To launch a successful business online, prospective merchants know they can’t do without the big and trusted payment processors like PayPal, Click Bank, PayDotCom etc.
In recent times, gurus have been debating whether PayPal is really worth it or not. It’s not hard to find sites that are offering to secure Verified PayPal Merchant Accounts for merchants in ineligible countries.
I must admit that when I started out, I was drawn in by the message, “Without PayPal you can’t make money online” and so I paid $40 for an account without thinking twice. True to their words I got a Verified PayPal account afterwards but something I read later on made me desist from using that PayPal account for any major transaction.
I learnt that PayPal is SMART in that they know of merchants in ineligible countries that use their services but they don’t raise red flags UNTIL a large transaction is about to take place and then they strike. You get slapped by PayPal and lose your hard earned money. That’s the reality of things with PayPal.
I began looking for an alternative that would accept Nigeria and got to know about 2CheckOut.
2CheckOut serves as an authorized reseller of tangible and digital products and they’ve been in business for over 9 years now. They accept merchants from all countries EXCEPT North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Myanmar (Burma).
2CheckOut accepts customer orders via online checks, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Dinners, JCB, debit cards with the Visa and MasterCard logo, FXSource®, PayPal®, and PayPal Pay Later®.
They charge a one-time set-up fee of $49 and apply a 5.5% commission on each transaction, plus a $0.45 charge per transaction.
The reasons why I signed up with them are
- Nigeria is eligible
- They offer low cost check payments & international wire transfers to Nigeria. Also they’ve joined forces with Payoneer to provide faster & easier payments to merchants. As at this time last year, they had a Special $10 offer for every New 2CheckOut supplier/merchant. Personally I find Payoneer’s Fees ABSOLUTELY ridiculous! So I’m sticking with the International Wire Transfer.
- They offer a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee.
- Most important of all, they process customers who want to buy from you using PayPal thereby eliminating my need for an illegitimate Verified PayPal account that could see me facing financial troubles if my account is frozen.
- People are getting wary of using PayPal because in most cases they require your bank account details. Their major concern is what happens when someone hacks into the system and gets hold of my bank account details?
So back to the question. Which is better? PayPal or 2CheckOut? I’ll go with 2CheckOut. What about you? What’s your take on this?
For more tips on payment processors, be sure to read the following posts:
- A Quick Look @ Chargebacks and 2CheckOut If you accept credit cards as a form of payment on your site, chargebacks and refunds are definitely something you might have to deal with @ some point in time. At the end of this post is a free e-book that’s all about Beating Chargebacks. According to Wikipedia, a chargeback...
- How To Get A Verified Paypal Account In Nigeria Let it be known that it’s illegal as a Nigerian, to own a Verified PayPal account but if you insist on getting one, by all means keep reading this post to find out how....
- How To Verify PayPal In Nigeria (March 2010 Update) If you’re just joining in, this is the third installment on a series of post based on my experience of the Breakthrough seminar by Nigerian internet marketer, Henry Omenogor. The first two posts were Henry Omenogor’s Breakthrough Experience and Autoblogging, Blogging Farms and Copyrights Issues. This installment focuses on...
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I have always used PayPal just because the ease of setup and the trusted name. But lately I have been thinking there has to be a better solution since the fees they charge really add up on me.
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I too have always used PayPal, but the fees involved are getting out of hand. Maybe a rethink is in order.
I think paypal, because they are a better known brand.
Their fees are a bit steep, but everybody knows and trusts them
PayPal was great when it was just starting. But ever since eBay took over, they have become less friendly to their users. They also charge a lot. That’s why I might give 2CheckOut a try, or Moneybookers.
@ Terry: 2checkOut is the way to go for me. Too many stories about people getting slapped by Paypal. Ouch! Besides, like I said before, they’re amongst the few that accept Nigerians
how is it to signup for 2co and i learnt you get payoneer mastercard with the account and can i make payment via gtb mastercard or can u make payment for and individual?
Great blog. keep it up
I signed up for 2CheckOut using my Zenith Bank Mastercard Websurfer. After approval, in the admin section of your account, you are given an option to have the Payoneer card mailed to you at once. I didn’t sign up for mine cos I don’t need it yet.
Unfortunately I can’t make payments for you as I don’t have that facility at the moment. Maybe Henry Omenogor can help though in my candid opinion, the site templates he’s offering together with the Payoneer card are simply horrible.
Let me know if you need more help.
Cheers.
I haven’t tried other payment processors other than paypal. Actually, I’m not that happy with Paypal. I guess I’ll try 2checkout.
I haven’t tried 2co, although I know some people swear by it. But from what you’ve described above, their fees are higher than Paypal. So far I haven’t had any trouble with PP, so will stick with them for now.
Rod@Tri Nations Rugby´s last blog ..Tri Nations Results
@Rod: I guess you’re one of Paypal’s happy customers. I’m okay with 2CheckOut till whenever Nigeria pops up on the list of Paypal accepted countries which I think would be never.LOL.
