How to Pay With PromptPay as a Tourist
PromptPay QR codes are a common sight on Koh Samui, taped by the till at small shops, printed on bills, or shown on a checkout screen. If you're visiting without a Thai bank account, you might wonder how to pay with PromptPay as a tourist at all. There are a few real options, and which one fits depends mostly on where you bank and how long you're staying.
This guide covers what PromptPay is, the realistic ways a visitor can pay with it, what to check before you confirm a payment, and exactly what happens when you pay for a Khun Yak online order by PromptPay, where the checkout shows you a PromptPay QR code.
What PromptPay and the Thai QR standard are
PromptPay is Thailand's national instant payment system, run under the oversight of the Bank of Thailand since it launched in 2016. Instead of quoting a long account number, a Thai bank customer links their account to something simple, a mobile phone number or citizen ID, and sends or receives money through that identifier from their banking app.
The QR code stuck to a shop counter or printed on a bill is usually a merchant Thai QR code, the shared format Thai banks agreed on so that any participating banking app pays the right business. A PromptPay transfer QR looks similar but pays a PromptPay ID directly. Khun Yak's online checkout uses this kind, with your order total already filled in, and the difference matters for visitors, as the sections below explain.
Can foreigners use PromptPay as a tourist?
Not in the usual way. Registering your own PromptPay ID needs a Thai bank account, which rules out most short-term visitors. Paying a shop's QR code is different: you only need an app that can pay a Thai QR code. Here are the realistic ways to get one.
You're a long-stay resident with a Thai bank account
If you're living on Koh Samui on a longer-term visa, once your account is open you can scan and pay any PromptPay QR code the same way a Thai resident does, through your bank's own app. Banks set their own account-opening rules for foreigners, and in general they expect an existing, longer-term visa status rather than a short tourist entry, so it's worth checking directly with the bank before you go in.
Your home banking app can scan Thai QR codes directly
The Bank of Thailand has set up QR payment links with several other markets, so visitors from them can pay Thai merchants' QR codes straight from their own banking or e-wallet app, with no Thai account needed. Coverage changes, so check the Bank of Thailand's cross-border payment page before you travel. At the time of writing it lists these inbound links.
| Where you bank | How you pay |
|---|---|
| China | Scan the Thai QR code in Alipay, WeChat Pay or UnionPay |
| Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos | Scan the Thai QR code in a participating home banking or e-wallet app under the ASEAN payment-connectivity linkages (in some markets only certain banks take part, such as Public Bank in Malaysia) |
| Hong Kong | Scan the Thai QR code from your linked FPS app |
| South Korea | Scan the Thai QR code in the Paybooc app |
The China link is the newest: since 30 October 2025, Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay users can pay Thai merchant QR codes.
A tourist prepaid card built for Thai QR payments
The TAGTHAi Easy Pay service, developed by TAGTHAi and Kasikornbank with support from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, pairs the TAGTHAi app with Kasikornbank's PAY&TOUR prepaid card. According to TAT's March 2025 announcement, you get the card at a Kasikornbank foreign exchange booth (including at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports) by showing your passport and exchanging money, link it in the app, then use "Scan & Pay" on merchant Thai QR Payment codes. Check the TAGTHAi app for current details before relying on it.
What to check before you confirm a payment
Before you confirm, most payment apps show the name of the account you're paying and the amount. Read both before you tap pay, not after.
- Merchant name: your app should display the name tied to the QR code you scanned. If it shows a different name than you expect, or none at all, stop and ask the shop again rather than confirming. When paying a Khun Yak online order, the QR comes from our own checkout page, so if the name looks unfamiliar and you're unsure, call +66 92 951 6949 before paying.
- Amount: for a fixed QR code, the kind stuck to a counter, you'll usually type the amount yourself, so check it against the bill before confirming. For a QR generated just for your order, like Khun Yak's checkout, the total is already fixed to match the order, so you're only confirming it's correct, not entering it.
- Keep proof of payment. Thai banking apps usually produce a payment slip; if yours doesn't, take a screenshot of the confirmation screen.
Paying for a Khun Yak online order with PromptPay
If you're ordering delivery or pickup from Khun Yak through the website, here's what happens after you check out.
- The payment page shows a PromptPay QR code for your exact order total, with a countdown timer.
- Open your Thai banking app and scan the code, or, if that's easier, take a screenshot of it first and scan the screenshot from your photo gallery.
- Once you've paid, upload the payment slip on the same page. If you don't have a slip to upload, tap "I have paid" instead.
- We confirm the order on our end, and a confirmation email follows.
- If the QR code expires before you pay, just create a new one.
- If anything doesn't go through, call us directly on +66 92 951 6949.
Everything in the section above still applies here: check that the amount on the QR matches your order total before you pay. For more on how delivery works island-wide, see our guide to food delivery in Koh Samui, and if you're working out a rough trip budget first, our piece on what food typically costs on Koh Samui is a useful reference.
If you can't pay with PromptPay
If you don't have a Thai banking app, PromptPay may not work for you yet, and a foreign app may not be able to pay our checkout QR. Rather than guess, call +66 92 951 6949 or use the contact page and ask what's possible before you order. If a payment on an order you've already placed doesn't go through, get in touch the same way; our refund policy explains how order issues are handled.