There are currently a number of payment methods you can use to withdraw earnings from your online company account. However, as much as you might have options to choose from, not all of them are advisable to use. Some tend to have a high transaction charge.
- Payoneer. This
is a global financial service business that provides online money
transfers and e-commerce payment services by connecting businesses,
professionals, countries, currencies with its innovative cross-border
payment platform. It is the most preferred payment option by freelancers
in Kenya. This is because of its ease of application, the card is actually
free and it gets shipped to your local post office number. It only
attracts a yearly charge of $30 (Ksh. 3000) and a charge of $5 (Ksh. 500)
dollars per withdrawal. It is the most convenient since your online company
deposits your earnings to your card and you can withdraw it at any
MasterCard ATM here in Kenya. That's basically most ATMs if not all. It
gets better in Nairobi in some selected ATMs, you are able to withdraw the
actual dollars and not in Kenyan currency.
- Paypal. It's
also a global online payment system that supports online money transfers.
It is the fastest, easiest, and the most popular option to receive online
payments. It operates as an online processor for online companies, which
in turn charges a fee, usually costs one about $2 (Ksh. 200) to withdraw
money to his local bank account. In Kenya currently, Equity is the only
bank that allows you link your PayPal account to your local bank. One needs
to get an Equity Mastercard to be able to link the two accounts. Please
note that your PayPal account won't be verified until you link it with a
local bank. Another point to note is that PayPal cannot link to your
Payoneer card. It used to some years back, but not anymore.
- Skrill. Formerly
known as MoneyBookers, Skrill is a UK-based online payment system,
PayPal's biggest competitor. Unlike PayPal, one can withdraw money
directly from his Skrill account to his Mpesa account locally. However, it
attracts higher charges when compared to PayPal. Customers can purchase a
Skrill-branded prepaid-card, linked to the account, in one of the
three major currencies: USD, EUR, and GBP. Although Skrill
works perfectly fine, most Kenyans don't prefer its use because of the
high charges it attracts.
- Mpesa. This
is a mobile platform used for sending, receiving funds, and paying utility
bills. Today, it offers loans and savings facilities to its subscribers.
Just recently, the Up work online platform introduced Mpesa as one of its
payment methods. This has been very convenient for most Kenyans using that
platform. It only attracts a withdrawal charge of $1 (Ksh. 100) to your
Mpesa account. However, I think it's only Up work that accepts Mpesa as
one of its payments methods.
- Direct
to Local Bank. In this method, the online company you are working
for directly send your earnings to your local bank in Kenyan shillings.
This only attracts a charge of $1 (Ksh. 100) to send money to your local
bank. However, it takes a couple of days for the amount to reflect in you
account. Works, fairly cheap but not convenient.
There you have it. The top 5 payment methods you can use to
withdraw money from your earnings. Stay tuned for more. In my next article, I
will dwell on the Do's and Don'ts of online payments.