A new wave is upon Kenya and more people are learning that you can make money directly from working online, or from using the internet as a money platform and not just for porn or to upload movies and music.
Most work for pay sites, Elance included, pay through paypal and the question on how do I “bring paypal money into Kenya” is a challenge that almost all online workers in Kenya will have to, and I mean ‘have to’ deal with at some point. This post gives you the details you need to verify your paypal account, and two options that I can personally detail on how to bring paypal money into Kenya. If your paypal account is already verified scroll to: How to Bring Paypal Money into Kenya
How to verify your paypal account from Kenya
If you do not have a credit card, you can verify your PayPal account with most local cards with the VISA brand. To confirm if your card will work for online transactions, make a quick call to the Customer Care section of your local bank and they will guide you.As a personal preference, I specifically suggest a different debit card for your online transactions to protect your local bank account from the possibility of internet crime if your passwords ever get into the wrong hands. However, using your regular bank card if it is optimized for online transactions will also work.
One card that is separate from your regular bank account and that is specifically tailored for online transactions is the KCB VISA General Purpose debit card. Please note, it is not any KCB card – it is the KCB VISA General Purpose debit card. PayPal recognizes this card and you can transact on a good number of international sites with it too. Any site that gives VISA as a payment option will work with your KCB VISA General Purpose debit card if you have money on it – no worries there.
To get the KCB General purpose card, you need your national ID, fill in their forms, and Kshs 1,000/-. They charge 500/- shillings for the card and Kshs 500/- for the paperwork, so technically you will not have any debit (cash) on the card from the Kshs 1,000/-. You can read their official information by clicking on the link: KCB General Purpose Card
Process to get your KCB VISA General Purpose Card: to get the card takes about two weeks. Actually, KCB staff will tell you '5 working days'. However, when you do go for the card, they amend that to 'come for your card when you get your PIN' which they can send to the branch or by Post. Now getting your card at your branch or through the Post Office may take a couple more days, so give the whole process about two weeks.
Once you have the card, and the PIN number, you will need to call Card Center to activate the card for you. Once your card is active, go to your branch and put money on it. How much money will you need on your card to verify your PayPal account from Kenya? PayPal will charge you anything between a dollar to four dollars to verify that you are the true card owner. To be safe put Kshs 500/- on your card.
Quick tip: Make sure you have activated your KCB General Purpose online banking option, it will make verification of PayPal immediate. You will get all these details from KCB, so do not panic.
How to verify your PayPal Account with the KCB VISA General Purpose Card: with all that done, log onto your PayPal account, go to 'verify account', and input your card details where necessary. You’ll get some techno-magic here as they will send the verification code to your phone immediately. How cool is that! I’m asking online, and you’re giving me answers on my phone! From the information sent to your mobile phone, you can answer the simple question 'how much were you charged' and if you get that right, you have a verified account.
Congratulations!
NOTE: if you do not have an SMS banking option with your bank, and you have opted to use your regular bank card, you will not get information coming through your phone. Paypal will send a four digit verification code via your bank account, which you can get off your mini bank statement and input it as a verification code.
How to bring PayPal money into Kenya
WARNING!!!
If you are new to working online in Kenya, please do not be swept into the con-offers of a ‘fast’ and ‘cheaper’ way to bring your paypal money into Kenya. The type of con-artist around paypal money will come with a story such as ‘I will write you a check’, ‘I do this all the time’ and basically sugar coat their ploy to defraud you of your hard earned dollars. Unless you know the person thoroughly well – do not get caught up in this con-game. Usiseme hukuambiwa!Having worked online for the last four years, I write about two ways to bring paypal money into Kenya that I am most familiar with: ePay-Kenya.com and Payoneer.com
If you are already familiar with the ePay-Kenya process you can go to: How to bring PayPal Money into Kenya through the Payoneer Debit Card below
How to Bring Paypal Money into Kenya through ePay-Kenya.com
Epay-Kenya is quick to join and can send the money to you through MPESA, ZAP and Orange Money systems. With ePay-Kenya.com you can bring in your PayPal money into Kenya within a few hours. No more worries about your Friday plot going sour!Process: to get the detailed process to withdraw PayPal money into Kenya through ePay-kenya.com, you will need to contact Epay Kenya directly. To do that, go to their homepage, click on the “support ticket” link and give a one sentence explanation of what you want. To register an account with Epay Kenya you will need a copy of your national ID. If you intend to receive your money through telephone services such as MPESA, ZAP and Orange Money, the names of your registered telephone line and the ones on your ID must correspond. To go to the ePay-kenya home page, click on the link here: ePay-Kenya.com
You will find very many discussions on various blogs of the high cost of withdrawing paypal money into Kenya through Epay Kenya. You can find a detailed explanation of what you pay for on the blog post here:
Paypal Money Into Kenya - Epay-Kenya Response to the Challenge
To read my personal experience withdrawing payapl cash for the first time through ePay Kenya, read the blog here:
How to Withdraw Paypal Money Into Kenya Through Epay-Kenya
How to bring PayPal Money into Kenya through the Payoneer Debit Card
The second way that I can detail through which you can bring PayPal money into Kenya is through the Payoneer Debit card. Payoneer is an international payment merchant that gives organizations a payment platform. This is similar to how a bank such as Equity Bank will give a corporate service to a company so that the company pays their staff salaries directly from the company account to employee accounts. I prefer this route because it is significantly cheaper.If you intend to work online for the long haul, then it is a prudent financial decision to have the Payoneer card. The Payoneer debit card runs on the Master Card financial platform and with it you can withdraw your cash from any ATM locally that bears the Master Card logo such as the Barclays Bank and KCB ATMs.
