1. You can ONLY SEND MONEY with your PayPal account, up to $100.
2. You CANNOT:
a) Request for money or receive money
b) Add funds from your bank account
c) Withdraw funds
3. This is good news to online shoppers, especially those who want to buy from eBay.
4. Implications:
a) PayPal can't be used for remittances, which most Filipinos are after
b) Online merchants can't use PayPal to collect payment
A person named Brod made a comment in the PayPal for the Philippines site and made a good point :
"Paypal in other countries like Malaysia also cannot receive funds to their local bank accounts. It effectively limits local merchants from outselling American merchants. Plus even if local merchants are able to sell their products, they can’t get their money from the States. That effectively contains their money within their shores. If you want your money, you will have to have a US bank account and use their wire transfer services to get your funds. Very good thinking. Americans are money-wise.
Paypal knows they now have stiff competition from Google Checkout, so they suddenly scrambled to get first base in the Philippines. But in their race to outdo each other, our Filipino remittance companies will in the long run be at the losing end."
Some people think it was an insult that PayPal imposed these limitations, but I think it was a smart decision. I think PayPal is testing the waters now. If all goes well with this, maybe PayPal would consider offering us their other services.
Another person who made a comment caught my attention. Mia says:
"For those who are frustrated that you can’t cash-out using your PayPal acount, we might have the answer to what you are looking for.
We currently have an ongoing service that allows PayPal users to remit cash in micro-denominations to the Philippines via Smart Money. We accept PayPal payments and we transfer the money to a Smart mobile number via Smart Money. We charge a handling fee to cover for PayPal/Smart Money transaction fees, production of the card, and other operational expenses. For example, we charge $5.99 for a P5000 remittance.
We mail our beneficiaries the physical Smart Money card and PIN. The card can hold up to 50,000 pesos at any given time. You can then withdraw the funds from a Banco De Oro ATM or encash in any Smart Wireless Center. If you are talking about receiving PayPal payments not more than 50K, this might be the solution you guys are looking for. Contact me at mdeleon@vmobilesolutions.com."
I have already sent Mia an email and asked more details on this service. How will the PayPal remitter send money? Is this done online? The website of VMobileSolutions does not really share this information. I will find out soon.
By the way, Innoload provides a solution to the ongoing problem of receiving PayPal in the Philippines. Innoload allows PayPal users to send money online to Smart Money and Globe G-Cash beneficiaries. Visit www.innoload.com
2 comments:
paypal for filipinos is VERY limited then..."BITIN"! as a filipino would complain. i think it kind of defeats the purpose of having paypal as a convenient/ handy-dandy account...
not so handy after all, eh? tells us that paypal is still being cautious on its decision to cater to the filipino market...
i dont know how exactly to feel, actually.should i be thankful for such service? or annoyed with such limited account functionalities? hmmm;)
I think this is better than having no PayPal in the Philippines :D
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