Alipay, Mastercard or Visa when paying in overseas

In this example, I will show how paying by Mastercard is the cheapest option between Alipay, Mastercard and Visa when paying in Korea using a credit card that doesn't have foreign transaction fees. MOX is one such card in Hong Kong. Sign up for MOX using my referral code TJGQ47 and both of us will get more benefits.

Below is a screenshot of a transaction for KRW 8500 which cost me HK$45.85 ($45.81 after the $0.04 points redemption.

Based on the exchange rates that day - you can check the rates yourself at hkrate.com - you can see that MasterCard only costs $45.85 if there was a 1.47% foreign transaction fee. I have zero foreign transaction fees using the MOX card and selecting earning Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, which means I would only pay HK$45.18 for a KRW 8500 purchase, 1.47% less using Mastercard instead of using Alipay.

Visa exchange rates are generally higher than MasterCard, so I've also illustrated how Visa is higher than Mastercard in the screenshot below.