First off, if you knew about this and you didn’t share it with everyone then SHAME ON YOU! Because it looks like Zim PayPal accounts could receive funds all along contrary to the stated restriction.
When I say the stated restriction this is simply to the best of our knowledge because we heard word whispers of this but didn’t believe it. In our defence and that of everyone else, receiving PayPal payments or money in Zimbabwe was not possible.
Can You Receive Money Into A Zimbabwean PayPal Account?
You can still open a PayPal account in Zim and use it to make payments if it is linked to your USD card, most often it’s a prepaid card. However, it looks like there is a “loophole” for Zim accounts to receive funds via a PayPal wallet and it’s through opening a Merchant PayPal account.
How to open a PayPal Mercant account
- The landing page for the PayPal merchant account is the link here
- Once you are there select the option to open a Merchant/Business account.
- Enter the details for your business, the menu is much like opening a personal PayPal account.
- Once you are done you’ll need to confirm your phone number and your account via email.
- When that is complete you are good to go.
When we did this we used a local address and phone number
At this point, you’d be forgiven for being sceptical. But we tried this out and not only can you make payments but you can also receive payments.
To check if this was properly legit we requested a payment from an account and it went through. We then sent the amount requested and it cleared. To triple check we had another local PayPal account send an amount to see if this could work without the request payment prompt. And as you may have already guessed it cleared too.
To quadruple check, we looked over the status of receiving funds for a personal account and it looks like nothing has changed there.
So what does this mean?
Well, the answer to that is, yes you can receive funds in a PayPal merchant wallet in Zim. Whether this is something that PayPal forgot to close off, is currently testing, or rolled out and didn’t say anything about is up for debate.
As with issues of this nature we reached out to PayPal to get clarification about the receiving funds status of both Business/Merchant and Personal wallets. To this end we haven’t heard back yet, however, if this is a quiet response to the e-commerce boom then this is massive for Zimbabweans. Especially with Skrill withdrawing its services late last month.
Although, it should be said that there are some restrictions. You can’t fund your wallet through your bank card but you can link a card. However it looks like you can remit money into your linked card but it looks like there is a limit that the funds in the account we opened can’t breach.
On PayPal’s site, it says that the minimum is US$1.00 so this might be something that isn’t possible (yet). Meaning that to withdraw money from a Zim merchant PayPal account you’ll need to find someone who might want money transferred to their wallet in exchange for cash. Or you can use PayPal’s Xoom remittance service to send yourself the money but the charges are pretty high so this might not be for everyone.
All in all, this is pretty interesting and we will be eagerly awaiting a reply from PayPal to hear the official status of Zim merchant wallets concerning receiving funds.
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Comments
41 responses
Thanks for this invaluable information. Definitely moving to the next logical step!
Guess they corrected their error? Just tried it, the confirmation email isn’t going through.
Ok, email went through, though still curious as to the receiving limit, and, as another commentor said, does this receive internationally? Thank you so mich for the info!
So you can’t receive payments to your PayPal balance with a personal account but you can with a merchant or business account?
I have received funds in a Zim merchant account, and remitted to South Africa via Xoom. Check the Techzim archives, that’s where I learnt about this.
However, PayPal doesn’t have official documentation on this. So use with caution.
Ok but is this receiving of funds only between Zim sender and receiver accounts only WITHIN Zim or we can receive from ANYWHERE in the world? Please clarify
Yes you can receive from any PayPal acc, anywhere in the world. The tricky part is getting it out of PayPal.
Thanks for the information. What’s the upper limit one can remit?
I need a small amount of money in my Paypal ASAP. Can someone help? I have the cash.
