PayPal and Payoneer are popular online payment platforms that help you transfer money from one person to another or from one country to another.
Both PayPal and Payoneer are legitimate companies that have been around for quite a long time now. However, they aren’t the same and certainly aren’t similar. There are some key differences between the two services that are important to know about before deciding which one to use or if you wish to switch from one to the other.
In this blog post, about PayPal vs. Payoneer, I will walk you through what PayPal is, what Payoneer is, and how they compare to one another in terms of fees, limits, cards, and more.
What are Paypal and Payoneer? An Overview
PayPal is the most famous payment service provider (PSP) in the world. It is used for eCommerce and other online payments. PayPal has more than 400 million active accounts (as mentioned on Businessofapps) in 200 countries and 25 currencies across the globe.
PayPal allows buyers to make purchases using a variety of methods including credit cards, bank accounts, buyer credit, or account balances. It also allows senders to transfer funds in currencies other than their own. PayPal takes care of all currency conversions with added charges (let’s talk about the charges in detail later in this blog post).
Payoneer is another popular payment platform that connects businesses, professionals, countries, and currencies around the globe. You can use it to receive money into your local bank account or transfer money to another Payoneer account holder in another country.
The most notable and helpful feature of Payoneer is the virtual bank account in the USA, Europe, the United Kingdom & Japan. The Payoneer offers a virtual bank account number associated with the mentioned countries that you can use with any company that works with direct deposit, like Amazon or Google AdSense, even if you don’t live in the US, UK, Europe, and Japan.
For example, If you are working with an affiliate that pays you directly to your bank account but only accepts US bank accounts, you can use the Payoneer virtual account number to withdraw your earnings.
Types of accounts
PayPal and Payoneer have two different types of accounts, Personal and business accounts. Both platforms have similar features and restrictions between these accounts.
Personal Account
A personal account is intended for use by individuals who want to send and receive money online, or simply buy and sell goods and services on the Internet. Individuals can send money to friends and family members using a credit card or debit card through their personal accounts. A personal account is primarily used for receiving payment for purchased goods and services, as well as making payments to others.
However, Payoneer doesn’t allow sending money like Paypal.
Business Account
The business account is primarily intended for owners of small businesses that sell products on the Internet and need to receive payment from their customers. Business accounts have additional features not available in personal accounts, such as the ability to issue refunds, create invoices with branding, and more.
As a takeaway, both, Paypal and Payooneer’s account types are very similar.
I don’t want to get deeper into this topic since the blog post mainly focuses on Paypal vs Payoneer.
Fees and Rates
When choosing between different payment platforms, it’s very important to understand the fees and charges. One slight oversight in this regard can cost you headaches. Here is the breakdown of fees and charges between Paypal vs Payoneer.
| Fees and charges | PayPal | Payoneer |
|---|---|---|
| Currency Conversion | 4% | 0.5% |
| Sending Fees | Free or 2.90% + fixed fee for cards for domestic5% for international. | 3% for credit cards and 1% for ACH bank cards |
| Receiving Fees | 1.91% – 3.49% for domestic + Fixed Fee + 1.50% for international | Free between Payoneer accounts, 3% for credit cards, and 1% for ACH bank cards |
| Withdrawing money to a local bank account | Free + currency conversion if applicable | $1.50, €1.50, £1.50 for USD, EUR, or GBP, or up to 2% for other currencies. |
| Inactive account charges (12 months) | up to $20 | $29.95 |
| Debit Card | Free for the card + various additional charges for usage and other circumstance | $29.95/ year |
These charges may be updated in the future by their respective company, kindly check out Paypal and Payoneer‘s official pages.
Transfer Time and limits
Money transfer duration is very important for a payment system. It’s where you get the real money into your local bank account.
Nowadays, most payment companies are constantly improving their systems to increase the time duration of transactions and PayPal and Payoneer are not any exceptions.
| Transfer Time and Limits | PayPal | Payoneer |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer Time | 1 – 4 Business Days | 1 – 5 Business Days |
| Instant Transfer | Few minutes with a fee of 1% | Not Available |
| Transfer Limit | Non-Verified Account – $4000Verified Account – No Limit | $20K per day$50K per month (sending limit) $100K per month (receiving limit) |
| Withdrawal Limit | Non-Verified Account – $500 per month Verified Account – No Limit | 100K Per Day300K Per Month(varies depending on the country) |
PayPal Transfer time and limits
With PayPal, your money may take 1 – 4 days to appear in your local bank account. Your bank may also increase this amount of time depending on various circumstances.
However, there is an option called “instance transfer” that will significantly reduce the duration to a few minutes but will charge a fee of 1% per transaction and requires a verified PayPal account.
PayPal also allows its users to transfer money using a check, but this is not recommended since the process takes too long. Within the US, a check reaches the user in a typical 5 – 10 business days, and outside the US will take up to 45 days.
The transfer limits in PayPal vary depending on your account. Non-verified account and verified account places various limits on your transaction.
In a non-verified account, you can transfer up to $4000 per transaction. While withdrawing the money to your local bank account, there is a limit of $500 per month.
In Verified accounts, there are no limitations on sending money, but each transaction is limited to $60,000.
Payoneer Transfer time and limits
Payoneer can take up to 5 business days to transfer your money to the local bank account. Unlike Paypal, Payoneer doesn’t have an instant transfer feature to instantly transfer money to local bank accounts.
Sending and receiving money will have a cap of $25K per day and should have a minimum amount of $50 on each transaction. Moreover, a monthly sending limit of $50K and receiving limit of $100K will also apply to an account.
Payoneer withdrawal limits will vary depending on the country. On average, you can withdraw a maximum of $100K per day or $300K per month.