Process to get the Payoneer debit card: sometime last year, Payoneer opened up their platform to apply for a debit card directly. You can apply for one here: Payoneer Debit Card
The other route is to use a partner site. Payoneer has partner companies who use their card to pay their workers or affiliates. Because of the underlying agreement of these companies with Payoneer the verification of your identity will be easier if you apply through them. Examples of outsourcing Payoneer partner sites include Elance.com, Freelancer.com, and oDesk.com, and affiliate programs include Plimus, Buyat, and my personal favorite, SFI Marketing. The basic requirement to get this card from any one of these sites is to generate an income payable through them. Read more at how to get the SFI debit card
For instance, let us say you are an affiliate at SFI Marketing and you have earned commissions worth 30USD. You can then apply for a Payoneer debit card so that SFI Marketing sends you your pay through the card than through PayPal or other payment options. Each of these Payoneer partner sites will have their terms on how much money you should have made to qualify for a card application. Typically, the minimum requirement will be an amount that will cover the costs for card processing.
When registering in this way at SFI Marketing for example, you will need a valid P O Box address in Kenya where Payoneer will mail your card. That card is basically useless until you activate it. It takes about a month to receive the card in the mail from the date you apply to the time you physically receive it here.
The process between Payoneer and US Payment Service: to integrate your card with other payment platforms, you will need to apply for a US payment option from Payoneer. You’ll do this from your Payoneer customer page where you will find a link 'cardholders' and on the drop-down menu the link 'US Payment option' as in the screen-shot below.
On the bottom of the page, click on 'apply' to ask Payoneer to activate a US payment service. A US Payment service is a virtual bank account. Payoneer will send you a list of questions to evaluate your application. One of the requirements is to furnish them with your legal identification such as ID or passport. It is here that you will tell them that you wish to receive PayPal money in the account.
Important 1: you must have sufficient funds in your PayPal account to cover the activation fee for the US payment service.
Important 2: Make sure you read Payoneer’s fees breakdown before you apply. This page is accessible to you when you are logged onto your online card account.
Process between PayPal and Payoneer: if you do qualify for a US payment service, Payoneer will inform you that your account is active and here is where magic starts. First, with that information, add a bank account to Paypal. You can then immediately transfer paypal money to your US Bank account. The first transaction takes five days for the money to come into Kenyan ATM-space, but subsequently it takes three days. Your problem on how to withdraw paypal money into Kenya – solved!
Second, read the list of companies that can pay you directly to your US account. It catapults your income options to incredible levels if you understand simplified affiliate marketing.
What are the advantages of having a Payoneer Card?
1. An integrated payment method: There are many ways to make money online including Freelance work and affiliate marketing. With the US payment option you can receive money directly to the US Bank option directly from most of the larger Affiliate Merchants including Clickbank, Amazon, and Google, just to name three.
Therefore, with a Payoneer card linking your paypal account to a US bank, you no longer need to avoid affiliate programs that have US only payments.
2. The costs are incredibly manageable. The approximate costs are:
• Card application: maximum 30USD depending on the site you are applying through
• Activate US payment service: approx 20USD
• Monthly account maintenance: approx 3USD
That is Kshs 240, which is cheaper than several local banks and you do not pay this fee if your account balance/transactions are zero. How’s that for an idea to some of our banks?
