Hi,
I was just looking at the exchange rate from EUR to RMB at the bank of china and I wonder about the gap between "buying rate" and "cash buying rate"?

www.boc.cn/sourcedb/whpj/enindex.html
Can somebody explain, how to get the normal buying rate?
I saw, that not on all currencies the gap is as big? for example: USD, there is about no real difference?

The spread will always be pretty low for the dollar as it's much more liquid (commonly traded). It does seem exceptionally high for the Euro though. Guess a lot of people cashing in paper Euros for rmb, but not so many Europeans changing rmb back to paper Euros or other travelers wanting euros while in China for their next destination.

You can't get the buying rate for paper money. It's an electronic rate. If boc will allow you to deposit your euros as euros in a boc account and then you might have a chance, but there could be fees or minimums.

Thank you, i expected a such answer.

Does anybody know, is there a money exchange (boc)at the DIG Airport (Shangri-La) with a good exchange rate? or would it be better to change at Kunming airport (where we have just a short stopover)? Do banks charge commission in yunnan?

No exchange at Shangri La. There is one at Kunming airport, only in the international departure area.

To get the electronic rate, deposit your paper euros in to a Bank of China bank account before exchanging, you will then get a much improved rate on your paper euros. This can all be done at the window in the bank.

You'll have a limit of around 400 euros a day when changing money. If you yourself don't have a bank account ask a Chinese friend to help, your limit then becomes much better. Go to the window, deposit your money, after this go to their exchange machine and exchange the money writhin your account, the floor manger usually does this for you, all you do is put in your passwords. Once you have done this then you go back to the window and withdraw your money.

Non black market money exchangers will have same or worse rates or commissions. Banks do not charge commissions, but you will need your passport.

It's best to just use ATMs if your home bank isn't too onerous with ATM fees. ATMs usually give close to the electronic rate, unless your home bank has its own fx % fees on ATM transactions. These are hard to find out about beforehand though.

Bank of China charges 1% commission if you use an out of province bank account for the transaction.

ATM withdrawals with a foreign card are limited to 3000 RMB a day. Some banks charge additional fees for use of foreign cards at their ATMs.

ATMs are a lot more common and convenient and have English menus. And you can carry a lot less cash around, which always makes me feel better. Sometimes it's a wash even with fees if you get the good interbank rate.

It's 3000rmb per transaction not day. I just do multiple transactions if I need more. Some machines its lower and a very rare few higher. The per day limit is what your home bank account allows in your home currency. This is sometimes zero, if you haven't informed them you will be using ATMs internationally.

Hi again,
thank you for all your infos. Great to have this before coming to yunnan...

I shall mostly use a visa credit card from DKB (german bank), which allows to get money worldwide without fees... but there are 2 people with me, they have to exchange or use an atm....or I change for them...

@napoleon: thank you for detailed explanation, this seems to be a very good idea, if you are longer in china/yunnan. I personally be there for 3 weeks, and have no chinese account, so it would be too much action for me..

The worst place to change money are the airports. Often they are as much as 10% below what is listed at the BOC website.
China is very much a cash only place and foreign cash has a very bad exchange rate.
Just get your cash from an ATM. Even with the fee they charge it is a much better rate than changing cash. There is usually a fixed fee for every ATM withdrawal so try as much as possible to get the maximum withdrawal when you use them in order to pay the least fee.

Usually the debit card withdrawals are much better than any credit card withdrawal.

If you don't pay for your credit card withdrawals than this means you already paid them before to have this card ;-)