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I am using cash, my debit and credit card for my shopping. Most bills I pay by bank transfer with the app from my bank. This works very good.

I live in a small village
My water bill arrives usually at about 06.30 in the morning when two young ladies from Tessaban knock on the door and want  the huge amount of between 150 to 200 Baht for debt owed to the Tessaban.
Either my partner or I open up for them and pay them for which we receive a fancy receipt. Then they start chatting to my partner as they are friends and leave 20 minutes later
The electricity bill I receive around about the 18th of each month and it is usually between 2500 to 4000 Baht due to aircon as I like cool rooms.
I ride on my old bicycle to the 7/11 some mornings to buy milk and then pay the electricity there.
While riding the bicycle I always here hello Farang and wave to the people
The only other bill I have is TOT internet which I pay once a year at TOT's office in the nearest large town 304 Industrial.
My water I pay 4 Baht per Kiloliter and electricity 4.6 Baht per Unit
I tehn to my partner disgust file teh receipts in  file and she says it is not necessary .
All other buying at Makro, Big C  Tesco etc is cash.

I buy on Lazada. Amazon, aliexpress with either a debit or credit card
I have bought at Home Pro on my debit card
I have tried to buy a coffee for 20 Baht in town with my credit card and you should have seen the faces.Said I had no cash lady explains to me can have coffee for free not take credit card.
Was very relieved when I gave her cash

Cash, credit card and debit card.

Being able to buy airline tickets, bus tickets, Lazada and other payments at local 7Elevens . Big C and other sponsored shopping stops is Awesome. That is the only change to how I use currency for living expenses. Oh... it's also nice to see there are no paper checks used here... Can you believe USA still has paper check use? EUGHH

Cash, online banking, PayPal when available, and oversea credit card. I cannot get a local credit card despite working here.

Hi Barrytaylor,

Thank you for the information. Just out of curiosity, how do you order via Amazon etc.?  I thought it is not allowed to ship to Thailand or they impose a huge custom duty / tax for import?  Any insights would be extremely helpful.  Thank you!

Ag

Hi guys, I thought my Mom and Dad, in their 90's and Australian, were the only people still using cheques

Hi,
You can have a prepaid credit card wich allow you to change currency to Bath and to withdraw cash at any ATM. If you are interested visit here thru my link. 

If you should decide to use it, you can also share it with friends with same link I send you and make a little money too . Best regards Jan

I don't really need cash since I have enough Thai Baht in my bank account, would that also work for purchases both offline and online. If there's a currency exchange rate then it's not so interesting.

Hi.
Yes you can buy online. Sure. Even can create virtual cards for free,for a 1 time use on the internet. If your currency is bath then there is no exchange fee. Br Jan.

So does that mean when I pay my credit card balance, I can do so with my local bank account in Thailand?

Sorry Only saw the question now
I have not ordered anything from Amazon for years
Used to in my previous country
Now use Lazada and Aliexpress for small things have never paid any tax
I only use Amazon for my kindle books
Cheers
Barry

A ฿ account at a bank and their mobile app makes so many payments easy! I've had good results using transfer.xe.com to exchange/move US$ into my account.

Bangkok Bank limits you to 100,000 ฿ per day, which is usually OK. Currently, I'm working on buying a new car for my Thai wife, and running into a Thai complication. We're abroad traveling, and BB will not allow me to set up a wire transfer to make the final payment for the car unless I walk into my Bangkok branch with passport and passbook.

It appears that the only solution is to pay 100,000 per day till paid. I feel a little uneasy about that arrangement, as in the middle, we will not have received anything. I'm trying to get some letter of agreement from the finance manager, but that seems to be difficult. They're giving me a 'reservation' for the car order, but it is only signed by the sales associate. Doesn't quite look like a contract to me.

Yes you can use any bankaccount with this card.
Kr
Jan

After my first year as husband of a Thai woman in Surin, I'm beginning to know how to make things work better.

I use a USA international Visa card for big purchases as long as there is no surcharge, or in some cases, if the surcharge is 2% or less (I get 1 ½% frequent flier benefits). Tesco Lotus has no surcharge. Robinsons, same. Building materials have 2-3% surcharge for Visa.

Otherwise, I use my Bangkok Bank iPhone app to pay bills online, works very nicely. Also good for transferring THB to my wife's KBank account.

I continue to use xe.com to transfer money to Thailand into my Bangkok Bank account. Once set up, it is very easy. I cannot say if it is the cheapest, but it is clearly a better deal than using Bangkok Bank. I am currently required to keep 800,000 THB on deposit, but that is supposed to fall to 400,000 after we switch to a 'marriage visa' for me.

Lazada works reliably as an Amazon.com substitute, and out here in the village, gives access to goods unobtainable locally.

We pay for our 3BB internet service annually, saving 8.5%.

Local businesses greatly prefer cash payment. Bangkok Bank charges a substantial fee for cash withdrawals outside Bangkok area, so for small amounts I just use my ATM, as my bank reimburses the 220 THB ATM fee, and gives a very good exchange rate.

Mostly Cash, I have English Debit Card but never use it here, I have Kasikorn and Bangkok Bank accounts. I find Kasikorn the best for me, It has a "virtue Credit Card "  call K-Web Shopping, this is Great I use this to Pay online. I have booked Car rental with this, I went to USA and could rent a car with my Debit card but I booked with the K-web card and it was accepted but because the 3 digit number identifies as a credit card.   I called it Virtue because there is no physical card.  If you don't have the money in your account nobody can draw on it. Like a car hire company if overstay on your rental.  It great and secure.  Because as a Foreigner in Thai you cannot have credit ( in General ).  But I do have TOT internet in my own name which is a form of credit.

Thailand is in the phase of rising cashless economy. It had developed various payment options which make the payment easier and quicker.

We have debit cards and credit cards. We normally don't use the debit card much, instead, we will withdraw funds and pay. Plastic cards are very helpful nowadays. One more improvement in payment is through QR code. Shops have QR scanning which will directly link us to the banking app and the payment is done in a fraction of seconds.

We will give credit cards when we purchase groceries in shops like Tesco, tops, Big C, etc., for Makro we use cash or QR payment as they accept only Citi bank cards. In case if we purchase anything online, we will make COD (Cash On Delivery) or we will use a K-Web shopping card offered by KBank which is a virtual credit card.

When considering payment apps:
1. Airpay - Electricity, and water can be paid via this app and also in 7/11 shops.
2. Paypal - Widely spread app which is a user-friendly app.
3. Rabbit Line Pay - This is a new payment gateway that helps you to pay via Line app. It has a mobile wallet and we can register cards to make payments. We can even send money to other people via the line app.
4. Samsung Pay - App available for Samsung users
5. True wallet - This can also be used for payment of bills and also in shops especially in 7/11 purchases
6. Lazada wallet - they have a wallet that can be used for purchases or also we can use it for mobile top-up. (Foreigners cannot top-up in the wallet but can use the refund amount for previous purchases either for future purchase or for top-up mobile)

Yes, with no doubt my habit of payment had changed after coming to Thailand. I used to carry only cash everywhere but now I am having less cash and using plastic cards and apps more. The need to carry cash is fading due to greater evolution in technology.