What is CUP?

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CUP is a payment method from China. Other names of the methods are China UnionPay or UPI (for international payments) or simply UnionPay. It was founded in 20020. Basically, UnionPay is the biggest card scheme in mainland China. So far, there are more than 7 billion UnionPay cards. CUP works as real-time banking. So, as soon as the customer pays with CUP, s/he receives the goods/services.

UnionPay plays an important role in the Chinese financial system. This interbank network connects all the ATMs across the country. Besides, it offers an e-transfer opportunity. Also, the scheme provides mobile and online payments. CUP is very widespread across China and UnionPay cards are popular all over the world as well.

What are CUP benefits?

As a unified system, UnionPay has many users but also works through partner banks. That ensures a truly wide reach. Thanks to global partner banks, the number of users is even bigger. And online sellers can really benefit from offering CUP as one of the payments. So far, users can access CUP in English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.

Also, CUP system is safe to use. Shoppers pay via the UnionPay payment page. Depending on the payment card type – debit or credit card, customers have to make 2-factor authentication. For debit cards, it will be a PIN code and a one-time passcode. If the shopper pays with the credit card, s/he needs to enter the CVV and the OTP that is sent to the shopper’s phone.

How to use CUP

Generally, CUP works like other online payment systems. As the shopper chooses the goods or services and adds them to the shopping cart, s/he selects the CUP as a payment method. Then, the system redirects the client to the UnionPay (or your bank’s) payment environment. On that page, the users fill in the card’s data or can log in to the system (if there an account).

As we have mentioned before, on the next stage users go through the 2-factor authentication to complete the purchase. That means merchants have to support 3D-Secure practices. If the bank approves the request, it deducts the money from the user’s account. Then the system redirects the client back on the website that confirms the payment’s success.

Nearly all Chinese online marketplaces, online stores, and websites support CUP. Some international brands like KLM offer CUP as a payment option for their customers.