The Payoneer System: Pros and Cons Explained

Withdrawing funds from foreign exchanges like Upwork, Freelancer, Top Tal, and others is a crucial matter for freelancers to address. Naturally, everyone dreams of a reliable, fast withdrawal process with minimal fees. Additionally, the prompt and adequate functioning of technical support is extremely important, as unforeseen situations and simple human oversight can lead to serious complications that only the service department can resolve. Let's delve into how the Payoneer system meets these requirements and evaluate the advantages of having a card from this service.

Who is the Payoneer service designed for?

Despite mentioning freelancers as the target audience of this service at the beginning of the article, its capabilities are much broader, making it interesting not just from a fund withdrawal perspective (though this still remains its primary objective).

In addition to withdrawing funds from freelance exchanges, Payoneer is also useful for active users of platforms like Amazon and Airbnb. It allows you to deposit and withdraw funds on these services as well.

Another significant benefit for freelancers is the ability to use Payoneer to receive payments from international clients through the Global Payment Service. Hence, an initial inference can be made that Payoneer is a versatile payment system capable of addressing a wide range of tasks for freelancers and beyond.

Benefits of the Service

The Payoneer payment system boasts several advantages compared to other services. Let's highlight the key ones.

• The ability to store withdrawn funds in a secure and convenient foreign currency of your choice, such as dollars or euros. This lets you remain independent of currency fluctuations that could adversely impact your budget if savings are held in national currencies.
• The option to withdraw funds at ATMs supporting MasterCard transactions. If an ATM provides cash in dollars or euros, you can easily access it. Unfortunately, not all countries offer this feature (for instance, in Ukraine, legislation prohibits withdrawing cash in foreign currency). In such cases, you can withdraw money in the national currency at the bank's exchange rate or at the MasterCard rate.
• Withdrawing funds at the MasterCard rate is another advantage of Payoneer, as this rate is typically more favorable than the bank rate.
• Convenience and high efficiency in withdrawing funds from Upwork and other freelance exchanges, along with minimal withdrawal fees. Currently, Payoneer can arguably be considered the most user-friendly system for such operations.
• Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard – a personalized debit currency card that any registered system user can obtain. With this card, you are not dependent on local financial institutions. Additionally, the card balance equals the account balance, meaning funds transferred to your account are immediately accessible on the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard. To get one, you just need to register and order the card, which will arrive by mail within 2-3 weeks.
• The relatively low cost of card usage, amounting to only $30 per year.
• Reasonable fees when withdrawing cash from an ATM. Payoneer charges $3.15 regardless of the amount withdrawn. However, sometimes the bank also levies its own fee, usually not exceeding 3% of the withdrawal amount.
• Through the service and the linked card, you can make payments for purchases online and at physical stores, hotels, cash registers, restaurants, etc., where there are payment terminals. The payment process is identical to using a regular MasterCard debit card, with payments made in the national currency based on the current exchange rate.
• You can also transfer your funds to a bank account at a local financial institution, with the transfer based on the current rate.

There aren't many drawbacks to the system. The most obvious one is the inability to withdraw cash in foreign currency in some countries. However, this inconvenience is a result of the legislation in certain countries rather than a flaw of the system itself. A possible solution to this issue is to travel abroad every few months to convert the funds into cash.

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