Paypal members in the Philippines and Indonesia gets a very early new year’s treat with the introduction of direct local bank withdrawals made effective yesterday. I an email announcement to all users on both South-East Asian countries, Paypal will now accept funds in their respective local currencies.
This feature was only previously available with US-based bank accounts. This is now possible for Paypal members in Indonesia and the Philippines on top of the existing methods (credit card, debit card or prepaid cards).
For Indonesian users, withdrawals of IDR1.5 Million (Indonesian Rupiah) or more are free. For withdrawal amounts of less than IDR1.5 Million, there will be a fee of IDR16,000. For Philippine users, withdrawals of Php7,000 or more are free. For withdrawal amounts less than Php7,000 there will be a fee of Php50. If you still have a US-based Paypal account, withdrawals to a US-based bank will incur a $5 fee.
The “almost complete” feature was delivered by the eBay subsidiary in the Philippines (including neighboring ASEAN countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia) in just a span of 4 months after it originally made the news last September 2007. The only other lacking feature is being able to fund your Paypal account with your local bank account. Otherwise, this development has finally concluded the expansion of Paypal in these parts of the region.
I’ve dispatched an email to the reps of eBay/Paypal for South East Asia with additional questions. I am actually more interested in how this speedy development has got to do with eBay Philippines and its apparent migration to the subscription model.
Update: Here’s a copy of the official Paypal Press Release sent to me today:
Philippines, 28 Jan 2008 – PayPal, an eBay company, announced today a new bank withdrawal feature that enables registered PayPal users in the Philippines to withdraw money from their PayPal account directly to a Philippines bank account.
This new feature allows Philippine sellers to gain fast and convenient access to their funds and makes doing business on eBay and globally even easier.
“We are constantly looking for ways to improve the user experience for PayPal members and are excited to offer this new bank withdrawal feature which we believe will provide greater convenience for Philippine sellers,” said Sandeep Lal, Vice President of PayPal International.
The new withdrawal method is in addition to the existing withdrawal options to a Visa® debit card, credit card, prepaid card, or US bank account. A complete list of withdrawal options can be viewed here.
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Finally, ebay has listened to our many tiny voices.
good news!
This news is late lol. The blogosphere has talked about this since late last week. By the way, you will need the bank code to be able to withdraw your money. You can get it from the pinoy money talk site.
http://www.pinoymoneytalk.com/2008/01/27/bank-code-philippines-withdraw-paypal/
I’ve already added my bank account to my paypal account. I now have a stupid question. It seems I have yet to verify my paypal account by adding a credit card (which I don’t have). Will I still be able to transfer my paypal money to my bank account without having to enter a credit card for verification?
Looks like you need a credit card or debit card still, so the best way would be to open a Union Bank Account that gets you a debit card and use that, then just withdraw to your union bank account or other PH bank account as much as you want at a better exchange rate and without any fees. Finally I can stop using Xoom, unless I need the money within 24 hours
How long does it take to withdraw funds directly from your bank account?
This is awesome news, “incomplete” as it may still be. The convenience and the security is definitely something to smile about. Because most our bloggers are here in the Philippines, all of us here at I.PH are glad to know that for all respects and purposes, Paypal is finally here.
@ andre, thanks for the advice. I’ve applied for my unionbank eon card already, so I guess, I’ll just use that to verify my paypal account.
I still don’t get what type of cards they accept in the Philippines…does BPI Express Teller Counts? o_O
@L.A. Any VISA or Mastercard credit card that can be used internationally can be enrolled in PayPal. If you have a BPI Mastercard that can be used out of the country, then most likely you can enroll that in PayPal.
BPI Express Teller cards aren’t Visa or Mastercard. So you can’t enroll them. But you can enroll you BPI Express Teller bank account to PayPal for withdrawal purposes. I had just tested that already and finally got my money after a couple of days.
But I have a slight problem with the deduction fees. Maybe someone can enlighten me? I talked about it in my blog.
Just a heads up. click here >>>> Successful Withdrawal From PayPal To Philippine Bank Accounts
It’s fast and no charge or deductions.
@Head Geekette
Geh Thanks for the answers, now I know I can use my BPI Express Teller..I don’t use it out of the country just for PayPal withdrawals. Thanks again!
whew! it is possible for me to use my PNB atm account?
just wondering. . ^^ hope reply.. heres my mail : latchkey_23@yahoo.com
@july Yes, you should be able to enroll your PNB account as well.
Whatever bank you intend to use for the withdrawal, do ask first what their charges for electronic fund transfer (EFT) are. As far as I know, the Unionbank EON account doesn’t have EFT charges which is the main reason why I pulled out my BPI account from PayPal and replaced it with EON.
How could I withdraw from Paypal to my bank account?
I dont have any credit card…
Is my Metrobank E.T. Savings Account can be used to withdraw funds?
@mark jonel
Yes, Metrobank ET can be used to withdraw funds.
But how could I do it?
Could you tell me the process?
I just want to withdraw my money from Paypal to may Metrobank Account….
It would be a great help for me…
Mark,
Just log in to your Paypal account. Click on Withdraw link and there will eb option to wtihdraw funds via CC or Bank. Select Bank and provide the details of your savings account from Metrobank.
It prompts me to add a credit card or a debit card…
So what should I do right now?
Please help me…