Debit Card
Both PayPal and Payoneer offer Mastercard to their customers to use the funds across the world. This debit card can be used for shopping, swiping, and withdrawing funds from ATMs.
| Debit Card Limits and Charges | PayPal | Payoneer |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Charges | Free | $29.95 per year |
| Accepted Scenarios | Shopping, Swiping, and ATMs | Shopping, Swiping, and ATMs |
| Daily ATM Withdraw Limit | $400 | $5000 |
| Daily Spending limit | $3000 | $5000 |
Payoneer offers a lot more limits than PayPal but however, the Payoneer has an annual charge of $29. So the winner is up to you.
If you are comfortable with the Payoneers annual charges, then it is a good choice. Also, Paypal has a drawback in that the card can only be used (without charges) on Moneypass ATMs. Other ATMs will throw you a fee of $2.50 per withdrawal.
Winner: Payoneer
Loans
It’s not uncommon for small business owners to seek loans to get their businesses off the ground or running.
Fortunately, PayPal and Payoneer offer loans with certain requirements with PayPal having the highest.
With Payoneer, you can easily qualify for a loan of up to $750,000 if you’re a seller on Amazon or even Walmart.
With PayPal, you should be having a business account for 90 days and have a history of sales worth $15,000 on your PayPal account.
Winner: Payoneer
Which is better for Freelancing?
If you’re a freelancer, Payoneer can be the best choice. It empowers your global career by allowing you to easily collect payments from clients and marketplaces, no matter where they’re located.
Popular freelancing marketplaces like Fiverr, Upwork, and many more support the direct withdrawal of earnings to Payoneer.
Moreover, it’s also a great solution for freelancers who do not have a bank account in the country where clients pay them because Payoneer offers you a US-based bank account if you’re working with US-based clients.
This means that once the client pays money into Payoneer, it gets credited to your Payoneer account within a few days. Therefore, this acts as an intermediate account from which you can withdraw money to your local bank account.
Winner: Payoneer
Which is better for business?
When it comes to accepting online payments for your business, the first thing that comes to mind is PayPal. PayPal is widely accepted With over 400 million active accounts, PayPal is a well-known and widely used payment option. Adding it to your business gives your customers the confidence that they can make purchases at your store without any hassle.
Few advantages of Paypal for using it on your business.
Buy Now button: You can use PayPal for a simple “Buy Now” button on your website or integrate it into your shopping cart system. This makes it easier for you to collect payments from your clients.
Payable Invoices: With Paypal, you can send professional, customized invoices to your customers. PayPal emails your customer a link to the invoice or you can supply a link in your own email. Your customer then views invoice details and securely pays with a credit card, debit card, PayPal, or PayPal Credit.
Less risk of chargebacks: As a seller, you don’t need to worry about having your sales become void because of chargebacks. PayPal has a fraud protection policy in place for all transactions which makes it harder for buyers to scam sellers on their system.
and many more.
Winner: PayPal
Customer Service
Customer service is the backbone of any business, but for financial companies, it is a crucial element. The best providers are always willing to go above and beyond to deliver the best possible support for their customers, whether by mail, call, or live chat.
Both PayPal and Payoneer provide all sorts of support to their customers.
In addition to those, both of the services have a community where users can ask questions and get answered by experts. Moreover, they also provide a handful of articles and blogs to help you sort out the problems by yourself.
PayPal vs Payoneer: Top Features Compared
We have seen and compared the important features of these two payment services. Now, let’s see them at a glance with some of the minor features that aren’t mentioned above.
PayPal’s top features
Paypal.me
Paypal.me is an easy-to-use URL-based personal payment page that helps you collect money online without cluttering your regular Paypal account. You can create unique, easy-to-remember URL links that you can use as a single, online payment page. Anyone can pay you with the link created by PayPal.me. For example. You can send the link to your friends, family, and customers, and have them pay you with just that link.
Buy Now Button
The buy now button allows your customer to purchase your product from your website or blog. If you’re selling products, PayPal’s buy now button is a great way to add instant purchases to your site. It is also easy to integrate to any site with a few lines of code and if you’re using WordPress, the integration can be done with just a few clicks. There are plenty of WordPress plugins that will get the job in no time.
Invoicing
PayPal Invoices lets you create and send bills to your customers. This allows you to request money from your customers and payment can be done with a few clicks.
Instant Transfer
The instant transfer feature in PayPal is great for those situations when you need to make immediate payments to a friend or colleague. With PayPal, you can initiate a money transfer and the money will be credited within a few minutes.
Payoneer’s Top Features
Virtual Bank Account
Payoneer allows you to create a virtual bank account in the countries such as the US, UK, EU, Japan, Australia, and China. This will allow you to withdraw from affiliates that only accept bank transfers in these countries.
eCommerce Loans
With Payoneer, you can get loans of up to $750K if your sellers are on Walmart and Amazon. However, with PayPal, there are a lot of requirements to get the loan approved compared to the Payoneer.
Direct Integration with popular companies
Payoneer is directly integrated with some of the biggest freelancing marketplaces such as Fiverr and Freelancing. This allows you to easily withdraw your earnings to your Payoneer account.
PayPal vs Payoneer: Conclusion
In this PayPal vs Payoneer comparison, we have compared the most important aspects of these payment services. Both PayPal and Payoneer are excellent services that have their place. But they have unique features that set them apart. They’re both viable options and can be used to grow yourself as a freelancer or grow your business, but they each have different strengths and may be better suited to some than others.
So when deciding on your choice, consider how you’ll be using the service and whether it will fit into your workflow.
Affiliate Discloser: This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase anything using these links, I will get a commission for the referral at no extra cost to you. Moreover, I only recommend things that I have personally used and always offer my honest opinion.
Featured Image by freepik
