oDesk Withdrawal Fees in the Philippines
Apr 12, 2008
I had mentioned a outlined pros and cons of oDesk payment methods. Please check this post on the analysis of different payment methods from oDesk.
Now I want to share the fees that I have encountered on these withdrawals.
- Payoneer
- oDesk to Payoneer = $2, deducted from oDesk balance
- (optional) immediate loading of funds within hours = $3, deducted from card balance
- balance inquiry = no fee(tried at BPI and Metrobank ATM, don’t know with other banks)
- insufficient funds, withdrawal denied = $0.90, deducted from card balance
- (optional) withdrawal of funds from Payoneer to local ATM = $2.15 per withdrawal, deducted from card balance
- (optional) Payoneer card payment with Mastercard merchants = no fee
- other fees that may be charged:
- (per month) maintenance fee = $3 if no transactions were done last month, $1 if there are 2(?) or more transactions done last month, deducted from card balance
- (one time) activation fee = $9.95 for the first time loading (I was expecting this charge when I first loaded my card, but I was surprised that I was not charged for this amount. The only charge that I got is the $3), deducted from card balance
- Paypal (applies to Verified Personal accounts)
- oDesk to Paypal = $1, deducted from oDesk balance
- Paypal to local bank account = P 50 for withdrawals less than P7,000; FREE for withdrawals exceeding P7,000
- inward electronic fund transfer fee = NONE for Unionbank, P200 for BDO (asked through BDO customer support), I heard BPI is charging P150 for the incoming funds
- (optional) withdrawal from Unionbank EON bank account (if funds are loaded on Unionbank account) = P10 per withdrawal from any Unionbank ATM, P12 per withdrawal from non-Unionbank ATM
- Moneybookers
- oDesk to Moneybookers = $1, deducted from oDesk balance
- So far this is the only information that I can provide yet. I have not been able to try withdrawing funds through this facility.
- Wire Transfer
- withdrawal from oDesk = $30 (way too expensive!!!)
Interestingly, Payoneer has the fastest method in taking out oDesk funds (a few hours to two days) while Paypal can probably be the cheapest method, if you are using Unionbank account to withdraw the funds.
In the Philippines you get to withdraw the Payoneer funds directly in any ATM in pesos!
Vijay
September 25th, 2008 at 10:40 pm #
Great job. But you missed the 3% the Fed. charges for converting USD to our respective national currencies.
Gem
September 26th, 2008 at 5:15 am #
@Vijay
Thanks a lot! =)
I don’t feel the need to post out the Fed charges as these are not really reflected in the statement. But these charges are already included in the conversion.
Dyann
January 9th, 2009 at 6:18 pm #
Hi, I activated my payoneer card last January 1, I first used it last January 4, I used it to withdraw money and to pay for my groceries once. When I loaded it again last January 7 when I got my money from odesk, they deducted monthly maintenance fee for January which is $3. Is it normal that in just 1 week they deducted maintenance fee at once?
And does it mean that they will deduct monthly maintenance fee every 7th of the month? Thanks.
Gem
January 9th, 2009 at 11:04 pm #
Wow! Finally you got that card! Payoneer will always take away $3 from your account at the start of the month (I’m not sure if it will always be the 7th of the month).
If you have no funds loaded, then Payoneer will not deduct anything for that month.
Candice
July 7th, 2009 at 7:04 pm #
hi gem, accdg to union bank there’s a annual renewal fee of P350 for paypal.
Myla Bantog
July 15th, 2009 at 11:18 am #
Hi Ms. Gem, just a follow up question. So it means na kapag inactive yung Payoneer account ko for several months at wala siyang funds, they will not deduct anything from my card? For example, the last time I used my Payoneer card was September 2008 pa. I haven’t loaded it since, pero I’m planning to use the card again to withdraw my oDesk earnings this month. Hindi kaya mag-deduct ng maintenance fees ang Payoneer for the months na inactive siya, that is, October 2008 to June 2009? Thanks!
Gem
July 19th, 2009 at 10:54 pm #
Yes, walang deduction pag walang laman ang card. Don’t worry di ka mababaon sa utang pag may bagong funds kang nailagay doon.
Gem
July 19th, 2009 at 11:00 pm #
I have to disagree with the statement – I think the Unionbank representative you talked to stated that wrong. The P350 is for the annual fee for using Unionbank EON service. Even if you don’t intend to use EON for Paypal, you still need to spend that amount just to have that card and bank account. If you need to use that with Paypal, you need to deposit an amount that covers $1.95 for Paypal verification in Peso amount which is around P200 or even less.
I am sure of this already, as I had already assisted one of my new freelancers and some friends who were asking me about this.
missy
July 29th, 2009 at 11:11 am #
Hi, I was just wondering, if I withdraw from my odesk card sa BPI atm, it would be converted to peso na po ba agad? thanks po.. missytotters_tin18@hotmail.com
Gem
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:26 pm #
Hi, almost one month late reply
.. I hope you had already got a reply. Yes, you get the funds in Pesos (I had updated the blog post above).
Xyne
January 5th, 2010 at 11:08 am #
Is there anyway you could withdraw your funds in dollars? Has anyone tried it?
Gem
January 7th, 2010 at 8:43 pm #
No, Paypal doesn’t allow withdrawal of funds in pesos.
PENoy
January 15th, 2010 at 8:22 am #
Hi Gem!
Your post answers a lot of my questions about being paid by oDesk. I have not tried using my Payoneer card yet for any withdrawal and swipes. May I ask what PIN do I use when making a withdrawal? I do not seem to remember coming up with one when applying for a Payoneer card.
Thanks!
Gem
January 15th, 2010 at 12:32 pm #
I remember getting my PIN via snail mail – I think it’s indicated on one of their mailed documents.
Lowela Tan
July 26th, 2010 at 7:30 pm #
Hi gem!! I really love your posts!!:) Hmmm. Sorry for asking this. Are you still working on odesk? What programming language do you use? Im a beginner on odesk and Im still waiting for my payoneer card..:)
Thank you for a such informative post!:)
Memie Bade
August 7th, 2010 at 9:52 pm #
Hi Ms. Gem,
I have been using paypal to withdraw my odesk funds to my BPI account. I’m just concerned that the exchange rate of paypal is 1 peso lesser than the actual exchange rate in the market. That is, if I’ll withdraw $500, 500pesos is also deducted. I just activated my payoneer card, and I was hoping if you can advise me to use it rather than paypal. Since I think it’s fees are lesser. I just wanna get more of what I earned in odesk.
Thanks.
mon
August 9th, 2010 at 12:20 pm #
hi gem, just knew in payoneer and shared my unknowing mistake that i made, i should look at the payoneer site deeply before i used it, well it happened when i used my payoneer card. i can’t access my card in any atm with mastercard logo, for a while i thought it doesn’t support the card in those atm, i tried to used it to pay for my dinner the card is unavailable to use in the country, when i realized that something wrong in the method i made, cause what i did when i transfered my money from odesk i thought that its automatically credit in my payoneer card, i saw the balance and thought the money is in the card already,, i never thought that payoneer has the option of load system that if you want your money on the day you need to pay $2.50 or you have to wait for two days transaction for free of charge.. ahhh.. i never thought that payoneer charge again cause i was charge already $2.00 for transfering my money from odesk, anyway that was my mistake you have to read before you make a move,, hehe..
pearl
August 12th, 2010 at 9:24 am #
hi gem!
ask lng poh ako if there’ll be a charge for swiping the card for purchases? or is it free? if not how much yung charge per swipe?
Thanks