• Cash withdrawal from a local ATM: approx 3 USD
Note: you pay the monthly fee from your account balance automatically, and you also pay a fee when you use your card to request for money you don’t have.
3. A planned withdrawal plan: it takes three days for money to move from paypal to the US Bank. It takes as little as two hours to move money from certain affiliate sites to the bank. Since you know this, it is easy to plan and save on ATM costs.
4. Managing your card is free: the card and bank services are all on your Payoneer page and checking you account balance, etc, are free. How is that for another fabulous idea for our local banks?
=== Update === You can now apply for the Payoneer Debit card directly from the Payoneer Page here.
To get a second opinion from a Kenyan blogger on Paypal and Payoneer read here:
How to Withdraw Money From Paypal in Kenya
To learn more about SFI read article here:
To Make Money Online in Kenya Join an Affiliate Program
To find a list of Payoneer Partners read post here:
A List of Payoneer Partners
To get another Explanation about Payoneer
Payoneer Cards: How to get your Payoneer Card
Sign up for Free eCourse! Click on image below:
Great and thorough post. Thank you
ReplyDeleteAhsante sana freelancerkenya!
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteGood content you have here..Most local banks have an ATM withdrawal daily limit, how do you go around this in the case you want to withdrawal like $1k to save on costs when using payoneer?
Have a look at this and tell me what you think
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/payoneer-inc-c301692.html
Morris
Thank you Morris. You've raised excellent questions.
DeleteIMO, if you are bringing in 1k, then really, the 240KES per withdrawal is among your lesser problems. The fees that you should be watching are 'who pays to get the money to your Payoneer account'. That figure can be a significant amount if you are not watching it.
As for our local ATMs, what we may need to do as "good Kenyans" is to figure which MasterCard enabled ATMs give you the best ceiling and use those. Maybe someone will tell us. :-)
That said, if your online work is heading towards 1k+ figures, seriously, just move from ATM withdrawal to wire transfer then you can make monthly or bi-monthly transfers; its cheaper for those larger amounts and safer if you look at the ATM withdrawal risks. And of course you can set your ATM ceiling at your local bank - no worries there.
I did not write about that because this article is for people just starting out, but maybe I will in a later article. There are more issues to consider as the money amounts grow.
Now, if you look at the link you provided, it is a domain actually called "complaints board" and it is not run by Payoneer. Can you imagine the type of people who post on a website like that? People who are generally disgruntled and who will find something to complain about anything and a good number of idlers.
Just reading the posts, being a keen reader of the Payoneer forum posts on www.community.payoneer.com, and being a person who runs a blog, it's easy to pick out that the greatest number do not have genuine gripe, but are there to make trouble.
Some of the allegations are so serious that if they were genuine they would be on the Payoneer forum page www.community.payoneer.com or on email or phone or chat - all available at Payoneer, and not on some noise-maker website.
For bigger volumes of money, I think signing up for "Payoneer Local Bank Transfer Service" is the best way to go. Here money will be transferred to your local bank account directly. Some banks like Standard Chartered can allow you withdraw up to 100,000 through ATM per day. I have had this experience. The good thing is that Mastercard is the company that will determine the exchange rate during money transfer. Our local banks take great advantages here and place the exchange rates high (almost 2% more than Mastercard would).
DeleteHi everyone!
ReplyDeleteI'm Talia, Payoneer's director of community. I just wanted to drop in and let you know that I am available to answer any questions you may have about Payoneer and the US Payment Service. I can answer them here or on our community forums, as posted above.
Have a great day!
Kindly respond to this; "...
DeleteNow, Talia, is it possible to successfully link the US Payment service with ClickBank. As you may know, Kenya is not in the ClickBank list of countries.
Kindly advise on the best way forward."
Yes it is! But you will still need to receive the mandatory two checks from them before you can link the USPS to ClickBank. :-) This is on our end, at least. I don't know enough about CB to be able to say for sure about what countries they allow or don't allow...
DeleteThis is certainly a very welcome visit. In the real world, I would be nothing short of giddy with excitement.
ReplyDeleteThank you and welcome Talia. I have had very good support from Payoneer, and I would enthuse, except then I would be accused of working for Payoneer so I will just keep it at 'thank you'. :-)
Dear reader: When on the Payoneer Forum you are likely to see responses from a lady with a broad smile called 'Talia'.
