u/willow__bloom

I’m planning to start importing products from China and right now my biggest issue is payments.

The supplier I’m talking to only accepts Alipay, bank transfer, and PayPal. If I use PayPal, they charge an extra 4.8%, which is a lot since the products already have low margins and heavy competition.

I currently have a zero forex markup card with good exchange rates, but under India’s LRS scheme there’s the ₹10 lakh limit, after which 20% TDS applies. That becomes a big problem for larger payments.

From what I understand:

• Personal cards, Wise, PayPal, etc. still come under LRS
• Business/current account wire transfers may not fall under personal LRS
• But SWIFT/wire transfers also have extra charges like:
  • bank fees
  • intermediary bank fees
  • forex markup
  • supplier receiving fees sometimes

The problem is that even small fees become a lot on bigger payments. For example, if I pay ₹10 lakh for goods, even a 2–5% extra cost becomes a huge amount and can completely affect profit margins.

For people who regularly import from China:

• What payment methods do you usually use?
• Which banks give the best forex rates for business payments?
• Are there any other commonly used payment methods besides PayPal, Alipay, WeChat Pay, and bank transfer?

Would appreciate advice from people who regularly deal with Chinese suppliers, especially Indian importers.

I’m planning to start importing products from China and right now my biggest issue is payments.

The supplier I’m talking to only accepts Alipay, bank transfer, and PayPal. If I use PayPal, they charge an extra 4.8%, which is a lot since the products already have low margins and heavy competition.

I currently have a zero forex markup card with good exchange rates, but under India’s LRS scheme there’s the ₹10 lakh limit, after which 20% TDS applies. That becomes a big problem for larger payments.

From what I understand:

• Personal cards, Wise, PayPal, etc. still come under LRS
• Business/current account wire transfers may not fall under personal LRS
• But SWIFT/wire transfers also have extra charges like:
  • bank fees
  • intermediary bank fees
  • forex markup
  • supplier receiving fees sometimes

The problem is that even small fees become a lot on bigger payments. For example, if I pay ₹10 lakh for goods, even a 2–5% extra cost becomes a huge amount and can completely affect profit margins.

For people who regularly import from China:

• What payment methods do you usually use?
• Which banks give the best forex rates for business payments?
• Are there any other commonly used payment methods besides PayPal, Alipay, WeChat Pay, and bank transfer?

Would appreciate advice from people who regularly deal with Chinese suppliers, especially Indian importers.