I agree with you absolutely. Paypal is not worth the trouble. They truly play SMART. If they are not being dubious, why wait until an account has generated a huge balance before getting it frozen? It is just another trick of defrauding people of their hard earned money. 2Checkout is better. Nice post.
2CO is an expensive alternative for people in Nigeria. IT’s a shame that Nigeria is excluded from the Paypal fun.
Oluniyi David Ajao hopes you will read…Earthquake scare in Ghana. Is Ghana prepared?
I love the way you described 2checkout. Its the way to go. My question is; can I use someone else’s mastercard to fund my account as well as pay the $49 one time fee?
Sorry I had to remove your link because the site was incomplete and few months back I was penalized by Google for linking to “funny sites“. Whenever the site is complete, do please let me know and I’ll add the link again
.
With reference to your question, I’m not so sure you can use someone else’s Mastercard to pay for the setup fee though I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t allow it. To be on a safe side, simply contact them before proceeding.
Best of luck!
Ok, thanks for the last reply. One last question, how often can I withdraw my balance from 2checkout? Is payoneer one of the withdrawal options? If so, will I just load my money into payoneer and cash it in Nigeria through any ATM? How long will it take them to send the card? Sorry, i stay in Yola and the internet connection is very slow, I cannot read up everything at the website.
Yes you can withdraw your 2CheckOut earnings to your payoneer prepaid mastercard and then cash it via a Zenith or EcoBank ATM here in Nigeria. According to their website, it takes 25 working days to get the payoneer card outside the US
It’s always been same sorry story with Paypal not accepting and seemingly unwillingness to do that in any near future.
In my humbly opinion, it’s about time we stop blaming Paypal for our fate in this regard, after all they have all the right to their service.
If Paypal wouldn’t allow Nigerians, who says we can’t live without it? Who says we can’t have a Nigerian Paypal and force the world to accept it? We’ve seen other Nations done it, why not Nigerians?
We need to wake up to the realization that we can’t make these people accept us by just talking, we have to start acting/executing; give them no option but to accept us, else they’ll be the one loosing “in the long run” because then we it wouldn’t suffice that they don’t accept us into their services.
If we can perfect our own thing, the sky will only be a stepping stone.
China is a clear example we can easy referenced in this regards. We all know when they used to be “run down”, but now? You’d better accept them or you’d be the one loosing out.
Dayo Edunjobi hopes you will read…20 Hot Tips to Succeed as a Blogger – Tip 19: Reward Yourself
For we Nigerians to get to where China is today our people and government need a TOTAL MAKEOVER upstairs as we shall never be taken serious by the global community till we take ourselves serious.
Right! Not a bad place to start. It’s just have to start somewhere and somehow!
Dayo i love your suggestion about having our own Nigerian paypal and forcing the world to accept it. But i’m sorry to say that we Nigerians are wicked and selfish in all ramification. I want to tell you in good authority that we already have a Nigerian paypal in Interswitch. But where on earth have you heard that you need to pay N150,000($1000) for a payment gateway?
Even paypal which is far bigger and accepted by the entire world is free, 2checkout is just $50, many others are free, Liberty reserve is free, Alert pay is free, Money bookers as well. Then what on earth makes Interswitch with just a Nigerian coverage worth N150,000? I refuse to call it exploitative because it is just wickedness. So i’m sorry Mr. Dayo, your dream of a Nigerian paypal is still far fetched until we jettison greed in this country.
Lol. The day I saw their tariff I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Such exorbitant price and you ain’t even assured that the security involved is as good as that overseas.
Interswitch, a Nigerian Paypal? That’s preposterous, for God sake their so called gateway sucks, if you are like me who always try to make payments online with ATM Cards, then you’ll understand what I mean, not to mention that which you have already said above. Maybe we’ll leave them with the title of “Nigerian ATM gateway” but definitely not a “Nigerian Paypal”.
Hmm! It’s easy to sit around complaining but it doesn’t change anything thing. Even you can make a difference!
Talk of an Obama becoming the President of America 10-20 year before now, would have been regarded a mirage, but it’s here before our eyes. Who says we can’t? YES WE CAN!
i havent started making sales on my site yet because i need a better payment option. tried to use alertpay but login in gets difficult and i feel 2checkout might have better options.
please, please and please how can i open from here in nigeria?
im so in need of this.know any reliable means for me to pay?
would love to hear from u.
thanks
n.b.: why is stuff made difficult for us nigerians?
Stuff is made difficult for Nigerians ’cause we are unfortunately notorious for scams
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I opened my 2CheckOut account using my Zenith MasterCard Websurfer to pay the $49 fee. I also had to submit scanned copies of my NEPA bills as well as International Passport and application forms.
So far so good, I’m yet to start using the account yet as I’m yet to create a product
Based on the experience of others i have heard here, i’m thinking again of probably applying for the 2checkout account.
I don’t mind supplying any of identification as long as i don’t end up frustrated.
I wasn’t frustrated so I doubt if you would be
.
First of all this is a good post addressing the plight of African in regards to Making Money Online. I have enjoyed the post and I am thrilled at the attempts by others to rectify the PayPal problem.
