure is not faltering before our eyes right now.

Nevertheless I will continue watching the international economic structure for a few more days just to be sure.

[Stray Electron]

I am quite relieved to know the international economic structure is not faltering before our eyes right now.

Nevertheless I will continue watching the international economic structure for a few more days just to be sure.

  Thank God!  I don't know how we'd ever survive with Chinese imports and being able to pay for them via a credit card.

  \sarcasm

[Haenk]

Two weeks ago, i could place one of my small orders on PCBWay and pay (as usual to me for international orders) using my VISA Card.

There might be contractual differences on "debit" and "credit" VISA cards. The debit cards are not widely accepted, while the "credit" cards usually are.

[Electrodynamic]

Of course the international economic structure has faltered as well as international law but people are too scared to talk about it. It's all over the news.

The U.S. government has become radicalized and abandoned not only there allies but the rule of law. However it's not all bad and most skilled people and companies fleeing the U.S. are looking elsewhere. For example, Canada just signed a trillion dollar trade deal with China.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/livestory/canada-china-electric-vehicles-canola-trade-deal-carney-xi-9.7048058

China has 1.4 Billion people and is the biggest market on the planet. China is also the biggest EV maker and BYD EV's are now coming to Canada at half the price of a Tesla. The Canadian PM, Mark Carney, made a brilliant move opening more free trade with China. We should do more business with people who respect us as people and our laws.

In business there is one basic rule, never piss off your customer or they are going to look elsewhere.

[VEGETA]

I am suffering from this issue as well, their website says paypal is not currently available and customer support told me it does not have an ETA soon.

I am ok paying with my bank but the issue is they cannot ship to local chinese address (my fulfillment company) unless shipment is paid with RMB... what a weird situation! like sending +5000$ in USD via bank transfer still does not make me deliver the products to my fulfillment company which is in China itself!

they said it will be delivered to free economic zone first, then the forwarder will come pick it up and pay taxes.

I cannot proceed like this all the time, anyone knows what is the end game of this?

I do need to make and deliver to fulfillment company in china.

[soldar]

I am suffering from this issue as well, their website says paypal is not currently available and customer support told me it does not have an ETA soon.

I am ok paying with my bank but the issue is they cannot ship to local chinese address (my fulfillment company) unless shipment is paid with RMB... what a weird situation! like sending +5000$ in USD via bank transfer still does not make me deliver the products to my fulfillment company which is in China itself!

they said it will be delivered to free economic zone first, then the forwarder will come pick it up and pay taxes.

I cannot proceed like this all the time, anyone knows what is the end game of this?

I do need to make and deliver to fulfillment company in china.

Years ago I worked for someone in the same situation. Parts were shipped, exported, to Hong Kong and then shipped back to the manufacturer in China which included those parts in the final product. It seemed to be the only or the most effective way. It was huge business and it may not be worth the effort in smaller volumes.

[VEGETA]

I am suffering from this issue as well, their website says paypal is not currently available and customer support told me it does not have an ETA soon.

I am ok paying with my bank but the issue is they cannot ship to local chinese address (my fulfillment company) unless shipment is paid with RMB... what a weird situation! like sending +5000$ in USD via bank transfer still does not make me deliver the products to my fulfillment company which is in China itself!

they said it will be delivered to free economic zone first, then the forwarder will come pick it up and pay taxes.

I cannot proceed like this all the time, anyone knows what is the end game of this?

I do need to make and deliver to fulfillment company in china.

Years ago I worked for someone in the same situation. Parts were shipped, exported, to Hong Kong and then shipped back to the manufacturer in China which included those parts in the final product. It seemed to be the only or the most effective way. It was huge business and it may not be worth the effort in smaller volumes.

well, right now they accepted payoneer and if using payoneer they can ship directly.

i bet something very huge happening at pcbway... their corporal restructuring seems either real or a cover up for big problem... their name in the bank transfer is "Hangzhou Bozhou Electric Appliance Co., Ltd" so i do not know if this matters.

their support is not answering my questions about the current situation, barely even about the order and payment.

i have small business, wanna make 200 units of my product and it really ticks me off that they went through this while serving customers. they should have planned it beforehand then swiftly do it, to me alone it is taking 3 weeks and counting.

[VEGETA]

I want to ask about those of you who paid them through Payoneer, did you use your credit card or paypal within payoneer? which country are you from?

since I believe you can use your paypal through payoneer to pay, but not sure if all countries are supported.

[Psi]

I used my local online banking to pay through an international bank transfer a week ago and my order changed to "in production" a few days after the transfer. I got a couple or engineering questions to confirm a few days after that, so PCB/PCBA seemed to all be working normally. I will of course post if anything changes.

The online banking transfer option is cheaper anyway, the Paypal fee % gets really expensive for larger orders.

[Infraviolet]

"There might be contractual differences on "debit" and "credit" VISA cards. The debit cards are not widely accepted, while the "credit" cards usually are."

Other way round I suspect, credit cards have a really easy chargeback process, debit cards take more work from a customer nagging their bank in to trying to. I'd expect sellers who were worried about chargebacks might take debit but not credit, the rest ought to take either card type interchangeably.