Payoneer Fees
Payoneer charges the following fees:
Registration
Registration with Air Mail shipping is Free. When you sign up for the card, Payoneer will send it to you via Air Mail free of charge. During the registration process, you may select to use a faster shipping option at your expense.
Activation is $9.95 and comes out of your first load: you pay nothing until you receive the card and accept a payment.
Card Usage
Each load costs $2.50. A "load" is a withdrawal from oDesk onto your card. You may keep your earnings in your oDesk account as long as you like; you only pay this fee when you load your card.
ATM withdrawals are $2.15 outside the US, $1.35 in the US. This is in addition to any fee your local ATM charges. In many countries, at least some banks offer ATMs with no withdrawal fee.
There is no fee for using the card for purchases, either at a retail store or online.
The account maintenance fee is $3 per month, charged at the end of the month. If you use the card at least three times in the month, the fee is reduced to $1. Note: you will not be charged more for maintenance than your card balance, so if your balance is $0.60, that is how much you will be charged.
Limits: $1,000 per transaction, $2,500 per day (total of ATM withdrawals and purchases)
The total net loss for Payoneer is in most cases the lowest of all the payment methods. For more information, visit Payoneer or compare payment methods here. Note: the fees listed on Payoneer's website may be slightly different than those for oDesk providers.
The Key: Exchange Rate
Perhaps the most important "fee" with the oDesk Debit MasterCard is the exchange rate. You will receive the most recent MasterCard exchange rate, regardless of the currency you are using. MasterCard and Visa get the best exchange rates in the world the advantage can be over 1% vs. other payment methods or what your local bank gives you.
Other Fees
A declined ATM withdrawal is $0.90, and if you lose your card, a replacement is $10.00.
What can I do to minimize my fees?
- Find a no-fee ATM machine in your area.
- Use the card for retail or online purchases. These transactions have no fee, and if your total monthly transactions are at least three, your maintenance fee goes from $3 to $1.
- Get your card balance down as close to zero as possible to save on maintenance. If you have no card balance at the end of the month, you will not be charged maintenance for that month. You will be charged the lesser of the maintenance fee or your card balance.
- Save up in your oDesk account. oDesk providers can now choose when to withdraw their earnings. If you only work a few hours in a given week, don't withdraw right away and combine it with your next week's earnings so you only pay the $2.00 load fee once.
- Find a reliable ATM. Some ATMs, especially older ones, are more prone to failure of international bank cards. Each declined withdrawal is $0.90, so if you find an ATM that works for you, your fees will be minimized.
If you have additional questions about how to use the oDesk Debit MasterCard, please contact Payoneer support. Providers from Russia can also email support@payoneer.ru to get Russian language support from Payoneer.
