How to Use eWallets for Beginners

Your colleagues use it to pay for lunch everyday, your sister keeps sharing promotions on the family group chat, and the other day – you overheard your elderly next door neighbor talking about it.

If your phone still isn’t home to an eWallet, ask yourself why?

Are you happy as you are with the payment methods you’re currently using, or do you just find the whole concept of eWallets dubious?

Our eWallet 101 series aims to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding eWallets in Malaysia for the average user. In this article, you’ll find out how to use eWallets to help you embark on your own eWallet user journey!

How do eWallets actually work?

First, you might want to know the backend of things. You can read our article on how eWallets work in Malaysia, but in summary – an eWallet is a digital version of a traditional wallet where you store funds and use them where accepted.

Why bother with eWallets in the first place? 

As compared with other payment methods, eWallets are superior in both convenience and value.

When you spend with most eWallets, you’ll be gifted with reward points or other similar freebies in exchange. Accumulated over the long term, using these wisely can help save a significant amount on your monthly costs. 

The meagre interest you get in your savings account can hardly compare. And if safety is an important factor to you (as it should be) – eWallets are a much safer option compared to carrying cash on your person.

How to Use eWallets for Beginners

Step 1: Registering an account
Step 2: Loading your funds
Step 3: Spending your funds
Step 4: Earning and using rewards

Step 1: Registering an account

There are over 40 eWallets in Malaysia, each with their respective registration process. In general however, you can expect a signup process that looks something along these lines: 

1. Download the app and sign up for a new account
2. Key in your contact number 
3. Enter the 6-digit TAC number received
4. Provide verification of your identity
5. Create your account by entering a username and password 
6. Start using! 

Again, this is a rough guideline of what to expect as registration procedures vary across the board. Some will be more comprehensive than others. 

Below is a simple table on the differences in registration between a few of the most popular eWallets in Malaysia. 

Step 2: Loading your funds

Now that you’ve got your account up and running, you’re going to need to load funds into your eWallet. Remember – eWallets are not directly linked to your bank account. This means that you’ll have to add funds into your eWallet beforehand to start using.

You can do this several ways. 

• Top up via online banking
• Top up via debit/credit cards 

This process can be done within the app itself. For a more hands-off way to ensure you’ve always got funds in your eWallet, you also have the option to set up an auto debit where a fixed amount of your choosing is deducted on a monthly basis. 

Auto debits are deducted from your credit or debit card, whereas direct debits are deducted directly from your bank account.

Most eWallets incur no charges for the top up process, and require no minimum balance either. 

That said, it’s best practice to always maintain more than you think you need in your eWallet. No one wants to find themselves standing in front of the counter frantically loading funds when trying to make a purchase!

Step 3: Spending your funds

“Where can I spend my funds?”

The only caveat to the convenience that eWallets provide is that unlike cash – it’s not universally acceptable…yet. 

You are only able to spend at merchants who have partnered with the specific eWallet you’re using, hence why it’s so important to choose the eWallet that’s right for you. 

The good thing is that as eWallet adoption rate grows in Malaysia, more and more merchants are looking to hop on board and leverage off the huge user base of the more popular eWallets. 
This means that aside from restaurants and retailers (both online and offline), Malaysians can now use eWallets to pay for groceries, utility bills, insurance, zakat, charity…the list goes on.

Step 4: Earning and using rewards

Got the gist of how eWallets work in Malaysia? Great. Now you can learn how to fully optimise your usage and get the most out of your eWallet.

As we’ve mentioned, every Ringgit you spend with your eWallet will reward you with either reward points or something along those lines. 

These reward points can then be used to chip off some money from your next transaction amount. You can also accumulate them to exchange for vouchers or free items. You can find all this in your eWallet app.

With GrabPay for example, 600 reward points can get you RM5 off a Grab ride. Boost also offers what are called “Coins” as well as a “Shake” for every transaction – a lucky draw of sorts where you stand the chance to be rewarded with cashback, coins or prizes.

With that in mind, here are a few ways to optimise your rewards.

• Spend at merchants who accept your reward points 

If it isn’t going to make much of a difference in terms of how much you would otherwise spend, choose to spend from the list of merchants who are currently offering promotions for paying with your eWallet. 

• Offer to pay on behalf of others 

Not everyone may be as rewards-savvy as you. Take advantage of that and pay for the entire group the next time someone’s birthday dinner rolls around. 10 people = 10 times the rewards! 

• Keep an eye out for eWallet deals and promos

Merchants want you to buy from them, and eWallet issuers want you to use them. This means that there will always be promotions which you can leverage on. Use our site here to find all the eWallet deals in Malaysia. 

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