Update: PayMPESA Helps Withdraw Your PayPal Funds to MPESA
Update: PayPal now works in Kenya! You can also now withdraw from PayPal through Babawatoto or LibertyReserve.
Anyone who does e-commerce from Kenya or wishes to receive payments online from Kenya knows the pain and hassle of it all. In other countries, the process is pretty straightforward but this is not so here in Kenya. For example, Paypal is the most popular online processing service but it is no good in Kenya. Kenyans using paypal can only send money and not receive it. Is there a way to go round this?
This is a question that was placed before me by Titus in my previous article about accepting payments online. As I sought to answer him, I felt that the answer would be useful to everyone interested in making money in Kenya and hence this post. When deciding on how you want to receive money, the first consideration is deciding who you intend selling to. If you want to sell to people in foreign lands you will face different challenges to that of selling online but to Kenyans within Kenya.
Receiving Money Online From Kenyans In Kenya
Generally, if you want to sell within Kenya, your choices are limited since many Kenyans do not have credit cards and those who do are still reluctant to buy from a website.
That leaves ‘off-line’ payments. These can be cheque, postal order, bank transfer, MPESA, ZAP, etc. Of course the problem with this is a matter of trust. MPESA (and possibly ZAP) is the closest that Kenya comes to an ‘online’ payment system. However, it is still not truly an automated system since the payment has to be processed manually. Here’s how to use MPESA to accept online payments.
Additionally, you can use some of the methods that follow to receive payments via credit card.
Receiving Money Internationally
The problem here is just that Paypal doesn’t work in Kenya. So we need a replacement that is just as good, or better. So I went out looking for third party payment processors who: can work in Kenya; have a solid reputation; seem professional. This is what I came up with:
AlertPay – A friend recommended AlertPay to me and I checked them out (very smooth website) and even signed up for an account with them. They seem to work well and I’d recommend you to try them out. Guess what? You can also make money online with AlertPay.
Other services which should work in Kenya: Moneybookers, Ikobo, 2CO.
If you still really want to use Paypal,it can work if you can get yourself a bank account in a country in which Paypal offers money withdrawal services. Alternatively, you can deposit your Paypal funds in GetAfreelancer (or similar sites) and request them to pay you by bank transfer, for example.
What payment processing method do you use?
Hi Kelvin, i did find your article useful, thanks.
You’re very welcome Titus. Have you started accepting payments yet? (other than by MPESA)
Am glad i can use alert pay online
Thanks for the helpful information
You are welcome Irene. What else can I help you with? 🙂
when i open the four pdfs the message am getting is that the file is damaged.
Let me email you just now
Does the communications bill make receiving payments from online any better?
Well, the communications bill doesn’t really do much to make receiving online payments any better.
It does lay the framework to help make a payment system possible but does no more.
hi.am registered in paypal but i wonder how i can get the payments from my local bank.
How do you mean?
I know for one thing, if you link your Paypal account with your credit card or debit card, then you can make online payments through Paypal very very easily.
hey kelvin,
thanks for the info,am really interested in doing online business but i have only run into scam sites,do you have any knowledge in these online businesses?e.g eBay,affiliate marketing e.t.c
Hey Samuel! Well, you’ve come to the right place! We set this site up to help people like you. What, exactly, are you interested in? We’ll help you get there. 🙂
Hey, great article! Okay, whenever I search for online jobs, I get plenty of them, its so confusing I don’t even know where and how to start…
Please can you assist me on how to narrow down my search? Thanks in advance. Cheers
Well, honestly, you need to decide what kind of jobs you want. For example, if you are good in writing then only search for writing jobs. You will be likelier to succeed if you focus on one thing.
Hi,Kelvin
Please enlighten me more on affiliate marketing ,Internet & forex business in Kenya.Is it possible and true that someone can make money online?
Please search this website, we’ve covered those topics in depth before.
I found this interesting Kelvin. I have a question though can you list a few of the Kenyan banks that are on the Swift Network and if possible BIC codes for Equity or National bank. It would really be helpful.
Regards,
Shane.
Here’s a list you may find interesting: http://theswiftcodes.blogspot.com/2010/03/kenya.html
However, I do not know much about banking. Look over here for info on Kenyan banks: http://bankelele.blogspot.com/
Oh and thank you very much for your insight.
This is very useful. i am setting up an alertpay account as i write. i will tell you how well it works. think of me as a guinea pig 🙂
Tell me how it goes! 🙂
Try paypal. Its more acceptable, look for $10 for Us postal address. then email me . I will help you get an online Us bank , verified paypal account with a 2 free credit card, bank’s and paypal’s beautykenya@ymail.com . Be prepared to pay DHL charges for your card.
