How do you pay in Argentina?

[Sequoia1321]

Do you need to use cash often or can you pay using some kind of card? Do many places require cash only? In the USA I hardly use cash, only have it as backup. Less weight to carry around and not having to worry about cash is nice. In fact now they have lots of places that accept contactless payment through a smartphone, which is my preferred method. As a tourist or non-permanent resident what do you recommend for non-cash payment options?

 

[antipodean]

Cash is getting less common.
QR code’s linked to MercadoPago or Modo are very popular and widespread now in place of cash or card since all done from your phone. Google them for info.
Credit Cards and cuotas are a way of life for Argentines but won’t be an option for you until you’re permanent or citizen.

 

[FrankPintor]

Keep cash as a backup, you never know when networks and systems might go down. It's not common, but it happens.

Mercadopago has been around a while, it works very well, it allows you to pay all sorts of bills online, and you can even upload cash into your account, but you need a DNI and verification of your identity, as I expect you'll also need for the other companies muscling in on that space, like Modo and Personal. As a tourist they're not going to be an option for you.

 

[jblaze5779]

One of the biggest shocks coming here was always having to have cash. In BA you can probably find many places that take cards. In the interior it is very cash based. Half the time the card machine will be down, or my favorite experience at a walmart, they only had one credit card machine for the entire store.... so you had to stand there like a dumbass waiting for some manager to bring the machine over and run your card for you.

Always always always have cash on you.

Also, in most stores your receive a significant discount for paying in cash..... and it's just plain faster.

The best thing covid did for Argentina was force it to modernize with respect to commerce and online stuff.

 

[Ries]

if you have a dni, you can get a bank account, in which case you can use an argentine debit card in pesos. but if not, you lose 50% over the blue rate when using a foreign credit or debit card.
So, for tourists or part timers, cash is pretty inevitable.

 

[jblaze5779]

The government is going to love tourists.... they're going to be ripping them off by 100% every day.

 

[Sequoia1321]

For someone without a DNI, is there something equivalent to a gift card option there as we have in the USA, where you can basically get a Visa gift card or something like that and keep topping it off with cash?

 

[Aztangogirl]

I use cash for everything. I get discounts for cash on many purchases. I don't want anything to do with the banks here.

 

[FrankPintor]

The government is going to love tourists.... they're going to be ripping them off by 100% every day.

This is something I wonder about... it's great opening the borders for tourism, but how are the tourists going to live and pay for stuff when they get here?

 

[Ries]

Having had an apartment here for 13 or so years, I see friends visit probably 2 or 3 times each year. And all of them, with minimal internet literacy, have researched enough to know to bring some american hundreds, and if they stay long enough, they usually find somebody to change money at the blue.
I am sure there are tourists who do, indeed, do all their transactions at the "official" rate- but they would not, generally, included any tourists from south america, and not most I have met from europe or north america either. If you dont have lots of money, you catch on pretty quick about saving it.
There will always be the clueless, of course, and the rich.
But if they dont know they are getting ripped off, does it really count?

In fancier restaurants in BA,I have often seen upscale tourists pay with their credit cards- and still be amazed how cheap it is.
I have seen even college kids pay with a US credit card for a leather jacket, and, again, be very happy with the price.