WeChat apologizes, commits to zero fees for non-profit campus payments

After several Chinese universities announced their decision to discontinue the use of WeChat payment due to the implementation of a 0.6 percent handling fee, the Tencent WeChat team issued an apology on Thursday for the misunderstandings that arose during communication. They assured the public that the zero-rate preferential policy, which has been in effect since 2015, will continue to be applied in non-profit payment scenarios on campus.

"We apologized to school teachers and students for the misunderstanding about the payment rate for college life service scenarios, which is due to the poor handling in communication and we assure you that the preferential policy of zero rates will continue to maintain the preferential zero-rate policy for tuition and life service payments on campus," Tencent WeChat team said in a statement on Thursday.

WeChat's statement came in response to the announcement made by several universities to suspend the usage of WeChat payment on campus starting from July 1, when a 0.6 percent handling fee was scheduled to be introduced in campus settings. These universities include Northwestern University, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Zhoukou Normal University, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, and Zhengzhou Aviation Industry Management College.

WeChat clarified that WeChat payment has been available on campuses since 2015, and it has provided zero-fee preferential policies for non-profit payment scenarios on campus for an extended period. The company explained that their original intention was to offer a preferential rate lower than the market average for a limited number of profitable scenarios, such as e-commerce and hotel tourism.

"The increasing number of profitable scenarios involving e-commerce and hotel tourism has depleted the zero-rate subsidy resources, resulting in rising costs," stated the company. They vowed to strengthen communication and cooperation with universities to prevent such misunderstandings in the future and promote the development of campus digitalization.