My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: How Jamaican make money online using @Payoneer - @PayPal, @paxuminc, @ecoPayz and @okpaycom Prepaid MasterCard Alternatives

Saturday, March 14, 2015

How Jamaican make money online using @Payoneer - @PayPal, @paxuminc, @ecoPayz and @okpaycom Prepaid MasterCard Alternatives

Although the Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard is the Best Prepaid Debit Card for Internationals (that means Jamaicans too!) working online as described in my blog article entitled “Payoneer, the US based Prepaid MasterCard Debit Card - How E-Commerce MSME's, Online workers and Reggae or Dancehall Artiste can receive money via Paypal and spend it in Jamaica”, it may not necessarily be to your liking.

The process to get a Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard, which may be thrust upon you if you've begun working online, may be a bit daunting, but it is the same as with the alternatives to Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard.

Also, for reasons unknown, persons who've chosen to work online as described in my blog article entitled “How Jamaicans can Legally make US Dollars as Freelance worker Online - Jamaican Flexworking to make money from the Internet” have been rejected.

Also, if you've read my blog article on Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard, you'll realize that you can't load money to your card until you've worked online for several websites and have been receiving regular payments. A good example of this is Odesk, which conveniently gives you an Odesk branded Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard when you are ready to receive payments from them.

Finally, another reason why you may be seeking an alternative to Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard may be the Bank Charges, which may be pretty steep, especially if you frequently withdraw cash here at ATM in Jamaica.

So now that I got the reasons out of the way, what are the alternatives to the Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard?

Alternatives to Payoneer - Paypal Prepaid MasterCard from your Relatives abroad

One alternative is just to simply get yourself a Paypal Prepaid MasterCard.

The advantage of this is similar to having a Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard; you can link your verified Paypal Account to the Card and make instant withdrawals whenever you need money, instead of waiting weeks for your cheques to clear or travelling to an ATM on the Weekends.

The only problem with doing so is that you'll have to be an American i.e. have an American Address as well as a SSN (Social Security Number). A VPN (Virtual Private Network) or Proxy Connection as described in my blog article entitled “Surfing the Internet Anonymously using VPN - How to use Streaming Set Top Boxes over VPN will work in the case of being an American”.

You can use the address from a local Jamaican Courier to receive the Card as explained in my blog article entitled “How to purchase items and subscribe to Magazines online and ship them to Jamaica” or the Address from a relative or friend who lives in the US of A and have them send it down to you.

Remember, you don’t have to have an American address and be in the US of A in order to receive the Card, hence the need to purchase and use a VPN or Proxy. But making withdrawals and spending cash can be done at any ATM where MasterCard is accepted and there are many ATM's in Jamaica.

Alternatives to Payoneer - Paxum, EcoPayz and OkPay are like having a regular US Bank Account

Aside from the Paypal Prepaid MasterCard, there is also some excellent alternatives that offer services that Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard doesn’t as stated in the article “Payoneer Alternatives: 3 Best Prepaid Debit Cards to Apply”, published January 13, 2015 at 7:23 am by Hassaan Khan, Androizing.

These alternatives include:

1. Paxum

2. EcoPayz

3. OkPay

All three (3) of them require the same criteria for verification in order to apply and get the card sent to your address, preferably a physical mailing Address where you regularly receive mail, wherever you are in the world:

1. 18 years and older

2. Passport

3. National ID Card/Driving License

4. Utility bills (if you have none of the above)

In applying, you'll have to send scanned copies of these documents via email to these entities, so keep that in mind. The Prepaid Card takes anywhere from four to six (4 to 6) weeks to arrive at your address. Once you've received your Prepaid card from any of these entities, a wealth of benefits await you.

All three (3) offer wire transfer, EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) and Credit Card load options to add funds to your Bank Account. They also offer you funds withdrawal option via ATM that support MasterCard, Bank wire and EFT directly to your Bank account.

All three (3) cards have an annual charge for usage of the service as well as a Withdrawal Charge at the ATM, their main way of making money, no different from the Payoneer Prepaid Debit MasterCard.

Their offerings differ slightly, giving each a slight edge over the other with perks such as no maintenance fee in the case of Paxum and EcoPayz or Free loading of funds via bank transferring the case of EcoPayz.

Payoneer is the Best Prepaid Card for Internationals – Plan B in case Disaster Strikes

Truth be told, it really comes down to you reading the FAQ that each service has and applying for each card and trying them out to see what works best for you, if the Paypal Prepaid Card is not your Liking.