Pricing
Every price you see is the final price: the ticket fare plus our service fee, in US dollars. Nothing is added at checkout.
China Railway's published fare for that exact train, seat class and date, converted at a fixed 1 USD = 7 CNY.
US$4 + 10% of the fare, minimum US$3, maximum US$30 per ticket.
Fare plus fee, rounded up to the whole dollar — already shown on every train and seat class before you book.
Two real fares
| Journey | Published | Fare | Fee | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Second class, Beijing South → Shanghai Hongqiao | ¥553 | $79 | $12 | $91 |
| Business class, same line | ¥1,995 | $285 | $30 | $315 |
What the service fee covers
The fee is not a payment to the railway — the railway gets the fare, we get the fee. It pays for the part that is difficult from outside the country: buying with a local payment method the railway accepts, passing the real-name check against your passport, monitoring the departure in case the railway changes it, and answering you in English when something goes wrong. On the China lines it also covers the live seat lookup that shows you availability before you decide.
Currency, payment and extras
- All prices and charges are in US dollars, and we collect payment in US dollars. Your bank may apply its own conversion if your account is in another currency.
- Pay by PayPal; card payments are being enabled and will appear as an option once live.
- Passengers under 14 pay half the adult fare plus the same service fee.
- Refund protection is optional: 9.5% of the order subtotal, added only if you tick the box.
- Cancel before ticketing and the service fee is refunded with the fare; after ticketing, China Railway's own deduction applies — see the refund policy.