You can get a PayPal account in Pakistan …

… now before you do a happy jig around the room let me warn you … though it’s true there is a way to get a PayPal account in Pakistan I won’t advise it unless you are a huge company and make a lot of money (in which case, WTH are you doing here, LOSER …. GLOATING??? :@ ) because by the time PayPal charges you it’s withdrawal fee, you pay for the wire transfer, pay the money exchange rate you are 10-15% short of your total earnings. If that wasn’t bad enough, it takes a month (if you are lucky) to 3 months for the money to reach your account because Pakistan is a “slow pay” country. Meaning (step) Uncle Sam doesn’t trust us (unjustly so??) … and they do tons of checks before they release the dough.

If somehow you are still interested (shouldn’t you be chatting with that special someone or posting disgusting mushy songs to your Facebook Wall … it is Valentine’s Day you know??) … read on.

Firstly, what do you need to get a verified PayPal account and to use it for withdrawals?

• A PayPal account (duh!) in a country where it operates (this requires a legit physical address)
• A credit card from one of the supported countries.
• You also need to be a resident of any of these countries.

Now hold your breath (or don’t) … here is a list of what you need to get a PP account in Pk:

• Beg a friend/relative/client to let you use their address in America (we are focusing on how to get it using an American address).
• Chances are you will be turned away but keep persevering.
• Once someone allows you to use their address, sign up for PayPal using it.
• Now apply for Payoneer debit card. The way to get one is to sign up for one of the many partners, apply for Payoneer through them, and ensure you have some cash in your Payoneer account before you move to the next step.
• Now log into your PP account and check that the “My Account” tab is active.
• Look under “My Account Overview” – click on “Unverified”.
• Enter your Payoneer card number, 3 digit code and billing address.
• Click “Confirm” and sign out.
• Open your Payoneer account.
• Click on “Transaction History” – search for the PP transaction with the 4-digit EXPUSE number. It takes a while for this to show so don’t get your knickers in a twist if you don’t see it right away.
• Sign into PP again.
• Under Link and Confirm Card, type in the 4-digit EXPUSE number in the transaction statement. Account status will change to “Verified”.

Ta Da!

Now, how do you get money OUT OF PP? Good question.

• Transfer the $$$ to Payoneer card and withdraw from any bank in Pk.

Remember, you can transfer any amount from one of the affiliate sites to your Payoneer account … but if you want to transfer private funds there is a $1000 limit. You can also tackle this problem to some extent by getting a US Virtual Bank Account. However, remember there is always a risk what with the changing relationship between Pakistan and the US, and also the fact that PayPal can freeze your account at any time and leave you in a lurch.

OK Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

(Info courtesy of www.ProPakistani.pk)

oDesk Wire Transfer

Went back to my oDesk account the other day after a long, long time. They have added an option for Wire Transfers now. For a moment I was excited. Yipppeeee … no more signing up for Payoneer and waiting forever to receive the card. No more setting up Skrill (formerly Moneybookers). I quickly went on and set up my account only to find out oDesk charged $30 per withdrawal via Wire Transfer. WHAT THE HELL! So the portal charges 10% of the withdrawal amount and then another $30 for the transaction and then another $4.99 as currency conversion fee. It’s ridiculous considering most of the tasks pay $1/hr and the fixed price projects are like $4 an article (for example). I can write about 5 500 word articles a day so let’s say I have a good month and write 5 articles every day for 30 days that would come to around 150 articles and a total earning of $600. oDesk subtracts their 10% and another $34.99 for the transaction and that leaves me with $505.

So for a whole month worth of work I get what? Only $505!!! Recently an SEO client-turned-friend from the US said the low rates were the fault of the contractors. They bid so low in order to get a job it makes the rates so pathetically low. It’s sad how the low employment rate in our country and in others like Philippines and India forces people to work for peanuts. I know how hard it is to get work on these portals and maintaining a good rating. There are predators out there that will hire you for pennies, give you an impossible task (25 articles 500 words each in 3 days) and when you deliver they will still bug you over the money threatening to give you a bad rating if you complain to the admins. It has happened to me so I know what I am talking about. And if it comes to the worse and you do go to the admins, chances are they will side with the buyer. So what options do online workers have?

