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There is a policy change for Payoneer annual fee in the year 2023. The question is, “Is Payoneer still a good option for Nigerians in the year 2023 and beyond?”
This post, Payoneer annual fee 2023 will try to look at providing an answer to this question.
Related: Alternatives to Payoneer
What is Payoneer annual fee?
Payoneer annual fee is the yearly fee Payoneer charges users of their payment platform. I believe that is a simple definition I can give it for now.
Now, major reason why we are looking at Payoneer with respect to its annual fee is because a new policy was announced recently about its annual fee which will surely stop most Nigerians from using the popular online payment platform.
Payoneer annual fee for card
In the past, Payoneer was charging an annual fee of about $29 for users using only the Payoneer Mastercard. At Zarepath Publishing, we were using the Mastercard to withdraw from ATM machines in Nigeria. We were also paying the annual fee.
However we stopped using it when we observed it is not profitable using the Mastercard because apart from the annual fee, Payoneer was also charging fees on each dollar you withdraw from the ATM machines. To us, that was too much.
We switched to withdrawal to bank
We had to stop using the Mastercard and then switched to the option of withdrawing to our bank in Nigeria when we have $50 and above according to Payoneer standing rules.
Now the story gets interesting from here. A new policy came on board recently. I want you to follow along as I present a full discussion we had on our authors fourm on this topic.
So much is happening and changing around the Publishing and payment industry. I will also be sharing my views about this soon.
Related: How to withdraw money from Payoneer PayPal at black market rates in Nigeria
Payoneer annual fee and other Publishing news
Now let us go to my views and I hope you will be able to learn some lessons along the way:
Note: This is a summary of our discussions on this topic in our WhatsApp group for Authors and Publishers.
1. You should understand that there will always be changes in the business world in the way things are done. It’s even very possible especially when we talk about e-commerce or the internet.
2. If you have stayed so long on the internet like myself. That’s using the internet to work and do business (since the year 1997), you would have observed lots of changes.
In those days, paying and accepting payment online was a very big problem. PayPal hated Nigerians. Clickbank, the best affiliate website online, hated Nigerians.
There was no Facebook then. Only Google was somehow friendly. Then we were using Graphcard to pay. It was a lot of work. We were going through the back door to use Clickbank etc.
3. Amazon was present but not this big. You must have to make 100$ before you can be cut a check. To receive check and cash in Nigeria you must wait and hope it’s not lost in transit. Even bank charges will take away all the money.
4. But Payoneer came along and the receiving accounts was a big relief. Nigerians embrace it and we began to use it on Amazon, Fiverr etc.
5. But this is the truth now. Payoneer is now huge and they have become too harsh and selective. It’s like they have lots of clients now and that has entered their heads.
6. Despite the many disadvantages of using Payoneer in the past like low exchange rate, commission they deduct on your money they receive (they deduct $1 etc from every royalty that comes in from each of the different currencies Amazon send to them. If it’s $0.99, they will deduct all).
This is the reason why at Zarepath Publishing we always allow our royalties to accumulate for three months before asking Amazon to send it to Payoneer.
7. Payoneer has introduced some unfriendly policies in the past few months. The $50 new accounts must have before they receive the receiving accounts.
Another policy is that if you don’t make an accumulation of $2000 in a year you will be charged an annual fee of about $29 or so. This was not so before.
They were only charging annual fee for people who order and use their cards to withdraw from banks in Nigeria (we were using this before).
8. Now which way to go?
9. You can’t blame Payoneer. They own their business. The problem is that you have not probably been planning to know what to do before any change occurs.
I will write more about that later.
10. Wise.com would have been a solution but wise is also asking for $50 in your account too the last time I checked.
11. Now to the new platform GeegPay.
12. At Zarepath Publishing, we have to register on GeegPay and also interacted with the support team. Some guys on this forum have also sent messages to me.
13. GeegPay looks like a good solution to Payoneer for Nigerians. GeegPay gives you the following opportunities:
You will be able to receive receiving accounts that you can use in Amazon etc. to receive book royalties.
You can also get a Mastercard you can use to pay online which you can fund from your bank account in Nigeria. Perfect solution.
In addition, GeegPay give you your money at black market rates in Nigeria. Though I don’t think that will be an advantage again if the Federal Government unify the exchange rate
14. But GeegPay is making the process of registration and getting the receiving accounts difficult. Based on our experience so far and from the personal messages I have received.
15. Their support system is also not encouraging. After we registered and did everything and our account awaiting review and approval, we waited for over three weeks.
We sent an email to the support staff, she asked me to use a different browser!!! That was strange. Then I went back to login again I noticed the status has changed.
They are now requesting I upload my bank details. Note that I actually uploaded this unto the system. Well I clicked on it to continue but what I found was that I have to upload a means of identification like passport or national id.
Well I uploaded a national id. And the status changed to awaiting approval again.
I send an email back to support that I have uploaded my means if identification again. But after another weeks, I checked and I found this: Account Suspension for uploading fake documents 😃🙁😚
I was surprised! How can you suspend an account you have not approved. Where did you see fake document?
16. Why am I explaining this? To get you prepared. I don’t think GeegPay will be around for a long time.
If you are lucky that your account has been approved and you have your receiving accounts already and you have Mastercard already. I advise this 👇
Don’t leave your money in the account for too long. When it comes in and you have confirmed, please withdraw your money immediately very quickly.
17. Please if you have succeeded in getting your GeegPay account approved and you have the receiving accounts please let us know here
That’s strange. From my experience using platforms online, that should not be. It means they have a problem. And it shows they may not be around for a long time. I may be wrong because Payoneer also had some problems in those days but they overcame them. So the golden advice is👇
18. Make every attempt to get it approved. Collect the receiving accounts. Use it on Amazon. But withdraw your money immediately!!!
19. I am just thinking about this now. They have an app. Has anyone downloaded the app?
Probably the app can work better than the web platform. Though this is still not good enough.
20. At Zarepath Publishing we will still be using Payoneer. We use it to receive only our royalties from Amazon. We use PayPal for others like lulu, Udemy, Babelcube.
21. What then can you use on Amazon. Because Amazon still remains the biggest platform to sell ebooks online.
Like I said,
GeegPay
Use a friend abroad – A trusted friend. We were using this before Payoneer. Especially, a friend in US or UK.
22. Another advice. Diversify your business of selling books . Don’t just sell ebooks on Amazon, sell your writings in different formats. This is the reason this (WhatsApp) group is titled, Sell Writings Online.
We sell writings as:
- Blogs (we make money through adsense)
- Ebooks on Amazon
- Online courses in Udemy
- As audiobooks in acx
- As translated books on Babelcube.
- As eBooks on our online bookstore in Nigeria NowNowbooks.com.ng
All of them have different ways of setting them up.
Remember this is a business and not a hobby!!!
23. We have been using PayPal to receive money from some of these other channels because we have a business partner who helps us to operate our PayPal abroad.
It’s a pity PayPal and Amazon are ‘enemies’. Amazon will never allow you to receive royalties through PayPal.
I hope you loved this long post. It’s a summary of the discussion we had on our WhatsApp group for Authors and Publishers. I believe you have gained great insights here today.
If you want to join this group, please send a WhatsApp message to 08034300979.