I am developing a system for Kenyans. You deposit money via MPESA. Then i transfer that money to your paypal account.
I have a US postal address which forwards all Us mails to my Kenyan mail and i have used the address to open an online bank that i have used to verify my paypal account as a US.
The bank gives a credit card and I have helped several Kenyan to do the same using my address. You can also be one of them. Charges $50 (deposit of $10 (for address and then balance after your paypal is verified and you have a bank account. Email me beautykenya@ymail.com
Hi there! Your payment solution sounds like something that could really work. Is it acceptable by Paypal’s terms of use?
Hi Kelvin,
Of course PayPal doesn’t want Africans to benefit from online business, This might be against their terms of use but you are only helping yourself with the loop hole. The trick it, once you open the account, never change any of your profile details, password etc. Always put answer any question they ask 100% and your account will never be frozen.
A bit risky, I’d say. But then again, being able to use Paypal as a Merchant is very powerful…
Guys, This is a genuine solution, If you know someone in the US, it is even better, but the company forwarding mails is a reputable company, in fact its work is to forward any item bought online from US, at a fee of $10 per year plus shipping.
The bank is not a real bank but an agent of a US bank, i found it funny that they sent my card to the US address within 2 weeks without asking any details , A paypal account only takes 3-4 days to verify when using a bank account.
Who knows of something that can sell well online, Although am not making much money, Its an opportunity.
Hey thanx kevin for your insight,am gonna try ur options.i’l let u know of the developments.
I wish you all the best. 🙂
Hi Kelvin!
I was just reading the post by Rimsite and I would be interested in more details. I have quite a number of questions but let me try and get in touch with Rimsite
Do let me know how it goes!
Shane, if you know of something you can sell online. Paypal works people take your website serious when they see paypal button.
Paypal is now in South Africa next will be Kenya..
When do you think it will be in Kenya, though?
Hi kelvin,
Why can’t we just open a dollar account at a local bank and access PayPal thru that. Then we are able to recieve and send cash. only thing is now when you want to withdraw u gotta go and change the currency. Ok you lose abit but i guess its worth it if PayPal can really help your online business. MPesa was a blessing in Kenya and makes things easier but in Kenya and now UK. But we need a world wide solution immediatley ama?
Well, that won’t work because what Paypal is against is the fact that we live and operate in Kenya. They have a stupid blanket policy to “not trust” the whole of Africa except South Africa.
To operate Paypal from Kenya, you need to register with a foreign Address as well as a foreign bank account.
I come back educated. Hi Kelvin, maybe this will help someone and it’s something I’ve been using. It’s called Moneybookers. With an internet paying site or freelancers can have their money sent from moneybookers direct to your bank. It will end up costing you about $3 max plus the local bank charges.
i wonder maybe it could be possible to link from PayPal to moneybookers then transfer to local accounts?
Linking from Paypal to Moneybookers directly is not possible. But you don’t need to because from Moneybookers you can transfer money directly into a local bank account.
Thanks for this info Shane. I’ve been using Moneybookers as well and it is quite the godsend. Though I currently prefer Alertpay.com
Alertpay guys: Can anyone explain to me where the “credit card validation code” they send you is writen coz i contacted my cooperative bank Kajiado and they couldnt find it on the transaction details. How did you get verified?
Any co-op banker point to me where they got supported. Ahsanteni
Yeah it is. moneybookers just needs your bank BIC swift code and it works beautifully.
Kelvin,
What are it’s benefits of Alertpay over moneybookers?Cause it kind of threw me off a bit when I tried to go through info about them.
The main benefits, for me, are:
1. It was easier to develop a custom payment gateway for Alertpay and the process of having my website reviewed was easier on Alertpay – Moneybookers was a bit stricter.
2. You can earn a tidy sum by referring others.
Hi Kelvin
Thanks for your article! Its awesome i needed it BAD because i have been trying to get a way to be paid from US. Shame Paypal doesn’t work for those of us in Kenya. Thanks again, i will definitely check out other articles you have on the site. Ciao
Thanks Naomi! I’m glad you found it useful. 🙂
Dear Kelvin.
How are you?
I’m interested in your post.
Well, I read the post by Crystal which was about KCB card related to Paypal account.
There is lots of questions.. Could you answer me?
I’m not kenyan, not american.
But my Paypal account can receive and send money.
I have Paypal balance.
