AlipayHK is great for everyday buying on Taobao, but still, it’s limited in certain ways. You can’t use it to buy many gaming or cloud services. For example, baiduyun (the cloud service from Baidu) requires a China-based payment gateway only. And worst of all, Goofish disabled support for AlipayHK since last year. I have spent much less since then.
Now, AlipayHK can remit fund to Alipay! News source from HK01.The new change effects since March 2023 after the lifting of travel restrictions across the border. This is very convenient for those like me who don’t have a China bank account but enjoy online shopping.
There are some caveats though…
- The transfer is one-way only. You cannot transfer funds from Alipay back to AlipayHK. Actually, you still require a China bank account to withdraw the fund.
- There’s a service fee if the transfer amount doesn’t reach the threshold. I think it’s around HK$3000.
- In order to receive the fund on the mainland side, you will need to verify your Alipay(CN) account by providing scan copy of “Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macau Residents.
Fortunately, my mainland travel permit has not expired yet. It’s the first time I have put it to good use. My Alipay account successfully receives the fund after completing the verification steps. My goddess, I need to get hold of my spending spree!