Payoneer Debit MasterCard: A Reliable PayPal Alternative

You live in a country where PayPal does not offer its services, or PayPal banned you for some dubious policy violation, you are stuck to use other means to receive your payments. But the problem here is, those alternatives might not be suitable for you as those could be expensive or might not be available in your country. For example, wire transfer or bank transfer are often expensive and difficult to receive payment methods especially for developing countries. Checks received in foreign currencies or in foreign countries are again a hassle to submit as you will need a foreign currency account in your bank or bank might take several days to process and clear your check (cheque). In addition to checks or bank transfer, Skrill (formerly moneybookers) is another well chosen payment method available in most countries. Unlike PayPal, this payment  facility is not utilized by most companies. So, what else payment method have you got to choose from to receive your earnings? Do you observe Payoneer option listed among other payment methods? If yes, then that is your affordable and trustworthy solution now.

Payoneer is a pioneer in global payout solutions that was founded in 2005. Today, the service has grown immensely and utilized widely by both payers and payees. You are making living by freelancing services, advertising networks, affiliate programs, internet marketing or other online earning resources, receive the returns for your efforts in the form of money through Payoneer. With the power of MasterCard, Payoneer prepaid debit card becomes usable at ATMs, retail shops, trading online and much more.  You are traveling abroad and have got money in your Payoneer account, use your Payoneer prepaid MasterCard to check out, pay for your food or traveling expenses or receive cash in local currency through cash machines. In fact, like any bank card issued by the bank, Payoneer debit card is the similar cash card provided with your online bank account at www.payoneer.com. Personally, I have been using this card for a long time now and I can say with surety that this is one of the most reliable service and more or less a perfect PayPal alternative.

Features and Availability
Payoneer is available to affiliates, independent workers or business partners who are providing some kind of services online. This facility is available in more than 200 countries now which exceeds the coverage of PayPal. Payoneer MasterCard card works like any other debit card and you can use it the way you use any cash card. The only difference here is, your virtual bank account is powered by Payoneer. You receive money in that account and then you are allowed to spend it or cash it out through ATM. You can order this card by signing up at Payoneer’s website and providing necessary details. Once card delivered to you, you need to provide further details and documentations to activate it and make it fully functional.

US Payment Request allows users to receive money from US ACH or Direct Deposit Payments from selected US or European companies that Payoneer partners with. Using this service, you can also receive money from PayPal, Amazon, Apple or any other service to your Payoneer account directly. Therefore, if any of these service is not available in your country,  you can use Payoneer card alternatively.

You can receive your payments directly to your personal bank account via global bank transfer service. Payments are issued through a local bank thus making it faster, convenient and cost effective to collect payments directly to your bank account from Payoneer’s partner programs. Additionally, you can withdraw money from your Payoneer account to your local bank account as well. Both these services are available in over two hundred countries and in more than 70 currencies. Payoneer also supports transferring funds from one Payoneer card to another Payoneer card.

Payoneer now also offers private funds loading into your Payoneer account using Visa or MasterCard. A separate facility is available to US residents to fund the Payoneer prepaid debit card with their personal US bank account. Company calls this facility “Credit card loading”.

Some Payoneer partnered programs and services provide their own branded debit cards powered by Payoneer MasterCard to its business platform users or business partners to facilitate the payments receiving process. For example, elance.com a freelancing platform or infolinks.com an advertising network they offer its business partners to order an ‘Elance Payoneer MasterCard’ or  ‘Infolinks Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard’. Other than that, you can connect your separately owned Payoneer card account with Payoneer partnered services as well.

Charges and Limitations
Payoneer debit MasterCard can be used at any MasterCard supported ATMs, online purchase outlets which display MasterCard logo or all those trading locations where payments through cards are accepted. Certain fees is applied when you make any transaction at an ATM. Currently, at the time of writing this post, Payoneer charges $ 3.15 for ATM withdrawal, ATM balance inquiry and ATM decline fees as $1. Moreover, you are also limited to withdraw amount of cash per day. Certain limits or additional charges might be implemented for withdrawal at local ATMs by the banks or authorities of those ATMs. There are no charges for online use which is a good feature of this debit card.

When you receive funds or payments in your card through any Payoneer partner program, certain fees might be charged for that by the issuer. That could range from no charges at all to 1 % or more of total payment. Refer to the partner’s policy for more information. US payment service involves a fee of 1 % of the total payment received in your Payoneer account.

There is an annual account maintenance fee of $29.95 which is a little high. If you lose your card or your card has expired, a replacement card is issued which costs $ 12.95. Make sure that you order a replacement card before the expiry date of your debit card to avoid any troubles. All these charges will be deducted from your Payoneer account only.

Note that, fees and pricing mentioned above are subjected to change. Therefore, please visit this link for latest updates: Pricing and fees