So how much does it cost to use EcoCash?

Hmm so once again econet is fleecing customers for as much as they can in as little time as possible as they traditionally have with airtime and bandwidth.  Heres hoping someone makes a go of starting some credible competition else we will never end get out from under their thumb.

Another example is the banking sector, which is crying because of lack of customers, yet it is cheaper for my brother to use his British VISA card from an atm here than it is for me to withdraw my own, in country, cash from an NMB branch.  Simply baffling how companies take us for a ride then wonder why no one uses their services.

Econet in my opinion “rips” ideas from other countries/services, establishes them locally and charges a premium on them. i hope people dont jump on this rip-off service. as NGTH mentioned, overseas cards cheaper to use than local services such as Eocash.

Guys dont be narrow minded. This is how Econet keeps creaming. They invest in sound market research. All Econet prices are monopolistic. In proper marketing management you do not reduce a price for the sake of it. If the market tolerates the price or has no other choice (Zim scenario) then theres no need to change it. Put simply they use first mover advantage and cream before any buggers join in the fun.

I hate econet and all they stand for.

why would Econet charge for a balance enquiry?

Yeah! Good question! That bit of bandwith usage perhaps?? Ki ki ki ki ki!! Bottom line is though, they want to make as much as possible out of this “conception”. Thats why the whole idea was taken up anyway! Money, money, more money!

Charges are definitely higher than one would have expected, especially worried by the levy charged on receiving. But, perhaps a more relevant comparison than Techzim’s impulsive (and, must be said, predictable) M-Pesa comparison would have been to compare the cost of sending money over Ecocash, with that of others on the local market. If, today, I wanted to send a 100 bucks to rural Masvingo, how much would it cost me, compared to what Econet is charging? If I wanted to transfer $50 via RTGS to a friend in Mutare, how much would I have to pay? How much do I get charged on NetOne? One Cabs, Cellrd etc…These are the options available on the market – THE LOCAL MARKET – today, and it would be interesting to see where Ecocash ranks. Makes no sense to me pining over prices in other markets, when most of us here charge more in our own businesses here than they do in similar businesses elsewhere. It’s the economy and all of us, Econet too have to change. So let’s compare like-for-like.

I notice the M-Pesa tariffs charge a fixed levy per range of transfer. The larger transactions will obviously be cheaper. But, can TechZim calculate, as a percentage, whether M-Pesa is not charging more than Econet on the small amounts by setting a fixed charge for the various ranges, as opposed to a percentage of the value. For instance, on M-Pesa, it costs you 10 cents to send 50 cents, the same amount it costs to send a dollar. If I’m reading it right, it also costs you 25cents to withdraw a dollar, same amount it costs to withdraw $25. You are comparing EcoCash, which is using percentages of value, to M-Pesa, which charges a fixed rate on a range of transfers. I know it’s fun and fashionable these days taking shots at Econet but it’s only fair to compare the same thing. That said, it’s important for Econet to take another look and see if the prices are sustainable.

You miss the point Kabweza. A comparison of EcoCash with a product that is not operating under the same condition or offering the same service is not a fair or justified comparison. Optimus Prime is quite right, you need to compare apples with apples … the impression you have successfully given your redaers is that Econet is ripping off the Zimbabwean populace and yet you haave not given your readers the opprtunity to compare the Eco-Cash offering relative to similar competing products offering the same service and operating in the SAME market, where it would become quite apparent that Econet’s pricing is quite competitive. I dont know how this article would help you readers therefore make an informed decision.

M-Pesa does not compete with EcoCash as they do not serve the same customers nor can any one of your readsers then decide to use M-Pesa instead of ecoCash so your comparison is of little value in that respect. If you wnat to find something to blame for the higher pricing in the Zimbabwean economy, blame the economy, not Econet, which is an important reason why it cost more to send US$200 in Zim than the rest of the world. You have not considered how much it has cost and will continue to cost Econet to offer the convenience you speak so boldy of. It would not have taken you much Kabweza to compare like with like, and I’m sure you’re fully aware of this.

 i’m just sayin…its my catchline, not associating it with anyone

econet the ripper

won’t eco-cash fade away like eco-life????????????

Economics 101, law of supply and demand

There are other options- Kingdom CellCard and NetOne’s OneWallet, and the obvious one- send your money by bus or via bank transfer system

EcoCash vs Kingdom Cellcard
I am not sure EcoCash has more agents than Kingdom at the moment.
They use the same type of agents such as shops which are everywhere (hopefully Econet will not muscle current Kingdom cellcard out of it’s existing network of agents)

Kingdom Cellcard fees: $1.30 per month fixed, balance enquiry fees are $0.03 per
enquiry, withdrawal charges are minimum $0.10 and maximum $1 and
transfers to account holders are $0.15, transfer to non-CellCard
account $2.

EcoCash does not charge monthly fixed fees. However, their usage fees are based on the amount of money transferred- the bigger the transfer, the more you pay. So if you transfer $10 you will be charged 20c by EcoCash whereas with Kingdom this fee is fixed at 10c regardless of the size of the transaction.

I think it boils down to a user’s pattern of use. If you do a lot of transactions bigger than $5 each in a single month, Kingdom is better. But if you do small transactions EcoCash is better.

Anyway, these types of mobile cash transfer systems are meant for microcash movement, but we will use them here for big transfers because our banking system is not good.

My grandmother at Machonyonyo growth point has no bank account, so the only way is a mobile money transfer system.

If they get greedy and decide to buy the company that sold them the software, YES.

I like their innovation and business muscle.

I hate their arrogance and stupidity in not allowing their website not to be accessed if you are using some ISPs like ZOL or Telone.

With more services like the ZimSwitch backed mobile transfer services etc, Econet will have to resort to subbortage the competition by depriving them of their large subscriber base, disabling toll-free line they may provide to the competitors or using bulk SMS in order to discredit them. The competition is hot and EcoCash fee are high.

i think you will also need to consider that in the case of Mpesa…Kenya is using their own currency, they are printing the money on their own. As for EcoCash its in a Zimbabwean enviroment were the cash to be withdraw has to be imported. Importing cash has costs attached to it like insurance and freight therefore we cannot expect to charge the same as Mpesa. And also a point to note is Econet is also paying for the connectivty from Safaricom, its not an excuse but the nation has gone through an econimic stagnation for the past ten years, development of instrastructure had been paralysed whilst some of the nations were expanding theirs slowly and Zimbabwe has to match up with these in a shortest period of time and you will agree with me…fast means expensive. lets hope when we catch up with these nations our tarrifs/charges will go down aswell. Also in other coutries mobile netowrk operators share infrastructure therefore the cost of putting up such is shared and becomes cheap, Zimbabwe now has 3 mobile players and two of them are government owned na dobivously we know what to expect from these two, Econet had to go all the way by itself to provide evryone with the global technology. we cannot compare the two.

HAS been reeped of my 10 dollars cannot trace it