Paying a factory on the other side of the world is one of the first practical problems a new importer meets, and the method you choose changes both your cost and your exposure if something goes wrong. There are several ways to transfer money to China, each suited to a different situation: a sample order is not the same as a 30% deposit on a container. This article covers the methods in use in 2026, what each costs, and which ones to avoid.
One point before the list of ways to transfer money to China. The method matters less than the due diligence. Verifying that the supplier is a real company, that the bank account belongs to that company rather than to an individual, and that the goods will be inspected before final payment protects you far more than any payment channel does. The most common loss in this business is not a hacked transfer; it is money sent to a legitimate account for goods that never arrive or arrive unusable.
How to Transfer Money to China and Pay Suppliers
Transfer Money to China: International Wire Transfer (T/T)
The telegraphic transfer, or T/T, is still how most people transfer money to China. The standard structure is 30% deposit before production and 70% against shipping documents or before shipment. Nearly every supplier accepts it, it handles any transaction size, and the paperwork is simple.
Its weakness is cost and speed through a high-street bank: a wire can take two to five days, and the real expense is usually not the stated fee but the exchange rate margin, which is often 2% to 4% above the mid-market rate and is not itemised. On a US$50,000 order that is more than the wire fee by an order of magnitude. Ask your bank what rate they are applying, and compare it against the mid-market rate before accepting it.
Transfer Money to China: Wise, Airwallex and Payoneer
The most useful change in the last decade is that specialist payment platforms now handle business transfers to China at a fraction of a bank’s cost. Wise charges a transparent fee and uses the mid-market rate rather than marking it up. Airwallex is built for exactly this trade and is widely used by companies importing from China. Payoneer is common among smaller e-commerce importers.
For most importers these are now the default way to transfer money to China for anything below letter-of-credit scale. The savings are real: on regular orders, the difference between a bank’s exchange margin and a platform’s mid-market rate typically pays for a great deal else. The limitations are per-transaction caps on some accounts, and that the supplier must be able to receive into a Chinese business account, which nearly all export-oriented factories can.
Transfer Money to China: Paying in Renminbi
You can also transfer money to China in its own currency. Paying in yuan rather than dollars has become straightforward and is worth considering. Over 30% of China’s trade is now settled in renminbi, against around 2% a decade ago, and cross-border yuan payments run through CIPS, China’s own clearing system. Wise and Airwallex both support CNY payments to Chinese business accounts.
The advantage is that the supplier does not need to convert, which sometimes buys a better price, and you control the exchange rate rather than accepting theirs. The trade-off is that you carry the currency risk instead of them. Which is better depends on the size of the order and where you think the rate is going; for a regular buyer, quoting both ways and comparing is worth the ten minutes.
Transfer Money to China: Alipay and WeChat Pay
Alipay and WeChat Pay are how China actually pays for things domestically, and both now handle cross-border transactions. Alipay’s international services support business payments, and WeChat Pay has expanded to accept foreign cards. For a foreign importer, they are most useful for small transactions: sample orders, tooling deposits, freight fees, and paying agents or inspectors on the ground.
They are not the right channel for a production payment. Transaction limits, the difficulty of getting a proper invoice, and the lack of a paper trail suited to customs and accounting all argue against using them for anything substantial. Use them for the small payments that a wire makes disproportionately expensive.
Transfer Money to China: Letter of Credit
A letter of credit remains the most secure way to transfer money to China for large orders, typically above US$50,000. The buyer’s bank guarantees payment against presentation of specified documents, so the supplier is paid only when it can prove it shipped what was agreed. Most large and medium factories accept them; small ones often cannot.
The costs are the reason it is not universal: bank fees on both sides, complex paperwork, and technical language where a single discrepancy in a document can delay payment for weeks. For a large first order with an unfamiliar supplier it is worth the friction. For routine repeat orders it usually is not.
Transfer Money to China: Escrow and Trade Assurance
Escrow is a way to transfer money to China that holds the funds with a third party until both sides agree to release it. Alibaba’s Trade Assurance is the version most importers meet, and it does provide real protection on orders placed and paid through the platform, with a defined dispute process.
The limitations are worth knowing. Protection applies only to what the order contract specifies, so a vague specification protects you poorly. Disputes are resolved by the platform, not a court. And the protection ends at the platform’s boundary: an order arranged on Alibaba but paid outside it has none. Escrow is genuinely useful for a first order with a new supplier and less useful as a substitute for a proper contract.
Transfer Money to China: PayPal
PayPal offers buyer protection and many suppliers accept it, which makes it attractive for samples and very small orders. The fees make it unattractive for anything larger: transaction charges plus a currency conversion margin that is among the highest of any method here. Its buyer protection is also weaker for goods shipped internationally than most people assume, and suppliers frequently ask buyers to send as “friends and family,” which removes the protection entirely. If a supplier asks you to do that, decline.
Transfer Money to China: Western Union
Western Union is a legacy way to transfer money to China and we do not recommend it for supplier payments. It is fast and the fees are modest, which is why some suppliers still ask for it, but the transfer is effectively irreversible and there is no buyer protection of any kind. A supplier who insists on Western Union, and particularly one who wants it sent to a personal name rather than a company, is displaying the exact pattern that fraud follows.
Better options now exist at similar or lower cost, which removes the only real argument for using it. If a supplier will accept nothing else, treat that as information about the supplier.
Further Aspects of Paying Suppliers in China
When you transfer money to China, timing the payments reduces risk more than the channel does. The industry standard is 30% deposit before production and 70% on completion, and the second half is where your leverage lives. Paying the balance before inspection leaves you with defective goods and no recourse; making it conditional on a third-party inspection gives the factory a direct reason to produce what was agreed. Most factories run on thin margins and cannot afford to scrap a batch or dump it domestically, so that condition works.
Three practical rules. Pay a company, not a person. The account name should match the company name on the contract and the business licence; a request to pay a personal account or a Hong Kong entity unrelated to the supplier is a serious warning sign. Verify any change of bank details by phone, using a number you already had, not one in the email requesting the change. Payment redirection fraud, where an intercepted email supplies new account details, is the most common way importers lose money. And get a fapiao, China’s official tax invoice, for the payment; a supplier who cannot issue one is either not properly registered or is not declaring the transaction.
Summary
For most importers the practical way to transfer money to China is a specialist platform such as Wise or Airwallex for regular orders, a letter of credit for large first orders with an unfamiliar supplier, Alipay or WeChat Pay for small payments on the ground, and not Western Union. But the payment method is the last line of defence, not the first. Verifying the supplier, writing a specification precise enough to enforce, and inspecting before the final payment prevent far more losses than any transfer channel.
Every supplier accepts only certain methods, so the choice is not always entirely yours. Where it is, choose the one that keeps a document trail and leaves you leverage until the goods have been checked. Supplier verification, contracting, and pre-shipment inspection are what our product sourcing service and quality assurance service handle on every order we manage.
