How @Payoneer the Prepaid MasterCard can receive money via Paypal in Jamaica

If you’ve read my last blog article entitled “How to receive Payments online and spend it here in Jamaica - If it doesn't make spendable cash it doesn't make sense to Work online or do E-Commerce” you’ll notice that I made mention of Payoneer, the Prepaid Debit Card from MasterCard. This is necessary for working online as it makes money received via PayPal spendable here in Jamaica.

Whether you work online or you have an E-Commerce Website, transferring Cash to Jamaica is a hassle. Remittances via MoneyGram or Western Union are pointless for customers online, as they are mainly Americans and prefer the convenience of Credit Cards.

Hence the reason for PayPal as argued in my blog article entitled “How Jamaicans can set up a Payment Gateway in order to process Credit Card purchases - E-Commerce the main Catalyst for Increasing Jamaica's Internet Penetration”, the most ubiquitous and popular Payment Gateway online!

Still many questions remain unanswered by many Jamaicans as it relates to the use of Cash on their Payment Gateway i.e. PayPal. Specifically, how do you put money on your PayPal Account to spend online? And how do you spend it here in Jamaica? Finally, how do you load money unto your Payoneer, the Prepaid Debit Card from MasterCard?

This article should be of interest to you if you’re a MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise) with your own E-Commerce Website, a Worker online or even a Reggae or Dancehall Artiste looking to transfer your earning legally to Jamaica after a stint abroad as described in my blog article entitled “Jamaican Music Industry 2 Years post-Ban - How Artiste and Booking Agents Launder Money”. Hopefully I’ll provide all the answers to the questions that you have.

How to put money on your Paypal Account – The Reason why having a blog is a good idea

This is a burning question for many, as PayPal explicitly forbids Jamaicans from Transferring Cash from their Local Bank Accounts to PayPal, as can be seen from the screenshot below.

It’s simple really!

Once you get your PayPal Account and verify it using your Scotia VISA Debit Card or CIBC VISA Debit Card, you’ll need to have a US Bank Account to transfer funds to PayPal, This is a bit of a difficulty, especially if you want to use PayPal to buy things securely online and you’re not a US Citizen with a Social Security Number.

There is a clever workaround as the screenshot itself suggests. Money can only be transferred if someone pays money to your Account. Now if you’re working online, that’s easy as when you work, you get paid via PayPal as noted in my blog article entitled “How Jamaicans can Legally make US Dollars as Freelance worker Online - Jamaican Flexworking to make money from the Internet”.

However, for secure personal purchases, the only way is to use your Scotia VISA Debit Card or CIBC VISA Debit Card and pay money to your Account. To do this, you’ll need to create a Webpage with a PayPal Button using the instructions in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to use Scotia VISA Debit Card Online”.

In your PayPal Account, go to Products and Services Tab and then select Website Payments Standards. Then create a PayPal Button once you’re on the screen as show in the screenshot below.

Now for the hard part! If you’re like me and you have your own blog, in my case My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica, you can integrate the script for the PayPal Button into your blog as a Donate Button. Then you can, literally, using your own Scotia VISA Debit Card or CIBC VISA Debit Card, donate money to yourself.

Alternately if you DON’T have a blog, you can create a Google Drive Account and then create a Website hosted by Google Drive as described in Kemory Grubb Geezam blog article entitled “How to publish a simple HTML Website using Google Drive”. But instead of a Resume, you just place your script for the PayPal Button on that Webpage and then keep a copy of the hyperlink for the Webpage or even create a URL shortcut.

Then whenever you need to transfer money to your PayPal Account, just click on it and use your Scotia VISA Debit Card or CIBC VISA Debit Card to transfer funds to the PayPal Account. If you’re smart, you can even use the new Webpage as a mini Payment Site to collect payment for selling items online.

Even better, make a shortened URL of your mini Website using a URL Shortening Service that pays you per click  as described in my blog article entitled “How to become an e-book Publishing House via e-book Piracy - Tablets in Schools sets the Stage for Rampant e-book Piracy”, and placing the shortening URL as an ad in the Newspaper. Thus you earn per click as well as when the person buys the item from your Webpage!

Payoneer is Convenience for Internationals – Spend on the Go in Jamaica Earnings Online

But what about spending your cash earned online? That’s where applying for a Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card comes in. Once you go to the Website, you basically follow the procedure as show in the screenshot below. This is to collect information about you in order to create your Payoneer Prepaid Card.  

The service is facilitated by MasterCard, a payment Gateway that creates the Prepaid Debit Cards. It’s no different from the Scotia VISA Debit Card or CIBC VISA Debit Card, except it’s hosted in a US Bank Account.

You are then sent a physical Plastic Prepaid Debit Card with your name on it. Additionally, an online Account is created at Payoneer that allows you to check your Card Balance as well as make Withdrawals. You also receive email from paymenrs@payoneer.com advising you of changes to your Account, be it deposits or Withdrawals.

