The Lady Programmer

Due to increasing number of commenters and emails asking me for a bank codes that is used in Paypal withdrawals, I have to publish this list of Paypal bank codes – the 9-digit code that is used to add bank accounts in Paypal. This code is needed when trying to withdraw funds to Philippine bank accounts.

Previously, I had made a post illustrating that “withdraw to bank” option is cheaper and faster than using “withdraw to card” option in Paypal. Read this post on how to withdraw funds from Paypal to Philippine bank accounts.

If the Philippine bank is not listed, then that bank does not support Paypal withdrawals. Open a new bank account in Philippine banks that support Paypal withdrawals. continue reading »

These past weeks I had been able to find old classmates and friends in real life. They’ve always asked what I do. I kept telling them that I am earning both from my blogs as well as with freelancing.

For now I can just list down steps on how to get started in blogging.

How to get started in blogging

1. Decent writing skills. I started out using a word editor with a spell checker to help me out.
2. Knowledge of using the computer and the internet. Obviously.
3. Decent internet connection. Believe me, I started blogging and even freelancing using 56kbps free internet connection that came with my telephone line.
4. (optional) Your own computer. Here in my country (Philippines) you can always blog at any internet cafe for a  minimum of P10/hour.

Of course, the next thing to do is to open up a blog for free.

1. Blogger.com: The site is great for starters (and even advanced users) to start earning money from blogs. They allow placement of advertisements and other useful codes into the blog.
2. WordPress.com: Their blogs may look better and have better comment management, but they don’t allow advertisements and other codes to be placed on their blogs. If you don’t really intend to make money, then this may be a wiser choice.
3. There are more free blogging platforms out there such as Blogsome, but performance-wise, the first two options are still the best ones to start blogging.

What’s next?

1. Choose a topic for your blog. Most often people think of blogs as a place to write down personal thoughts: but blogging had matured and evolved, so it is now easy for one to pick a topic. It is best to write topics that revolve around your personal interest if you want to earn from your own blog: cars, technology, gadgets, fashion, kids and parenting, news and commentary – the list is endless.
2. Learn the technicalities of blogging, such as HTML. Or pay an expert to help you out in coding your blog. Or ask the help of a friend in doing simple HTML tweaks on your blog. Sometimes you want to insert advertisements and other useful codes into your blog.

Making Money from Blogs

1. Learn SEO techniques. If you want to attract huge amounts of traffic to your advertisements or offers.
2. If SEO is too technical to understand do occasional paid reviews and link selling instead in addition to SEO. You may even have to invest in a domain name just to qualify for these offers. Please visit this link to learn more.
3. Do not stop at the first two steps. Making money online doesn’t stop there. There’s always a new trick or technique that comes along the way.

I had been able to get my second Payoneer card several months ago (I think last May or June) and I got that activated just before my first Payoneer card expired last August 2009. I got my Payoneer card free through oDesk.

The new card’s physical appearance is no different from the old one. It’s still the sleek shiny and black that looks better than most local debit and credit cards I’ve seen here in the Philippines. Once more, I get to use the card for three years before I get to contact Payoneer again for a replacement card.

I went through the instructions of reactivating the card several days after I received it through snail mail. I contacted Payoneer’s live support to activate that new card and disable to old one. I remember chatting to the support for about 15 minutes just to perform this one. My virtual bank account too, was transferred from my old card to the new one.

Ideally, this card should work with any ATM machines and credit card terminals that bear the Mastercard logo.

I was excited in using this card, only to notice later that they won’t work with Banco de Oro ATM machines anymore. I always get an error message from any of their ATM machines. I’m not sure if they don’t work with BDO Mastercard credit card terminals but I sometimes notice that my card is declined, even if my card has funds loaded in it.

I have no problems withdrawing funds from Metrobank and BPI ATM machines. But I would still love to have my Payoneer card work well with BDO ATMs because these are more accessible to me. Metrobank and BPI ATMs aren’t safe places to withdraw funds here in Baguio.

I keep on wondering if I am not the only Payoneer card holder experiencing problems with BDO ATMs. Right now, the only solution I can think of is to contact both Payoneer and BDO for this concern.

If you had encountered the same problem, suggest on what’s the best way to deal with this or even provide possible explanation why my card doesn’t work with a specific bank ATM, let me know through the comments.

Withdrawing funds from Paypal using “withdraw to bank account” or “withdraw to card” are not the only ways to get funds from Paypal to any Philippine bank account. There are other lesser known options, and I had identified five ways to get those funds in the Philippines.

I have personally used only one of the options listed here. Except for Payoneer virtual bank account where I am currently invited to participate in their pilot program, I have not personally tried out these services.

I had identified other options because there are more Filipinos who like to pursue ways in earning online. However, getting customer support help in withdrawing funds is really not that good, when someone gets into a problem withdrawing funds. Just like what this guy experienced: what started out as a dull bearable pain, came back and turned into a headache, then into a migraine – I hope this story doesn’t get worse than that.

PLDT Online

PLDT Online is a huge portal where one can shop, pay bills and buy e-load online. I am more interested in their Smart Money reload facility. If you own a Smart Money account, just withdraw cash directly from verified Paypal or Moneybookers account. I think the transfers are immediate except for the first withdrawal, where there is a need to submit documentation to verify one’s account. There are corresponding fees applicable depending on the how small or how large the amount to be withdrawn.

i$end

The i$end feature is the one that comes with the desktop version of Chikka Txt Messenger. Getting funds from Paypal is reported to be immediate: it will just take a few minutes that funds get credited into one’s Smart Money account. However, there are no enough writeups to see satisfied and dissatisfied users (I found only one through Google, as of writing this post), so it is safe to assume that there are less people who opted to try out this feature.

continue reading »

Are you still using your Payoneer card? I am not using that card as often as before, because I am quite contented with the transfers that I do from Paypal to Unionbank to Smart Money.

Payoneer card for oDesk

-I read an announcement posted in my Payoneer account yesterday. Metabank replaces the First Bank of Delaware as the issuing bank. Here’s a snippet of announcement posted within my Payoneer account:

On February 9, 2009 , MetaBank will replace First Bank of Delaware as the issuing bank for the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard card accounts.
The transition to MetaBank will not affect card usage. You may use your card as usual without interruption in service or security. Please access your Terms and Conditions for changes.

Now this might explain why the First Bank of Delaware bank account suddenly dropped from my list of Paypal bank accounts. I used that virtual bank account a few times to transfer funds from Paypal to Payoneer (this feature is NOT available yet for all Payoneer card holders). This means I have to add that virtual bank account again with Paypal. I will still have to try adding that bank account again in a few weeks.

Payoneer is an alternative for me to withdraw cash from oDesk, but this card can also be linked to other websites such as ReviewMe, Elance and GetAFreelancer. It is a lot similar to a Paypal account, but this one is a Mastercard debit card that can be easily used to withdraw cash or to pay for purchases.