I’m foreigner, can I make the KCB card related to Paypal?
If I make the KCB card related to Paypal, can I withdraw money from KCB ATM?
If it’s impossible, can I use moneybookers for withdrawing from my balance? How can I withdraw from Moneybookers? Should I have to relate real bank account in Kenya to Moneybookers account? I don’t know if I can open bank account in Kenya, since I’m foreigner… Please resolve my many curiousity!!!
Kind regards.
Unfortunately, you cannot withdraw via PayPal to a Kenyan bank account.
I suggest that if you want access to your money in Kenya you either come with cash, or with your credit card – PayPal just doesn’t work here 🙁
However, if you have a moneybookers/Alertpay account, you can link it to a Kenyan bank account and get your money that way.
Thanks! One more question.
How much is the transaction fee to kenyan bank account?
My moneybookers account’s currency is USD.
Do they automatically transfer to Ksh?
Kind regards.
If you sign up with moneybookers, there are two ways you can receive money in Kenya:
1. They can send you a physical cheque that you can bank
2. They can wire money into your bank account (electronic money transfer)
In both cases you need a Kenyan bank account
Excuse me.
I was planning to open Moneybookers account and send money to Kenya Bank… But.. it seems to be impossible…
How about M-pesa?
I don’t know exactly about M-pesa, but it seems that it offers money service on Safaricom’s shop.
M-pesa and Moneybookers, is there some relations?
Kind regards.
MPESA is a mobile money system that, currently, does not work with online payment/money systems
hi everyone i think a solution is here if you wish to receive money in kenya or transact online especially those without a a credit card. check http://www.epay-kenya.com.
hope this helps .cheers
hi. I just stumbled into your site and honestly am glad that it contains relevant info about online business. Actually my friend asked me to try online freelancing as a side hustle of which I think its quite a good venture but anyway am so naive about online payments, debit cards etc. so please if don`t mind could you advice me on how to go about it, how to obtain a debit card and its requirements ( please start from step one). I like your site and I think I should recommend it to my friends who are in need of this info.
regards,
kingori.
allowing us to recieve payments in kenya is a great step by pay pal. for thoseworking on freelancing sites where some employers dont award you the project outright, here is a trick. just give them the pay pal account and later on transfer the money you will be paid to your freelancer account like G.A.F. after which you can withdraw via moneybookers which is qiute easy.i however hope that we will soon be able to withdraw directly to our local bank accounts.
I s ther
Huh?
Oh!! sorry! I would like to enquire whether there is a limit to the amount that you can wire from moneybookers to local kenyan banks. say if you wire about $4000 or even more from moneybookers to a local kenyan bank (KCB) does the local bank freeze your account?
Shane answered you below (incase you did not notice)..
Hi again, There is no limit to the amount you can withdraw Morris. And from my own use of Moneybookers, my bank acts as the end point to my transaction. Once they receive the money and deduct their fee, then your money is yours to withdraw. New point of info people, A friend of mine with an account with Barclays recently withdrew his money from moneybookers to his account, the transactionactually took a single day. 24hrs and he had his money. Can anyone substantiate that or was that one of those lucky glitches?
Thanks alot..very helpful.
Hi Shane,
Please tell me the best banks in Kenya to withdraw from MoneyBookers. Does Equity work btw???
Hi everyone, can someone please help me……I worked for a client who sent me money to my GAF account. I want to withdraw it to my bank account. so the main question is do I withdraw it using the wire transfer method and if so what are the charges? please help!
Shane answered you below…
you can’t wire money from GAF to your Kenyan bank account anyway, if you try doing it they will still direct you to use use moneybookers.
Can I recommend http://www.pesapal.com we have been live for almost one year and have ahs a chance to test the market with some big brands.
Pesapal offers online payments for customers who can either use Mpesa, Zap or credit cards to deposit money into their pesapal wallets and transact with any of our listed marchants. Marchant can proceed to withdraw their money in any local bank account. we have signed up Some marchants and our list of goods and service providers is growing. visit our website create an account and feel free to transact.
If you have any questions please contact us from the contact details on our website.
HI Nelly, your credit cards section says “Put Credit Cards content here.”.
Here’s a screenshot: http://likechapaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/pesapal-weird.png
What’s going on there? Anyway, could you tell me:
I would love to promote PesaPal on this site as it is a local solution.
