A few days ago, Equity Bank revised its PayPal withdrawal fees, a move that has since seen new competition from Kenya’s number one telecoms operator, Safaricom.
The telco has finally announced the possibility to load or transfer cash from PayPal accounts via its insanely popular mobile money service, M-PESA. However, some of you may need to know how the two platforms compare owing to the reach of M-PESA and the fact that withdrawals have only been possible via Equity Bank for some time.
Notably, withdrawing cash from PayPal via Equity is based on the amount being transacted.
Withdrawals
To withdraw USD 5001 or more, users will pay 1% of the withdrawal amount as service fees.
A USD 2001-5000 range attracts as 1.125% fees.
For USD 1001-2000 and USD 501-1000, customers will pay 1.25% and 1.375% of the withdrawal amount respectively.
Lastly, USD <500 withdrawals will cost 1.5% of the withdrawal transaction.
On the other hand, Safaricom users will attract a flat 3% charge on all withdrawals made.
This means if you need to withdraw $500 from PayPal, you will be credited with $485 for M-PESA, whereas Equity Bank will credit you with $492.5.
Deposit to PayPal
M-PESA takes it further by allowing PayPal deposits that include a handy conversion tool on the web portal. Whereas ordinary/local M-PESA deposits cost nothing, moving cash from your account to PayPal comes at a price. Similar to withdrawal charges, loading PayPal will attract a flat 4% fee, in addition to pay bill transactions.
Say you need to deposit $500: you will be charged $20 (4%) and KES 220 in pay bill fees.
Depending on the amount being transacted, users will need to wait for a maximum of three days or a minimum of two hours to be credited for funds withdrawn from PayPal via M-PESA.
Do you think the convenience of M-PESA guarantees its higher transaction fee? Let us know in the comments section below.