“Don’t re-invent the wheel” when you are solving problems. I have several online business that makes good money. You don’t just have to look, but you have to look in the right places, which is an art.
Please my people. Leave PayPal and look elsewhere. Honestly, PayPal has messed with a lot of people and there are several websites that are *pissed* with PayPal Service. And there are many scams on PayPal that can make you lose a lot of money ie: Some scammers making a purchase, getting the e-product delivered, and then making making complaint to get their money back. PayPal punishes you my charging you money. Charge-back scam. It happens on PayPal, ClickBank, E-Junkie and other online vendor sites. People’s account get closed or banned daily all around the world for various unethical reasons.
If people in the USA, Europe and Asia are pissed with PayPal Services, what would it matter if they come to us in Africa? Ours would be worse.
Hello David, you’re doing a great job here. I hope to start a great blog like yours someday. (I think I love making money on the internet while I sleep).
There’s a new secret book that can solve the PayPal Problem – search for “The Sleeping Millionaire Secrets”, a streetwise practical money making secret on the internet. (No special education, skills or energy needed to make money online.) Try and get an ebook copy and your problem will be solved.
I’m not really a fan of PayPal in that they do not allow a refund of digital goods.
Case in point:
Recently I was browsing a site selling “Profit Instruments” or some program telling you how to make profitable sites (I don’t need help with that).
I hit the “add to shopping cart” button — NOT a “buy now” button — and was taken to a page that had NO price on it, but was being asked to login to Paypal. All I wanted to know was how much it cost – so stupid me, I filled out my login…
Then was taken to a page asking me what products I wanted to be up-sold – AS IF I wanted to pay for a bonus? I backed out, not seeing the cost of the main ebook or whatever it was — and then was charged $197 USD.
Yikes. I emailed PayPal, the vendor, etc…and after a few days, PayPal told me it was tough luck. They didn’t refund digital goods!
I told them a pretty thing or two, no luck. The vendor of Profit Instruments told me they were “having trouble with PayPal.”
I’m not sure what was going on, but having a 30 day money-back guarantee, only to be lied to for about a week about your troubles with PayPal…didn’t help me any.
Not a fan of PayPal…but not a fan of 5.5% commissions either on 2Checkout – but you win some, you lose some, I suppose.
JamestheJust on Elance hopes you will read…What Real Internet Marketing Looks Like
That’s pretty UGLY! $197 for a product you don’t even want. I hope the Vendor refunded your money after the 1 week of time-wasting.
Who knows? Not being on PayPal’s list of accepted countries might in a way be a blessing
The problem with paypal is that they change policies everyday and most times you get to find out after being burnt.
I do get emails from them each time they make a change to their policies BUT Lord knows that I’m too BORED to go through all that legal mumbo-jumbo.
Well from the experience, paypal is the most widely use online payment process. I work for Velnet UK Limited (velnetweb.co.uk and velnet.com), we use Paypal and 2Checkout in our payment gateway, most of the payment we received is by Paypal, but Paypal use to stock sometime and few people are now using 2Checkout because, charges is better than Paypal.
Luqman@odurinde finance hopes you will read…Business and Growth of telecommunication in Finland
hi chuks,
i am about to use 2checkoutforannline payment.
You told me you usually send your id and utility bill.please recap the process tome. Do i sent it to 2checkout or the website i am buying from?
You probably misunderstood me. What I was referring to was getting a 2CheckOut merchant account and not buying from them. If memory serves me right the only time I ordered from them there was really nothing special. Just have a scan of your international passport or driver’s license ready should in case they have to verify your order.
Am yet 2start anytin online..Chukwudi nice blog u’ve here n thanks 4 ur info..Pls i want u 2give me tips on how 2hv a good blog,drive traffick 2blogs,creat products 2sell online,get gud survey sites dat pays 4real and how 2get a better payment process..Pls mail me n put ur fone number 2..Godbless u
Thanks for the compliments. Allow me to suggest that you go slow ’cause it seems to me as though you’re quite eager to make money online in less than 3 weeks. It takes time man. For now I suggest you read my Ultimate Guide To Making Money Online In Nigeria It has quite a load of info that will get you on your way to earning well online.
P.S: Sorry I can’t give out my phone number for personal reasons.
Chuks,
You can not really blame people who try to make money online over night.
If you are a newbie and you read the kind of articles the so called gurus churn out, you will immediately think it dosen’t take more than an hour to become a millioniare online.
Emmanuel Ekanem hopes you will read…FAB TURBO Review
Thanks man. Believe me I sometimes forget that the “dumb a** gurus” are the ones to blame
Thanks chukwudi..Pls how do i get a credit card?
Are talking Credit card or Debit card? Credit cards and debit cards are available @ most Nigerian Banks. Zenith’s Websurfer works best for me when it comes to debit cards. I really don’t know of any Nigerian bank that offers credit cards ’cause most require you have a current account and some serious money rolling in monthly.
Pls i already have money online and i wil be payed through paypal or alertpay, kindly help me on this.
I haven’t transacted online with either Alertpay or Paypal so I’m really not in the best position to help you out. Sorry