Kelvin,
we are re-engeniaring the content for the site hence the blank page.
we will have everything up by end of the week.
our charges vary based on the services the marchants get out of the system but i can tell you confidently that we are the cheapest in the market. our rates are between 5 and 3.5%
Hi Muthoni. Yeah I have worked with GAF. And the thing is with them, you have to have a minimum amount of $30 in order to withdraw. Now if you were to use direct wire transfer to your account it costs you $30 to have them send the money to your bank. Let me suggest this, and forgive me Kelvin I know I’m starting to sound like a moneybookers salesman, but if you open an account with http://www.moneybookers.com, then GAF does not charge you to transfer the money to Moneybokers. And then from Moneybookers you can now wire your money to your account in Kenya it will caost you approx $3 for that transfer. However when opening an account with Moneybookers, you will need to validate your postal address this may take roughtly 16days. I hope that helps you Muthoni.
No problem at all Shane, I love how helpful your comments are. In fact, if you have material to fill up an “article”, I’d love to public it so that all the readers know that Moneybookers is a very viable option (sadly not that many get to the comments section).
hello, i have been using money bookers with equity bank, the banks charges a fixed rate of ks.600 every time i make a withdrawal. this does not make economic sense since i only small withdrawals each time. can someone tell what commisions are charged by the other other banks say co–op bank, kcb or even postbank for the same service? i made enquiries in co-op bank and i was told it was free but i know better than to trust a bank salesman thats why i need someone who has used these banks to inform me. thanks
Hi Denis,
Thank God ur an Equity bank customer!!!! I have been very skeptical myself about transferring money from Moneybookers to my equity account. This is mainly because equity is not directly connected to the swift network. Apart from that, when I enter equity’s swift code (EQBLKENA) and my account number, right before authorizing the transfer the banks is displayed as sth ‘Ngong road avenue’ ba bla bla instead of my actual branch. Please tell me if this normal. Please help me out here in wiring my funds. Apart from here, you can also reach me on kenkin29@gmail.com
it is possible to use transfer cash from Moneybookers to your equity bank account, however you will be required to withdraw below $15 first for account verification purposes. I think the Ngong road stuff is the equity bank’s official address. the commission is ksh. 600 regardless of the amount hence making it more economical to withdraw larger amounts at one instead of numerous small transactions. it will take 3-3 days for the cash to be credited to your account. hope this helps
Thanks for your info. I am now confident of trying that out. Please inform me on how to receive the verification code upon sending $15
just go to the bank’s onlne transactions desk and ask for it. i got mine from the harambee avenue branch. it will be there as long as the $15 transaction has been completed.
what is this street address thing on moneybookers sign up page. I wanted to create an account with moneybookers but I don’t KNOW what a street address. someone please help.
Denis, actually yeah those bank charges are always involved. These are charges that are deducted for any international transfer. I use National Bank and I get deducted roughly the same amount though it varies from bank to bank. some are higher than others but roughly yeah between Ksh 600 and 750. Samuel you will note that right next to it in brackets is (No PO BOX) just trying filling in your P.O Box number.
Thanks Shane and Kelvin, you have been really helpful. one more thing, is the $3 the only charges that I get for the transfer or there are other bank charges? and will I still need to have a general purpose card?
I have been using moneybookers for approximately one year now. The day I received $700 from my employer since I work online, my account was frozen. Reason being I need to verify via the bank and explain this fishy business I was doing. So sent $15 to my bank which was to come with a verification code. Yeah the $15 reached but the verification code was not there. I scanned the swift transfer to then surprisingly, they could see all my details apart from my bank account number which I was seeing clearly. So had to send them scanned copy of my ID, bank statement showing my address (and I mean P O Box address). After numerous calls to their office my account was unblocked. Three weeks down the line…….my account was frozen again and guess what they wanted???? The same documents I had sent them three weeks ago. I resent them and then they send me an email stating that they will unblock my account once my boss verifies his details. Sure enough my boss sends details and sends the me the mail he got from them. Long story short, I called that office and said some unprintable words and guess what! Voila my account was unblocked 30 minutes later!!!
Hi Clare,
Thanx for this post. Quite helpful……Would you mind helping me out knowing which bank in Kenya allows for transfers from MoneyBookers?
Thanks.
I would like to give my contribution to this interesting topic on online money transfer. At http://epay-kenya.com you will find a workable local solutions for those who want to withdraw from international gateways. Whereas epay-kenya has an excellent arrangement with Moneybookers to assist Kenyans withdraw money from their moneybookers account, they have an interesting method to assist you in withdrawing money from your paypal. You will however need to write to them directly requesting for this facility and they will send you instructions on what you need to do. The method is a bit expensive and take about 24 hours but it works. I have personally been using epay-kenya to withdraw my proceeds from Paypal and moneybookers and I can say they are reliable. You receive your money via mpesa within reasonable time…am talking about less than an hour after you withdraw…..check them out!!
