Last Monday (June 16, 2014), I stumbled upon the news that PayPal is finally coming to Nigeria. And I was excited. Why won’t I be?
For the past three years, I’ve been unable to receive payment directly from my foreign clients due to PayPal’s unavailability to Nigerians. (But thanks to Payoneer and other alternatives that came to my rescue.)
Because I just don’t take any news item until I read it from authoritative sources, I clicked the link to the original source. And I confirmed that it’s true.
But after reading down a couple of lines, my eyes caught the shocker that read:
Initially, PayPal is only offering “send money” services for consumers to pay for goods and services at PayPal-enabled merchant sites while safeguarding their financial details. This is free to consumers and covered by fees it charges merchants.
“We think we can give our sellers selling into this market a great deal of reassurance,” said Keeley, a former regional banking executive with Standard Chartered Plc and senior executive with payment card company Visa Inc.
PayPal does not yet cover peer-to-peer transactions, which allow consumers to send money to other consumers. It has not yet enabled local merchants in the new markets to receive payments, nor is it offering other forms of banking services, he said.
And I could say was, “Damn!”
So, PayPal was only going to offer a send-only solution after all. We can’t receive funds, and we can’t withdraw funds. All we can do is send money. Nothing more.
So, if that’s all PayPal could offer, I’m not impressed in the least. And I have no reason to start using their service yet, even though I’ve already registered and verified my account.
I’m sure I’m not alone in this. Many other Nigerian internet marketers and freelancers will share my line of thinking because they need PayPal for receiving and withdrawing funds — not sending funds.
However, I know that this development will be of great help to many other Nigerians — those who need PayPal for sending payments. You have every reason to be excited if all you need PayPal for is paying online for Fiverr gigs, themes, software packages, online subscriptions, ebooks, and other products.
Now, your turn…
How did you take the news of PayPal’s arrival in Nigeria? Were you excited? Or were you indifferent, like me? Share your take and reasons by leaving a comment.
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