Friday, March 19, 2010

Moneybookers Vs Paypal Vs Payoneer debit card - Which Is Better For Indians?

 My Indian peers are very much confused about the cheapest way to withdraw money from various freelance websites to their bank accounts directly. Until Paypal India outrage, things were going smoothly with Paypal. Now, with the Goods/Service payment alone allowed for Indians, it incurs a 3.4% + $0.30 fee for every transaction for people like me, who don't reach Paypal's merchant rates.

Since I have personally used MB, Paypal as well as Payoneer debit card, I felt like making a comparison between these three payment methods, basically because I can find out which one is affordable for me.

I am considering that a payment of 200 USD will have to be sent to MB, Paypal as well as Payoneer. I am considering the currency conversion rates as of today, 3-19-2010. I am assuming that you make request with freelance websites to get $200 to your account. $200 is the amount that you intend to receive after deducting associated withdrawal fees. So, here goes my calculation:

Paypal (in USD):
Amount: $200
Fee: $7.1
Net Amount to be received: $192.9
Net Amount that will be credited to your Indian bank account : INR 8.499.21 (1 USD = 44.0602)

Moneybookers (in INR)
Amount: $200
Net Amount to be received in INR: 8905.15(Approx value after applying 1.99% to current USD to INR rate)
Net Amount that will be credited to your Indian bank account: INR 8579.47(Approx after converting INR to EUR @MB, deducting MB withdrawal fee and finally converting EUR to INR at bank side)

Moneybookers (in USD)
Amount: $200
Net Amount to be received: $200
Net Amount that will be credited to your Indian bank account: INR 8788.33 (Approx after converting USD to EUR @MB, deducting MB withdrawal fee and finally converting EUR to INR at bank side and deducting forex fee)

Payoneer (in USD always)
Amount: $200
Net Amount to be received without fast loading: $200
Net Amount that can be withdrawn after deducting maintenance fee (considering no of transactions to be less than 5 previous month) : $197
Net Amount you can receive from ATM: INR 8842.29( Approx after deducting Payoneer fees and bank charges)

In the case of Payoneer and Money Bookers, the net amount you can receive in your bank account and ATM is unpredictable because bank charges apply. Paypal withdrawal takes around 3-4 days and MB withdrawal takes around 4-5 days. If standard load is preferred in Payoneer, load takes around 4-5 days, whereas immediate load is on the same day. Once money is loaded to the card, you can use it to withdraw cash from ATM on the same day.

So, as I see, Payoneer is a better option even though it has monthly maintenance fee. I am also intrigued by MB in USD too.

P-S- I am not selling anything to anyone. I am just trying to figure out what will work for me best.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks a Lot!!!

    Very Useful Article with a nice Comparison b/n all three popular methods.....

    ReplyDelete