Remember the days, when deals with clients were put off because there was no reliable way to send money. Pakistanis could not compete in the world’s freelancer market. Payoneer, PayPal, and other brands refused to enter our country.
And today. Freelancers in Pakistan have flourished and in 2017 alone, they earned a total of 500 million. Small businesses have expanded across the borders through their online presence.
Many factors play a role but the most important is the entry of international payment service providers in Pakistan. Brands like Payoneer, Xoom, skrill, etc that are now accessible to everyone.
Payoneer, the market leader in digital payments – at least in Pakistan – allows you to register an account simply through their site. Here is a complete guide on setting up a Payoneer account to making transactions.
What is Payoneer?
Payoneer is an innovative cross-border payment platform, located in New York, that allows payments from 200 countries and supports 150+ currencies– PKR being one of them. They serve up to 4million customers worldwide including leading companies like Google, Airbnb, Fiverr, Upwork, Getty Images, and many more.
In 2016, Payoneer started allowing Pakistanis to withdraw their money into their local bank account in PKR. This is more cost-effective for Pakistanis than using a Payoneer card to withdraw money.
Pakistan being the 4th largest freelance country, it was apparent that they would come here sooner or later.
How to create a Payoneer account?
The first order of business, you need to create a Payoneer account if you want to use their service. A sender does not need to have it, but they deduct fees for that. So both parties should have a Payoneer account.
They also offer 25$ on simply creating an account. Here is the basic stuff you’ll need to get started.
- Your id card/passport, date of birth, address, contact number, etc.
- The IBAN of your bank account. Make sure the info the name on your id card and bank account matches.
- You will receive a confirmation email, that your account has been approved.
Enjoy! Send all the money you want.
Receiving payments
There are two methods of accepting payments in Payoneer.
Method 1: Sender’s Email Address
This method works by billing the sender( client) on their email. This is ideal for small businesses and freelancers to charge their international clients.
Follow the steps below
- Login to your Payoneer account
- Go to Receive
- Choose Request a Payment from the drop-down menu.
- Fill out the necessary info and enter the client’s email.
You are done!
Now, the client will receive an email with instructions on sending you the money to your Payoneer account
We recommend that you send digital invoices to your clients and send them through email. It’s optional but more professional.
Method 2: Payoneer as Payout Method on Your Company’s Site
This method is more popular among freelancers. It involves setting up Payoneer as a Payout method on your company’s site.
- You’ll receive the money once you withdraw it from the site.
Here you can see that I have set up Payoneer as a Payout Method on Upwork. All other main freelancer sites like Fiverr, People Per Hour, etc also support it.
Sending Payments
You have the option to make the following transactions:
- Payoneer to Payoneer,
- Payoneer to a local account, and
- Payoneer to e-wallet.
To send payments from your account,
- From the homepage, Go to Pay>Make a Payment.
- Enter all the details of the relevant bank account and the amount to be sent.
- Confirm and the amount will be sent.
Getting a Payoneer Card in Pakistan
Payoneer also offers a Mastercard. That card will be accepted at ATMs, online stores, or physical locations within the Mastercard network i.e 210+ countries.
You are only eligible for their Mastercard if you have more than 30$ in your account. To apply for the card
- Go to Settings> Payoneer Cards.
- If you are eligible (only after receiving 30$), an option of Order Now will appear.
- Click on it and fill all the required info
- Your card will be delivered in about 30 days.
Check out their official site, where they discuss everything in detail about their MasterCard.
How to transfer money from Payoneer to a bank account in Pakistan?
So the money is in your virtual account. What would be the most appropriate next step?.
Getting it into your hands. Duh!
Withdrawing money to your local bank can be done in two easy steps.
- Go to Withdraw>To Bank Account.
- Select the currency from which to convert. Enter the details of the bank account and confirm
- Always check your bank account to verify if the payment is received.
This method was not available before 2016. It takes 3-5 days to process the amount, as a usual wire transfer.
Which Banks support Payoneer in Pakistan?
Many financial organizations like Faysal bank, MCB, Standard Chartered, JazzCash, and others have partnered with Payoneer.
More banks will also partner with them over time since they are the only International payment service provider Pakistan with an established user base.
However, JazzCash seems to be the most viable option because of its exclusive partnership with Payoneer. These are the benefits listed on Payoneer’s blog.
- Real-Time Transfer– The funds will be transferred instantly to your jazz cash account.
- 2 one-time free cash withdrawals
- Withdraw even 1$ to your jazz cash account ( which is 100$ on a regular bank account).
Payoneer fees
Payoneer charges 3 to 5$ on withdrawal of money from one of their ATM through their MasterCard.
Most of their Pakistani users pay a one-time fee to withdraw all their money to their local bank account and later get it through their local bank account ATM card, which is a lot less than what Payoneer charges.
- They take a 3% transaction fee on billing a client
- And withdrawing to a local bank account cost up to 2% of the total transaction. This is the Payoneer fee, banks may charge their fees too.
Visit their site for additional info for charges on business transactions
Conclusion
With the absence of other providers and more people entering the gig economy, Payoneer is on the trajectory to grow further in Pakistan.
Therefore, we recommend that you use the Payoneer card in combination with JazzCash. It offers real-time transactions, low withdraw limit, and the ease of managing everything through your phone. It can also be used shopping online on sites like Aliexpress, Amazon, etc.
Now small businesses, entrepreneurs, and freelancers can focus on what’s important and don’t concern about insignificant matters.