As it’s a regular Prepaid Debit Card, you can actually use it to not only verify your PayPal Account, but you can also spend the money here locally as soon as you get it. This as ATM (Automated Teller Machines) that accept VISA and MasterCard based on the stickers posted, will process payments from these Cards. Just remember not to use it JUST when you get it without any money being on the card initially, otherwise the ATM will eat your card, thinking it is stolen US Bank of America Prepaid Debit Card!

Best of all its far more convenient than MoneyGram or even Western Union, as you can even give relatives abroad your Bank Account Number and let them transfer instantly spendable cash to you! The FAQ for Payoneer is the best resource to check to answer all your questions related to the service, which is a boon for Internationals wishing to work in the US of A online but remain in their host country.

How to Privately Load your Payoneer Card – The Irony of a Card that needs Live Cash to Accept Paypal

Albeit the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card is mainly for earning money online, you can also reload the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card. You can also spend the money you earn working online from any POS (Point of Sale) or ATM (Automated Teller Machine). But what if you money is on your PayPal and you want to place it on your Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card to avoid the long wait associated with clearing PayPal Cheques?

For that, though, you have to go into PayPal, select Withdraw and register your Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card as the US Bank Account from which you can receive payments as shown below. 

However, there is a problem.

You have to have live cash on your Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card, otherwise you’ll keep getting and error message from PayPal quote “We were unable to process your bank Account registration at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again at a later date”…..and you do wan’t that.

So place a couple hundred dollars on your Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card so that you can then add it to your PayPal Account! This may seem to be a bit of an irony, as your Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card will initially be empty when you receive it and you may have money accumulating on your PayPal Account from working. Hence this makes it difficult for you to get your money from your PayPal Account to spend on your Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card, the main aim of this article.

By right, Payoneer wants you to receive funds from working online with a Website that accepts Payoneer DIRECTLY instead of just attaching the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card to your PayPal Account immediately as noted in “How to add funds to your Payoneer Account”, published NOVEMBER 30, 2011, Payoneer. Here’s a quick list of some of the over 60 companies that have already joined Payoneer:

1.      2CheckOut

2.      Amazon i.e. Associates Program and Kindle Direct Publishing

3.      AvantLink

4.      BuySellAds

5.      ClickBank

6.      Digital River i.e. OneNetworkDirect

7.      eBay

8.      Elance

9.      GoDaddy

10.  Google

11.  Kontera

12.  LinkShare

13.  oDesk

14.  PayPal

15.  ShareASale

Once you’ve begun working for any of the above companies and you’ve begun to receive regular payments, you become eligible for Private loading. This is where you yourself can place money on your own Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card Account, just as you did with PayPal. The difference from the workaround method for PayPal is that it can be done directly via their Private Load Website sing your Scotia VISA Debit Card or CIBC VISA Debit Card but with a minimum transfer of US$20 or a maximum of US$1000 as shown in the video below.

Clearly from the popularity of the video, this is a problem that has bedeviled the best of us involved in E-Commerce or working online. Another method I’ve yet to try is to do a SWIFT/BIC Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication/ Bank Identification Code) Transfer using the SWIFT/BIC for your Bank and Bank of America. All you should need is the following information:

1.      BANK NAME: Bank Of America

2.      Account Type: CHECKING

3.      17-Digit Account #: e.g. XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-X

4.      9-Digit ABA # or Bank Routing Number: e.g. XXXX-XXXX-X

It should work, as it’s a regular Bank Account albeit it may have restrictions, being as it’s earmarked for working online.  An even better method is to get a friend in the US of A to send your money via your Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card Account. This should work, as again it is a Bank Account that designed to facilitate Internationals e.g. Jamaicans working in the US of A.

Please note is no guarantee that this may be possible, as there may be restrictions as it relates to actual Cash Deposits to the Account, even if the person is in the US of A. I shall try BOTH of these methods and report back to you my fellow readers to see if they work.

Payoneer Bank Charges – Worth it if you’ve got Great Cashflow and Can’t Wait on Paypal

There are charges associated with the ownership of the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card. But for the convenience, if you’re really serious about making money online, these charges should not be a major inconvenience to you, especially if your business has solid steady cashflow and especially when you realize that it takes 3 weeks to clear a cheque requested from PayPal!

Thus payments made to PayPal, be it from working online or transfers from the Scotia VISA Debit Card or CIBC VISA Debit Card can be conveniently used here in Jamaica and once connected are automatically transferred to your Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card ready to spend online or shopping in Jamaica.

Merry Christmas to all and have fun working online or making money via your E-Commerce Website!

Here’s the Link:

Payoneer Facebook Account

Payoneer Twitter Feed: @Payoneer

Payoneer Website

Payoneer YouTube channel