You are welcome to post your questions here or on the Payoneer Forum
Thanks! Sorry I wasn't back sooner - for some reason I wasn't receiving notifications :-( But you can always email me if you need to let me know people are asking questions. :-)
DeleteI have such a wide grin on seeing a Payoneer representative here.
ReplyDeleteNow, Talia, is it possible to successfully link the US Payment service with ClickBank. As you may know, Kenya is not in the ClickBank list of countries.
Kindly advise on the best way forward.
Hey Wally, I think Talia came by to ascertain that this blog has not made any false claims. I can confirm that we have not made any false claims. :-)
DeleteMeanwhile, on ClickBank(CB) and Payoneer, the catch is one and it is more on the CB side and not on the Payoneer end. CB expects a physical banking of your first two checks. You cannot do that from Kenya, so it cleverly locks out Kenyans and generally people out of the US from CB.
I may have mentioned it before, but for online, when a company is obviously "racist" or "country-centric" just move on to the next game in town. There are numerous other places to do the same thing, ie, make money online, such as Amazon. You will have no hassles linking Payoneer to Amazon.
Thanks for your response. I totally agree that the only way forward is to move on to other options. Thanks again.
DeleteAs I mentioned, I can't really say anything about the CB side - all I can say is that if you have an account with CB, you can transfer your earnings to the Payoneer card.
DeletePaula - not to ascertain, just to let you know I am here! :-)
Thanks a lot Talia for your response. I am also not getting notifications. CB doesn't work in Kenya as of now so we can't get those 2 checks. I've already moved on to other options. Thanks again.
DeleteWithdraw from Paypal to Mpesa, YuCash or Airtel Money at no extra fee at http://www.kenyapesa.com. Cash available within 24 hours at very reasonable rates.
ReplyDeleteReply to this post if you have any queries
Hey.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this very informative post. I'm planning to acquire the KCB VISA General purpose card. Umm...could you tell me what the KCB General Purpose online banking option is and how to activate it?
Hi am Eugene. I've had the KCB GP Card for the last six (6)years and think the best place to find the right answer is by visiting any KCB branch or going to the KCB Card Centre at Sarit Centre in Westlands Nairobi.
DeleteThanks Eugene. Jeymoh, we will first assume what you need is to link online money to a local bank because 'online banking' is a whole different kettle of fish.
DeleteTo the best of my knowledge the KCB General Purpose (GP) card is not a debit card against a bank account. Therefore, you are in a manner of speech not a KCB client by having the GP Card. You only have a card with their logo. It is a stand-alone service.
Secondly, you cannot link the GP card to your existing KCB account. Third, you cannot bank direct from Paypal, Payoneer or any of those options directly to your KCB bank account. At least not yet. The GP card will help you buy online and verify paypal, move back and forth on MPESA, but that is about where the service ends.
So as Eugene rightly counsels, walk over to Card Centre in Sarit and they will tell you what options they have for linking online money to your bank account.
Okay. Thank you both for your replies.
ReplyDeleteSo now even more recently is the Nation Hela Card. Could you also please give a review on that too?? I heard it can also be used with paypal, but I'd like if you could confirm this for me. It's also rumoured to be cheaper.
There is another cheaper card that will help you verify your paypal account..Safaricom Prepaid Card.
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ReplyDeleteKind regards,
ePAY-KENYA Team
Thx for keeping me posted
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FAQ
Should I be a Member to Withdraw?
It is not necessarily. We do not want you to go through long process of registration and verifications. Therefore, to withdraw, Just request for the Invoice with the details provided such as Mpesa Number.
What Do I need to Withdraw?
You only need the Mpesa/zap or any other mobile money service providers. You also need to have your paypal email address, which will be required while requesting for an invoice.
Should my paypal be verified?
No. We allow both verified and unverified paypals. Only that for unverified paypals, we charge an extra of $ 3 per transactions made.
How long does it take to get the money via M-pesa?
It takes only 30 minutes to receive money to your Mpesa.
How Do I withdraw?
• Click on the “Request Invoice” tab
• Fill in your details with the email address of the paypal you want to transact from.
• Immediately we receive the invoice request, we will send you the invoice in your paypal email address.
• Click on the link in your email, which will direct you to your paypal.
• Click the Yellow tab on your paypal that is written “Pay”, Then you will be done.
• We will therefore confirm your payment.
When do I withdraw?
You can withdraw at any time. We are available 24 hours from Monday to Sunday, including the Holidays.
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