I'm in the USA and have a small Chinese hosting company with a partner in China. We can't figure out a good method to send funds back and forth. We have a bank account at the Bank of China, but they evidently don't like sending currency out of China since their fees are very expensive, which doesn't help when the hosting prices are as small as they are.

Does anyone have any knowledge about China-USA funds transactions?

Thanks,

- Richard Skenderian

your best bet is western union... offices everywhere in china

Thanks, I didn't even think of that one ;)
I'll investigate how it compares to other methods.

and also HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corporation)

The best way is to do underground, details cannot be disclosured in public though.

Why do you want to complicate the things?
There are lots of ways to do it if u trust each other.
Most simple is to have a join account in China or US and u two have both a debit card for each other.
Or you can open 2 accounts on the same person with two differenct debit cards. With online banking transfering funds in the account of the same bank is free and instant with most banks.
Or u can open an account for each person.
Or u can use paypal.

Western Union will eat your funds with fees starting at 20% ending up with 7% but no less. Bank wires are also not realy cheap.

Personaly i cant think of a cheaper way then having money on a joint debit card and each holder withdawns his part. Using card at ATM outside the country does have 1.5% fee at the most or if u shop online or offline its free, some cards are even free for ATM use worldwide!

With PayPal u will lose smth like 4% if u dont send over 10.000$ / month. But its still much better for small amounts then a Bank transfer and ofcouse ALOT better then Western Union/MoneyGram.

Ask your parnet from China to open a new account with a new debit card in the same bank. Tell him to mail u the card with FedEx or DHL and then e-mail the PIN code. He will add funds to the card in China with no fee, and u will be able to use the card in US or online. Tell him to chose the card which has lowest fees on using outside of China.

Hope it helps.

gngonline, I don't think you understand the whole concept of currency control. RMB cannot be transfer outside China without apply for approval first, Period!

Originally posted by hostingasia
gngonline, I don't think you understand the whole concept of currency control. RMB cannot be transfer outside China without apply for approval first, Period!

Read again, i did not suggested to make any bank transfers at all.
I suggested to use a debit card.
Yes, i have no clue about China laws about currency but i dont think there are such rules in any country, that everytime u travel with a debit/credit card in your wallet u have to get an approval so u can pay for the food u buy in Costa Rica. If it is so, maybe u have to get an appoval for every purchase u pay with PayPal also ?

That's why it's called Mainland China, they have things that's completely different than else where.

Hostingasia, gngonline has the correct idea. You can purchase a pre-loaded debit card and transfer funds thru the debit card. What you do is log on the a VT and transfer the amount of funds to the debit card. Then the debit card holder (in your case the US) can go to an ATM, POS, bank spend and use the funds as needed. Using a pre-loaded debit card is much less expensive then wiring funds, or using western union.

Are you talking about transfer funds within China? That's why you need pre-load debit card? I was referring to getting the money out of China. In Hong Kong, it's very easy to do it, but they are underground really.

Western Union provides a variety of benefits to other solutions.

I've looked at the various means in practicality, and I think there's no argument about which way is best, but which way is best for you.

Credit cards will work fine. Western Union works fine as well, but currency must be changed into USD from RMB first before sending, as WU will only send USD. China has strict laws about currency control. In order to even aquire USD to be able to transfer, you need to know someone on the inside of the banking industry there who will help you in such a 'favor', for whatever 'reason'.

It is a very complicated matter, doing business with China, because of the variety of laws involved. Mainland China is different, and they are not a capitalism. Legal businesses require government sanctions, which, in turn, requires you knowing somebody in the proper government department and "paying them the necessary fees" to assist your cause in being legally sanctioned - which are how things are done in the Mainland. Your selection of government individuals to assist you and your "contributions" as such - whether a set recurrent sum or a percentage of revenues - determine your taxation level, which is completely decided by your governement ally. Additionally, 51% of profits must remain in China, by law, from any government sanctioned business venture.

If you set up a legally sanctioned business, your costs will escalate, and you will also then need the international approval of organizations such as China and the USA. In order to be pofitable as a legally sanctioned business, you must find ways around the strict laws. In order to set up a legally sanctioned business, you have to know the right people and provide the 'incentive' for them to care about your cause. So hence, it is not in your best interest, in this case of a legally-sactioned business, to have copious records of transactions.

If you don't set up a legally sanctioned business, then you still need to know people on the inside who will 'help' you. It's not really in your best interest, in this case of a non-sanctioned enterprise, to have copious records of transactions.

In short, anyway you go, you're going to need to go underground in some form or another. Which is why HostingAsia makes the statement about the necessity of going underground - which, inevitably, you must do somehow, regardless of your setup.

An additional problem is that the majority of Chinese clients will host, what is in China, illegal content. They have amazing resources and techniques at hand to 'hide' this content even from you as their host. Further, because China does not recognize copyrights, patents, or intellectual property, many Chinese clients will host material that is illegal in the USA and most other Countries which abide by intellectual property.

Therefore, it is in your best interest to set up 'protection' - which is a whole other story. Even if you constantly monitor the content of what you're hosting.

The way in which you decide to transfer funds is dependent on your business setup in China. Western Union is, I think, ultimately the simplest and least expensive method in the long run .. for me, at least, and probably in the vast majority of instances.

In sum, Asian hosting is indeed a specialized endeavor.

Thanks to those who've contributed the various solutions.

- Corptex

God, i cant think of a situation where everytime my card gets charged by some service like Online Game subscribtion or a Phone/ISP company i should go and ask for approval. Please let Blizzard/Mythik/NCsoft/Sony charge my card, i wana play :(

Read posts carefully and understand them and their intentions before you resort to an irrelevent sarcasm which proves you haven't read the post carefully, nor understood it or its intention.

You put in your useful suggestion. I replied that the method you outlined was sound, and something we put thought into - but that many other factors go into making a decision regarding this matter. I don't think you understand these other important matters - which hostingasia and myself have contributed - otherwise you'd have more respect.

Certainly, there are many ways you could have 'contributed' without stooping to insult somebody to make a point. Did something offend you, personally? I don't think so. Nobody in any way devalued your initial contribution; we have been discussing other matters which have impact on the end-result decision.

Nobody of any worth wants to have to listen to such unproductive negativism. It only wastes peoples' time when they're here to improve themselves or contribute to others.

I'm not here for your sophomoric entertainment. I have a business to run and a family to support. I have a job that I need to do, and do right.

Now I have to take the time to scold your childish attitude and actions towards others, because somebody has to for the welfare of the society we all live in. I shouldn't have to do this, but unfortunately, your father obviously hasn't done his job of integrating you into society very well, nor showing you what respect truly is and why it is important, nor of the means to possess it, so now complete strangers are unnecessarily burdened with your rudimentary and remedial education.

Respect (RE = again + Spect = to see) means literally 'to look again'.

Read the posts again until you understand them.

WU will not allow you to send too much to China every month if you don't have any special permission or license.

Wire transfer or Western Union is the way to go for China to USA transactions. I don't know of many other effective to transfer money between China and the USA besides those.