Did you get it
Hello, what about Payoneer. Have you guys looked at it, it’s getting big and what platform would you suggest that a Zimbabwean living in Zimbabwe sign up to receive payment from abroad from selling online, etc
Payoneer works, and it recently lowered the minimum amount you can transfer to your local bank account from $110 to $50 for some 3rd world countries including Zimbabwe. I linked my FBC mastercard and transferred $50 into it but the charges were a hefty $15, so I ended up with $35 in my account. The transfer went through within a few minutes on the Payoneer side, but I had to communicate with my bank for it to reflect 3 weeks later. Please note I communicated three weeks later, and it reflected the very day probably had I communicated earlier it would have gone through too.
How
Hi, if I want a transfer into my account how do I get this if I havent reached the $5000 limit, how do i even receive this if i can’t receive or request funds? And how do i go about linking kdp to get amazon royalties, I only see the option to add a US bank on Amazon
Can I switch from personal account to merchant account
you can but its not clear if you should
If anyone needs $145 PayPal credit I can transfer in exchange for USD Cash. Contact me on russellralphcraig@gmail.com
While you can open a Merchant/Business acc with all the info, you still need to link your PayPal to a bank to withdraw funds. Now that won’t with banks in Zim as in most cases a routing number will be required for a checking out. A better option will be to open a Payoneer account, let them ship you a Mastercard debit card which you can use to withdraw in any country. Payoneer will also give you a U.S virtual banking account with Bank of America with the routing number and all details to link to your PayPal. From there you use ACH payments to transfer PayPal funds to your Payoneer card and access your cash, charges are $2 + whatever charges you incur from the ATM you use.
How will I get the money in Zim?
Payoneer is a good option for Zimbabweans if you’re a freelancer working on international platforms. You link your Payoneer account and receive payments there. Then you can get a Payoneer Mastercard… But as far as requesting payments (where you’re given a virtual US bank account), you need at least $5000 USD in your account (received from the ‘global payment service’). So, until you’ve received $5000 USD, you can’t get a bank transfer from an individual client, get book royalties from Amazon… If you want a transfer into your account, it will have to be a Payoneer to Payoneer transfer. This Payoneer $5000 USD rule is for some selected countries (Zimbabwe being one of them). Otherwise, in other countries, you can request payments with $0 in your Payoneer.
On Wise, however, you can get a virtual US bank account after depositing $20 USD into your account (which you can use later). But the verdict’s still out on how to access the cash from there (last I checked, they said they weren’t sending cards to Zimbabwe).
Hi, if I want a transfer into my account how do I get this if I havent reached the $5000 limit, how do i even receive this if i can’t receive or request funds? And how do i go about linking kdp to get amazon royalties, I only see the option to add a US bank on Amazon
I want to register a Paypal account. I am in Zimbabwe in the city of Gweru. How can l do that
Just go on their website. Steps are preety simple fron thr
okay can you also test out if or how you can buy cryptocurrencies in Zimbabwe Using the metamask, other ways to buy crypto like Etherium, bitcoin, etc.
I need clarification on this. If I have a Wise account and a Paypal Zim account Im good to send and receive money or there are some restrictions?
did you get an answer to this?
I want to receive money through PayPal, how do I go about it.
Thanks techzim
please do an updated one just to be clear if this still applies in 2021
2022 sorry
It still applies
I actually communicated with Paypal because I wanted to know my limits in receiving money every month
They said if I verified my account which is linking it with a bank account then I’m good to go
I was expecting something close to $10k and they said its okay
Hi, tried creating a new business account today and when it got to receiving payments i was told my account can only send. Am I missing something?
Me too. Can anyone assist?
Hie so this bank account can it be our local banks like fbc
Anyone need paypay funds in zim l have $1000
Hi Alpha, I’m in need of PayPay ASAP
Hi Dylan, I have paypal I can send immediately. Whats your contact? Or anyone who is interested in exchange
078 866 1212
divssearcher@protonmail.com
Number 0715008415
Is it possible to transfer money from paypal account to my fbc master card.
Can I transfer money from my PayPal account to my FBC Mastercard account and then withdraw from there ?
I recently transferred t money through PayPal to my email intending to immediately open an account but network is down how can l withdraw my money