Thanks George. I used them and got my cash. Yeah it is a bit expensive. but I guess it will do for now. Thanks again 🙂
hey, thanks for the info, how exactly do you withdraw your paypal funds via e-pay kenya?
George thanks. I have checked them out although I have so many questions to ask. But if it is workable, then that is the best New Year’s gift I have received. Thank you!
Hi everyone. I have been using the epay-kenya.com to withdraw from my moneybookers account until i couldn’t stand that pain of always loosing 10% of my money to their “commissions”. So I have decided to be wiring direct to my bank. Unfortunately for Moneybookers, i can’t wire to a bank not directly connected to the swift network. I am in equity bank which uses correspondent banks for such international transactions. PLEASE, does anyone here know of any Kenyan bank that I could use.Which is the best?
Hi everyone. I have been using the epay-kenya.com to withdraw from my moneybookers account until i couldn’t stand that pain of always loosing 10% of my money to their “commissions”. So I have decided to be wiring direct to my bank. Unfortunately for Moneybookers, i can’t wire to a bank not directly connected to the swift network. I am in equity bank which uses correspondent banks for such international transactions. PLEASE, does anyone here know of any Kenyan bank that I could use.Which is the best?
equity bank still works, i was apprehensive at first just like you are but i decided to give it a try and in 3 days i had my first $15. the commision charged is ksh 600 but other banks charge more or les the same
Try I&M. But be prepared to be whacked by the bank for their commission as well with a 3 – 4 delay in receiving your money. Epay Kenya, if am not wrong, pay via mpesa on the same day you withdraw…
I have an Equity account but as was stated they are not directly connected to Swift and thus do not get your money transferred directly, however it still works. I have an account with National Bank of Kenya and it has never been dissapointed. From Moneybookers to National Bank takes four days for your transaction to be complete. Hey Kelvin is there a way maybe we can create a petition and have people sign or something and maybe see if PayPal can be moved to give us full service in Kenya? Because from all these comments and all, people really want PayPal.
I am with you Shane. I think it will happen soon, or hoping so. I am glad in odesk.com they finally recognized Kenya and we can do a bank transfer and charged $4 instead of the $30 they used to charge before. So I guess this is a step in the right direction.
I’ve been speaking to some PayPal employee and according to him, the problem is that they haven’t yet struck a deal with a local bank that guarantees them security. I think this proves that we may get a solution soon – even if through Citibank (US based HQ).
guess i will have to wait for them to get a bank before i can withdraw the money i have in my paypal account. ope it wont be a long or God forbid, futile wait
Kenneth all banks have it except equity an ofamily bank just switch banks. I use National Bank. I have people on KCB, Consolidated, Barclays. National Bank charges 500 bob for any incoming transfers from outside the country. About costs on moneybookers, good luck on that because they charge me as a merchant so still they charge me 10% of whatever I deposit. So what I do is I withdraw my cash once a month. Good luck
Hey Clare have you tried that direct transfer for O-Desk cause I was kind of skeptical. The bank will still charge you conversion and wire charges right?
Hey Shane, never tried it. I get paid outside those sites because those charges are just too much. Got a good employer who pays directly to moneybookers. It comes down to the same thing as using moneybookers. Wire transfer is $4 from odesk.com, NBK will charge you 500 boob to receive the cash. If you transfer to moneybookers, you will be charged $1 from odesk to moneybookers then moneybookers charges you $3 or 2.89 which comes to $4 then NBK charges you 500 so it amounts to the same thing. But make sure you select wire transfer to Kenya and not the other wire transfer of $30.
anybody knows exactly how to withdraw from paypal through e-pay kenya or any other cheaper way?
write to epay kenya directly and they will forward you instructions on how to transfer. Slightly expensive but sure and fast!
This website http://www.rimis.net has a detailed step by step guide on how to go about PayPal in Kenya. Am sure you will like the information in there.
I have checked out rimsite, the info provided is on how to use paypal.. looking for an option to withdraw paypal money in kenya.. I have tried epay-kenya and they are very reliable…anyone know of any other cheaper option?
E-pay is good but a bit expensive. Now we are looking for a cheaper option!
Thanks alot once again.epay-kenya have not replied to me for so long. Discovered moneybookers works with equity bank – nice. I am promoting CPA offers on a site and am making an absolute killing with them. Check it out : http://tiny.ly/XNn9