Payoneer is well known in the online world. PayPal is another part of the big two. Be as it may that are constantly looking for easier ways to get paid for their works, Payoneer has given them a good way to achieve their dreams. This virtual bank account is especially popular with freelancers operating outside the EURO zone ( that is from Africa and South America and Asia) and for also those who, for example, run an Amazon affiliate webshop.
The advantage of this online bank account
The big advantage is that you can have yourself paid out in different currencies. Especially if, for example, you regularly receive smaller amounts in USD, you lose a lot of money in bank charges and exchange rate losses. You can easily prevent this by opening an account with Payoneer.
That way you can have the amounts deposited in, for example, USD into your Payoneer account. Then you save the amount and at a given moment you can transfer the entire amount to your Dutch bank account at once.
That way you can easily save a lot of money.
Currently, Payoneer is active in more than 200 countries and you can transfer money in 80 different currencies.
Opening an account is free
Opening an account is completely free. Even when you receive money into your account at Payoneer, there are no costs involved. If you want to transfer money to your standard bank account at an ING or Rabobank, there are costs involved.
Transaction costs when paying and transferring
If you transfer money to an account in the same currency, you pay an amount of € 1.50 or $3.0
For example, if you transfer an amount from a USD account at Payoneer to your EURO bank account, a surcharge of 2% will be applied to the exchange rate. The exchange rate on the basis of which this surcharge is calculated is the official mid-market rate.
Relatively speaking, the storage is quite on the high side. The advantage mainly lies in the fact that no extra transaction costs are charged for a transfer.
For example, if you receive 10 x $100 from America on your bank account, it will cost you around €50 in transaction costs and exchange loss.
By first having these amounts deposited into a USD account at Payoneer and then transferring $1,000 to your EURO account in one go, you can save considerably on these costs. This will then cost you about 19€ in exchange rate surcharge.
That way you can easily save an amount of 30 €.
Using a prepaid credit card
It is also possible to request a prepaid credit card, with which you can then make payments. However, if you make a payment with this card, costs will be charged. These vary between 1% and 3% depending on the type of transaction.
The operation of the card can be compared with the prepaid credit card from bunq.
The Payoneer network
Extra interesting is that if you transfer money to another account within the Payoneer network, you will not be charged. For example, if a customer or client has an account with Payoneer, I would certainly open an account there. In this way, it becomes possible to transfer money without it costing you anything.
A Payoneer account in combination with the N26 bank or Revolut
It is therefore a great option to maintain an account with both the N26 bank or Revolut bank and Payoneer. That way you can make a transfer from Payoneer in USD to your USD account with these banks and then transfer it to your EURO account.
Maintain a foreign currency bank account
In addition, if you expect the USD rate to rise, you can also keep a USD account for free in this way and possibly benefit from the price rise. However, this is more speculation and only an additional advantage and not the primary reason for opening an account with this online bank.
Payoneer or PayPal
Compared to Paypal, transferring foreign currency through Payoneer certainly has advantages. The exchange rate loss is lower with Payoneer than with Paypal. The surcharge on the exchange rate at Paypal is between 2.5% and 4%.
Paypal was one of the first companies with virtual bank accounts. However, it seems in my opinion that they are being overtaken by new and more innovative companies.
For the time being, Paypal still has a strong market position, partly due to the name recognition and collaborations with many companies, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this changes in the long term.
After all, they will also have to reduce their transaction costs in the form of the exchange rate in order to maintain their market position.
I have used Paypal a lot in the past, but have largely stopped using it. This is because there are simply better options available where you have to transfer much less in EUROs or simply receive more EUROs. And that’s what it’s all about.
Our conclusion
If you compare Payoneer with a bank, you can easily save a lot of money. However, it is currently very much focused on America.
For Europeans, I personally believe that the N26 bank or Revolut bank are better options. Because they use Transferwise to make payments in foreign currency, it is cheaper.
You can also use transferwise in combination with an account with Payoneer. That way you can transfer the USD from your Payoneer account easily and cheaply to your Nigerian account. That way you don’t lose anything on the exchange rate and you only pay a few dollars in transaction costs.
An ideal solution for remote working
Payoneer is an interesting option, especially for freelancers who work remotely and are therefore paid in different foreign currencies.
