A lot of bloggers had written about the success of Paypal withdrawals in the Philippines; I stumbled on a lot of these when I had to figure out how to withdraw my earnings from my Paypal account – to do this in the Philippines I need to have a verified Paypal account first.

I think that getting a Paypal account to work along with Payoneer account is good so that I get to have my earnings if one withdrawal method fails. In case there is a problem with Payoneer, then I can still have my funds from oDesk through another source. I’ve written about the comparison between the different withdrawal methods used in oDesk.

Here in the Philippines, a verified Paypal account is needed to be able to withdraw Paypal funds to any Philippine bank account and even purchase from online sites.

How did I able to get a my Paypal verified?

I was successful in using two cards for this:

• Unionbank EON card
• oDesk debit Mastercard powered by Payoneer

The oDesk Payoneer card is a debit Mastercard which I find flexible in many ways. Aside from using it to verify my Paypal account, I used it for internet transactions and POS purchases in groceries and malls around town. Withdrawal through any local Mastercard ATM is possible too.

The Paypal EXPUSE number is a number attached to the $1.95 amount that Paypal deducts from the credit or debit card for verification. According to Paypal, the number can be seen in account statements, but in the case of my Unionbank EON card, the EXPUSE number did not appear on my account statements – a call or an email to the bank’s customer support is necessary for them to say what has been the EXPUSE number provided with the account.

If you happen to use a debit card for verification, be sure to load the card with $1.95 or at least Php 100 for Paypal to properly debit the account. The deducted amount from the card, if successful, goes to the Paypal account so you have nothing to lose. If verification was not successful then the funds are credited back to the card.

photo credits: asterisc21 (SXC)

Freelancing has kept me busy once more. I was swamped with a lot of projects, that had kept me from updating this blog.

Now that I have less to do, I am back to being myself once again. I like to share my experience with freelancing so far.

And I have also realized that there is indeed a lot more to freelancing than what I have discovered.

First, I am learning how to handle my finances. It is not always the case when jobs truly come one after another. The freelancer encounters an empty well at times.

Second, I am learning how to find other sources of income. One site is not enough for me, but there are other sites that offer jobs that are suited to my skills. I just have to learn to start from scratch, create and polish my profile and apply to jobs.

Third, I learned to diversify. Being dependent on one site to give you jobs is not enough. There are other means of earning money both actively and passively. For me, having both skills in programming and writing is an advantage for me. Programming has given me high paying jobs and a “more fixed” income. Writing is fast and I can just earn money in less time.

Fourth, I have to how to specialize. Being a specialist rakes in a lot more money with lesser people to contend with.

Fifth, I have learned how to relax. Freelancing is a lot different from 8 to 5 PM job. I cannot always have 100% of my weekends to relax. Occasionally, there are projects that need to be done.

Freelancing is a great option to have as a job, if you get yourself unemployed. It can provide much time flexibility and have time with your loved ones.

This has kept food on my table so far!

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!

I put up a topic on the best way to receive oDesk payments in the Philippines within the oDesk community forums. With the growing number of Filipinos who are into freelance jobs, particularly in oDesk, I find it the need to create such post – hoping that post would not get buried into other oDesk community posts as well.

The payment methods is from what I have experienced so far, and the information is NOT absolute. This is a written advice to Filipinos who like to know how they can get paid.

From the five payment methods available in oDesk, there are only four that can be used by Filipinos to withdraw cash. From these four, the only two methods of withdrawing cash interests me: Payoneer and Paypal.

The method that is not readily available to Filipinos is the ACH method – which requires a US bank account. Transfers from oDesk to this method is free though, but for a transfer from the oDesk account to a US bank account and then to the local Philippine banks, you will still have to pay for the fees involved in these bank transfers.

Now let us look at these comparison:

• Payoneer
  • PROS:
  • • fastest payment method: get your card loaded within two days or get the funds in your card immediately in more or less two hours by paying $3 immediate load fee
    • most flexible: you can use the card for with any Mastercard merchant purchase or choose to withdraw the funds in the card for $2.15 per withdrawal
    • card can be used for online shopping
  • CONS:
    • ATM withdrawal limit: you are limited to the maximum withdrawal limit in which the ATM is designed, therefore, if the limit is P4,000 and you need to get P7,000 from the card fund, you need to pay $2.15 for every withdrawal (that is, $2.15 for the first P4,000 then another $2.15 for the remaining $3,000)
    • if you lose your ATM, you need to wait quite a long time (a month is long enough) after requesting a replacement card
    • disclosing the card account information can be less secure (prone to losing the funds to a hacker)
• Paypal (Verified Personal accounts)
  • PROS:
    • Could be cheaper to use than when withdrawing funds with Payoneer: just pay $1.00 withdrawal from oDesk and only P50 from Paypal to the Philippine bank (withdrawal is FREE if the amount to be withdrawn is P7,000 above); Unionbank does not charge for incoming transfers from Paypal while BDO charges P200.
    • provides a secure way to shop online. It is way better than using Payoneer card for purchase.
  • CONS:
    • If you are using Unionbank EON card for verification, it could take several days to a week before the account is fully verified
    • it takes a longer time to withdraw the money to a local bank and there is no other way to expedite the transfer (5 to 7 working days)
• Moneybookers
  I have not tried to withdraw money into my Moneybookers account so I am not able to provide information on all the details. I still spent time to set up my Moneybookers though, in case the first two methods are not available. oDesk to Moneybookers account costs only $1 for every withdrawal.
  Moneybookers works on submitting the payments through the SWIFT network of banks, so it is best to know the SWIFT code by calling the bank’s customer representative.
• Wire transfer
  This is another method that is possible, but I would not recommend using this. Withdrawal from oDesk can be quite expensive ($30 per withdrawal)

So which one?
The best payment methods that work for me so far is using Paypal and Payoneer methods. Paypal is great when I need to withdraw huge amounts of cash from oDesk. It is also great when I do not need the money for daily expenses. On the other hand, Payoneer works for me when I need some funds for these daily expenses.

Moneybookers can be a life-saver for me if the first two methods fail. With better options above, I think Direct Deposit is the method that I never be able to use.

Did you know that the first known programmer was a lady? You’ve probably heard this listed in many computer books – way before the blogosphere has conquered cyberspace. Ada Lovelace is credited as the first known programmer. In Wikipedia she is accurately described as the first known publisher of a computer program. She had worked with Charles Babbage on the Analytic Engine project. For this Charles even called her the “Enchantress of Numbers” because of her impressive intellectual skills that is rarely found in a titled lady like her.

If you are interested whether the two had romantic interludes: you might be disappointed because there was no recorded fact on whether they had been attracted to each other. Their meetings were all pure work.