RetireJapan

Hi all, I have recently seen a tonne of new shops have begun accepting Pay Pay and Line Pay as alternate payment mechanisms so I wanted to start a thread where people can discuss and share the benefits (and drawbacks) of each payment system. Some of the ones I am aware of are Apple Pay, Suica, Passmo, Pay Pay, AliPay, Line Pay but I am sure there are others.

I currently only use Suica (which I fund via Apple Wallet). There are no financial benefits to using it but, at least around Tokyo, it can be used in a lot of places (although Pay Pay seems more ubiquitous now). Also, obviously, it can be used on any train service (with a tiny discount). The other upside is that using Apple Wallet I can fund the Suica using an overseas credit card which gives me easy access to overseas cash without having to pay to transfer it to Japan (my overseas account allows me to pre-convert money to Yen so there are no exchange fees or other fees for withdrawing Yen). But that benefit is unique to my situation as I have overseas income. So the bottom line is that the only benefit is the convenience of paying for things with your phone.

The downside is that I find the Suica App doesn't accurately reflect the current balance (but Apple Wallet does so it doesn't really matter). It also maxes out at 20,000 Yen cap so you have to fund it fairly frequently and it could not be used for large purchases (I would use a CC for that anyway). Otherwise I have never had any issue using it.

Does anyone use any of the other cash-free services? If so, how do they work and what are the benefits?

Well the main benefit is the temporary cashless rebate: https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/cashless-rebates/

Many of the new entrants are offering sign up bonuses and special deals to attract customers.

I decided to stick with credit cards as they get the rebate anyway and seem more robust/safer than the new systems (and I'm lazy so can't be bothered to really try this stuff).

Anyone else?

Good point. For clarity, that rebate is available for credit cards too so it isn't really a perk of using one of the cashless systems. What I am looking for is whether any of these systems offer a cashback or points system. That way, if you fund them with a credit card you get points both from the payment system and from your card (which appeals to the point hacker in me).

I believe what you are looking for is a system like Rakuten Pay or Kyash (which is something I really like - but have yet to try).

Rakuten Pay only works for domestic credit cards, which I dislike. My understanding of Kyash is that accepts foreign credit cards as well AND currently charges no fees for charging via credit card and you get Kyash points when you make the purchase. But the footprint is limited and the daily/monthly balance is low.

Many of them distribute coupons - free drinks, snacks etc. Nothing big, but still nice to get.
For me the biggest advantage is ability to go for a walk or quick shopping in combini without carrying a huge wallet (I don't want to take credit card out of wallet).
I use LinePay and Famipay (only because of coupons and because it doesnt reqire bank account info - it can be charged at the register).

vapid wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 7:44 am I believe what you are looking for is a system like Rakuten Pay or Kyash (which is something I really like - but have yet to try).

Rakuten Pay only works for domestic credit cards, which I dislike. My understanding of Kyash is that accepts foreign credit cards as well AND currently charges no fees for charging via credit card and you get Kyash points when you make the purchase. But the footprint is limited and the daily/monthly balance is low.

Thanks for drawing my attention to Kyash - I will look into it.

Ori wrote: ↑Wed Nov 13, 2019 7:31 am Many of them distribute coupons - free drinks, snacks etc. Nothing big, but still nice to get.
For me the biggest advantage is ability to go for a walk or quick shopping in combini without carrying a huge wallet (I don't want to take credit card out of wallet).
I use LinePay and Famipay (only because of coupons and because it doesnt reqire bank account info - it can be charged at the register).

Thanks. I am more of a 7-11 guy so not sure if FamiPay would be worth it for me. For LinePay are the coupons worth it in your opinion? Are the coupons good value and easy to use? Do you know if you can fund Line Pay with a CC?

eyeswideshut wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2019 1:09 am Thanks. I am more of a 7-11 guy so not sure if FamiPay would be worth it for me. For LinePay are the coupons worth it in your opinion? Are the coupons good value and easy to use?

Not so much anymore. I wouldn't bother only because of coupons.
However, it is also convenient if you use other Line services like Delima, Pokeo etc. Those have been often having sales campaigns lately.

eyeswideshut wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2019 1:09 am Do you know if you can fund Line Pay with a CC?

It seems no.

There is also Merupay from Mercari. They also have coupons and stuff, but they are accepted only in few places, unless you have docomo phone with iD.

In general, it seems the big promotions are over for most popular cashless systems.

PayPay looks quite compelling. I downloaded their app and it was super-easy to set up.

If you don’t want to link it to your credit card or bank account, you can just charge it with cash at Seven Eleven.

I really didn’t want to move away from Apple Pay, but lots of small merchants are starting to take PayPay as their only alternative to cash.

ricardo wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2019 11:53 am PayPay looks quite compelling. I downloaded their app and it was super-easy to set up.

If you don’t want to link it to your credit card or bank account, you can just charge it with cash at Seven Eleven.

I really didn’t want to move away from Apple Pay, but lots of small merchants are starting to take PayPay as their only alternative to cash.

I don't see why it's a one or the other choice. I use Apple Pay (although really it's QuicPay, cause my card is a visa card and fuck visa) and paypay when quick pay is unavailable (cause messing around with QR codes then typing in the amount yourself is annoying).

Hopefully as the Olympics get closer, we'll see more integration of NFC payment systems and Apple Pay and the like will become more ubiquitous (and visa will actually allow their cards to be used with Apple Pay).