What has your experience been like using these portals both as clients and service-providers? I know you will never comment coz you are probably here looking for info on “honesty and generosity” as per my stats. But miracles happen. Which reminds me of MJ … :’( “And I believe in miracles, and a miracle’s gonna happen tonite … “

Webcam Credit Card Reader (?)

Now that sounds like gibberish, right? It did to me. But then found out about Jumio on TechCrunch (of course). Here is how it works:

You plug it into your website, it turns your webcam into a credit card reader, you hold your card in front of your webcam, authorize a purchase, and you are done. Plus, it’s more secure than other conventional online cc transaction as it requires the physical presence of the card in order to work. Jumio even has a wordpress plugin so those using WP for their websites can also benefit from it.

Do you still not understand my excitement? This could be the solution to my PayPal woes. I could add it as a payment option on my website (will tell you my website plans in another post) and customers won’t hesitate too much using it thinking ‘give my credit card details to a Pakistani website? I guess not!‘ because you are actually sending the data to Jumio and not to me.

Did I mention it’s FREE? Yes, dahlins – you heard me right … the darn thing is free to install. You don’t have to pay a one-time fee, a monthly fee, a yearly subscription fee …. nothing. Well obviously, it’s not a charity … they charge 2.75% of your transaction but considering I am using a friend’s PayPal account (OK, who am I kidding -am using the 25-yr old’s PayPal) that’s based in Singapore and costs me about 10% in transaction fees (PayPal fees, converting US $ into Singapore $, then converting it into Pakistani Rs = 10%) 2.75% is almost free.

Now, what I need to find out is how I can withdraw the money. Can I have the money wired to my bank in Pakistan? Would they give me a debit card like Payoneer, or what? The site is temporarily down (uh-oh, not a good sign) but considering the product just went online a month ago, I won’t make an issue of it.

To see how the thing works, check out the video below:

That’s all for now, Folks …

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

How does a VA get Paid?

PAY PAL! Yippppeeee …that was easy.

Stop rubbing salt into my wounds – there is no PayPal in Pakistan!

Yep, if you are a VA working from Pakistan you have to start thinking about how you are going to get paid for your work. PayPal is what most clients prefer but unfortunately they don’t offer their service in Pakistan. Last time I checked it had something to do with the tax laws in our dear ol’ country.

Clients want the easiest most convenient way to work with you. That’s the whole point of hiring a VA – picking up a BB or iPhone or HTC (seriously, who buys an HTC or any other smartphone if they can afford an iPhone??) and telling the VA what to do and knowing it would get done. The same applies to payments – picking up the smartphone, connecting to the Internet and paying you.

I have lost a lot of clients because they can’t pay via PayPal but over time I have figured out a way to go around it. First it was MoneyBookers. I heard about them during my oDesk days. According to the website, Moneybookers is a tool that allows you to safely send and receive money via email – instantly. You can send money from your credit/debit card, transfer money to and from your bank account. Use Moneybookers whenever you need to send money to someone (settle a debt with a friend, pay for online purchase/auctions…) or when someone needs to send money to you. What’s the catch? The client has to be a registered member to use it and most big clients don’t want to bother with setting up an account on a website they haven’t heard of before for you.

This brings me to Payoneer. I am not even gonna bother writing about it because they have also stopped their services in Pakistan. Hurray – happy times! Grrrr … ^%&*^. If you want to read about them, just Google them.

Western Union works wonderfully except their fee for wiring the money varies from country to country and even state to state. Plus, you have to actually go their offices to send the money. So, again too much hassle. They do have a web-based option but that asks for your debit card number and sometimes clients may not have debit cards so again you are screwed!

If you are in a country that PayPal does not support than your only choice would be a simple, old wire transfer. Yep – you give your AC # and your bank’s swift code to your client and she’ll just wire you the amount. It typically costs about $20 to send a wire from the US so you might want to set a minimum number of hours that clients can purchase. I have about 5 clients with pending invoices and the reason why I can’t invoice them is because they owe me less than $35 each and I am still hoping they’ll want more work done so I can bill them.

That’s all, Folks! Plus, considering it took me so long to write this post, all 5 of you (yes, my blog has 5 readers!!) are advised not to hold your breath for the next one. Ciao.