| How much service charge are you willing to pay to the train ticket agents? | |
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| Jul 10, 2013 01:27 |   |
 | Voting without time limit Note: Guest voter(s) are not displayed here. If you save the trouble of buying train tickets in person, you need to ask a ticket agent to buy the tickets for you. Of course, they charge you the service charge. How much service charge are you willing to pay to the agents? |
Last edited by LONELYJOURNEY: Jul 10, 2013 01:28 | |
| Jul 11, 2013 16:58 | #1 |
| CNY 30 max, But prefer to pay nothing! I will just ask one of the many friendly people around to help me buy a ticket! |
| Jul 11, 2013 21:31 | #2 |
| GUEST68195 | If the agent deliver the tickets to my door,then I would like to pay at most CNY60 per ticket. However, If i book many tickets, say 4 or 6, I would hope they reduce the service charge accordingly. |
| Jul 13, 2013 16:38 | #3 |
| Now buying train tickets is not that difficult anymore for foreigners who cannot speak or read Chinese. More people at the ticketing booths can speak simple English, and vending machines such as in Guangzhou, that visitors can easily use. Even ATM and CDM machines provide English option besides Chinese. With this facility available to the visitors at the station, I think RMB60 is quite high. Even applying for a visa, some agents only charge RMB40 that involves filling-in the application form. Wan |
| Jul 17, 2013 22:32 | #4 |
| Wan, You have been to China many times. It's not a problem for you to buy the train tickets. However, those who have never been to China are nervous and worried whether they can have a smooth trip in China. Some of them hope that they can buy the train tickets as early as they can so that their trip won't be affected. You know, it's impossible for them to buy the train tickets in advance if they don't ask a friend or agent in China. To them, booking tickets via agents is very convenient. They can get the tickets as they arrive at the hotels in China. You also know that it is difficult to buy tickets on the same when they leave for popular cities. Thus, tourists should buy the tickets in advance to ensure that they have seats. For the inexperienced travelers, they may don't know where the railway station is. Thus, they might ask an agent or hotel staff to buy tickets for them. It saves their time to find the railway station and squeeze into the crowds to buy the tickets. Hereby, I think inexperienced travelers would like to assign an agent (if they don't have friends in China) to buy the train tickets for them as long as the service charge is accepted. |
| Jul 22, 2013 04:58 | #5 |
| A girl from Shenzhen wants to go to Malaysia and she applies (as usual) through an agent, and it charges her RMB240 where the Malaysian visa is only RMB80. The agent takes RMB160 for service charge, thus with her sister, they pay RMB480 where the agent gets a profit of RMB320. The cost of train ticket to Guangzhou, maximum is RMB99.50 and usual second class is RMB80 which she can go twice to Guangzhou. If 50 applications are received in a day, the agent will get 8000. I am told that the Consulate General of Malaysia in Guangzhou receives not less than 3000 visa applications per day. Wan |
| Jul 23, 2013 20:46 | #6 |
| Dear Wan, You just ignore one thing. The visa applicants choose the agents because they have no idea about the visa policies and requirements. Some embassies don't state the requirements clearly on their websites. Hereby, the applicants' applications might be rejected. The agents know clearly about the visa rules and requirements. They can help you prepare all the documents required. On the other hand, the agents are much powerful than individual applicants. You might not get a double entry L but the agent might get it for you. I am not sure if the agents "cooperate" with the embassies. My sister went to Brazil last year for a business trip. She had no clue on how to apply for a Brazilian visa. Thus she found an agent to help her. She got her visa successfully. Probably, that's why there are so many Chinese visa agents in China. Like I said, if you know the "rules", you can do it on your own. If not, the agents help you do it. Of course you should pay the service fee. |
| Jul 25, 2013 00:01 | #7 |
| For those using the service of certain agents, not only for applying the visa, such as buying tickets, hotel and other ground arrangements is understandable. Dear Lonely, it is not about the paying of service fee but the amount the fee is charged. Some peoole would say, it's a daylight robbery. Last time, applying for a Chinese visa, there was no fee charged, but now, for unofficial visits, we need to apply at Visa Application Center with MYR28-fee imposed for each application. The fee is lower than the original cost of the visa which is MYR30 for single entry. There are of course applications through agents due to long queues and uncertainty such as applying visa to Saudi Arabia. For religious purposes it is not easy to get a visa as the government restricts the number of applicants and the visa verifying officer will check to the minutest details in order to reject. Wan |
| Jul 25, 2013 05:25 | #8 |
| GUEST70143 | I think the service charge should be 0 but as China's situation and population it's better to pay some money to get my tickets deliveried to my door. |
| Aug 2, 2013 00:36 | #9 |
| GUEST22586 | there is a ticket agent office on just about every road in a city. they charge 5rmb per ticket so there is no need to pay the agents extortionate fees. |
| Aug 5, 2013 01:12 | #10 |
| GUEST22586, Do you think foreigner know where these ticket offices are located in cities? Buying train tickets is a piece of cake to Chinese people. But it is not easy for foreigners, especially when they stay in a city they know nothing about. I don't know where you are from. Suppose you are a CHinese and you go to Germany for the first time. Do you know where to buy the train tickets? |
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