WeChat Pay

Here's an overview of how WeChat Pay works in relation to China Payments Plugin.

WeChat Pay is one of the most widely used payment methods in China. Accepting WeChat Pay on your website can expose your business to a huge number of potential customers by offering them a trusted payment method.

Why Stripe + WeChat Pay?

Stripe has created a partnership with WeChat Pay that allows you or your business to accept international (cross-border) payments from Chinese consumers.

Identity Verification restrictions

The WeChat Pay + Stripe partnership means that only Chinese consumers with identity verified WeChat accounts can make payments.

Users of WeChat and Alipay who have not verified their identity cannot make payments via this Stripe integration. This is simply because the current partnership between Stripe and WeChat and/or Chinese regulations do not allow this. Unverified WeChat users who do not have a verified WeChat account will receive an error message if they try to make a payment on your website.

Should this payment situation change in the future, we will update our documentation.

Cross-Border Settlements

Verified WeChat Pay users who make a payment are considered to be making a "foreign transaction". This is because it is Chinese consumers paying a foreign entity (you or your business) through your Stripe account integration.

To make this foreign transaction possible, WeChat Pay uses cross-border settlement. This means that WeChat Pay users will pay in their local currency, CNY, and WeChat will then send your Stripe account the exact amount you charged in your Stripe account's local currency.

For example, let's say you're selling a product or service for $100 on your website. The payment form will display $100 and the forecasted CNY exchange rate. When the WeChat Pay user clicks "Submit Payment" and scans the QR code with WeChat, the $100 is converted to CNY and the corresponding amount will be paid in CNY. WeChat Pay handles the exchange rate. Your Stripe account will show the payment method as WeChat Pay and the amount received in your account will be $100. Stripe then deducts the transaction fees. You will not pay any exchange rate fees because WeChat Pay manages the exchange rate for the customer.

See our User Experience documentation for other details about how it works.