S’poreans Can Now Pay with NETS in 4,500 M’sia Shops with No Fee

By
George Yang
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Let’s say you’re a Singaporean who goes to JB often. Whenever Singapore dollars go stronger against Malaysia Ringgits, you’ll go to popular money exchangers in Singapore and change hundreds of dollars, but in every trip, you’ll just bring two hundred ringgits.

One day, you come across a sale in KSL: an iPhone XS for just RM500. But hey, you’ve got only RM200 with you, so you’re stuck with these choices:

  • Use your credit card, and having to pay bad exchange rate and conversion fee
  • Withdraw money with cash advance via your VISA in ATMs and kena the bad exchange rate and fee
  • Take out your Singapore dollars and change to ringgits in JB, and kena the worst exchange rate ever (have you seen the rates in JB?!)
  • Ask if the dealer accept Singapore dollars, and if they don’t, say “Alamak, 几够力一下啦.”
  • Continue using your Samsung Note 9 because Apple sucks

Chances are, you’ll opt for #5, but hey: there’s now a new choice.

You can now pay via NETS, like how you’d often do it in Singapore.

And the best part? There’s no currency conversion fee, and the exchange rate is supposedly competitive.

But it might not be that cost-saving. Read on and you’ll understand.

4,500 NETS Acceptance Points in Malaysia

Image: tristan tan / Shutterstock.com

According to a Channel NewsAsia report, NETS payment has already been available earlier this month in Malaysia.

A check on NETS’ website doesn’t include a press release on this yet, so this could progressively become better.

There are 4,500 acceptance points in Malaysia, though it’s not stated whether it’s the whole of Malaysia or just JB. However, it’s explicitly mentioned that this include shops in popular shopping haunts like City Square, KSL City and Sutera Mall.

Not sure about you, but my first thought is this: these malls are so frequently visited by Singaporeans, the prices aren’t that competitive to begin with.

It would be nice if NETS could be accepted further up north like in Melaka or KL, but hey: I know I’m asking too much.

Not Much Info Other than That

There’s not much info, but here’s the thing: you might only be able to save that little bit of money.

You see, if you’re in Malaysia for less than 48 hours, the maximum GST relief you can get is up to $150. In other words, if you buy $200 worth of goods, you’ll have to pay the Singapore 7% GST for that extra $50.

So even if you managed to save, say $10 and buy an expensive item, you’ll have to pay the GST when you reach Singapore.

But there’s one advantage, though: restaurant food.

Paying via NETS might be cheaper than credit card when you’re in Malaysia, and you won’t need to pay GST when you come back to Singapore.

And we emphasize on “restaurant food” because I’m pretty sure the hawkers there don’t accept NETS.

Now, let’s wait and see if there’ll be more announcements. After all, remember: there hasn’t been an official press release yet. The best is yet to be.

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]