Payoneer review: Pros, cons & money saving tips

Panna Kemenes

Payoneer is a solution for business owners who want to make and receive transfers without a merchant account. While it doesn’t offer a POS system like payment solutions such as Stripe, it’s an excellent option for small businesses and freelancers.

Payoneer acts as an intermediary of sorts, allowing businesses to send payment requests to customers who can then pay with various methods.

This Payoneer review will break down Payoneer’s features, pros and cons, and explore Payoneer alternatives.

Need a global business account?
Discover Wise Business

Table of Contents

Payoneer review: Quick overview

To see the ins and outs of Payoneer at a glance, here’s a brief overview of the payment service provider:

Set up fee
  • $0.
  • $29.95 annual fee if your account isn’t active for 12 months.¹
Monthly fee
  • $0
Customer service
  • Letter
  • Phone
  • Email
  • Chat
  • Fax
  • ‘Contact Us’ form
  • Payoneer tries to resolve customer concerns within 3 business days.
Trustpilot rating
  • 4.3 out of 5 from more than 45,000 users.²
Great for
  • Low-cost transfers, and small businesses or freelancers that don’t require a POS system.

Payoneer key features

Payoneer offers a number of features to make the process of sending and receiving payments more straightforward. It simplifies transactions, and streamlines processes on both the business and customers’ ends.


Send payments

With Payoneer, you can send funds instantly and free of charge if deposited into their Payoneer account.

If you wish to send the money to bank accounts, you can do so in batches of as many as 200 payments at once. Payments to bank accounts usually go through within 24 hours.

You can make payments in 200+ countries and territories, and settle business service invoices from Amazon Transparency and Amazon advertising quickly.


Request payments

Payoneer makes it easy to request payment from clients, who can then pay with their chosen currency.

Clients have the option to pay in one of three ways:

  • Credit card
  • Local bank transfer
  • Payoneer account

You can also track your payments with Payoneer and send out reminders.


Receive payments in multiple currencies

Currently, Payoneer users can receive payments in 9 different currencies, using the following account information for each:

  1. US Dollar - Routing number and account number
  2. British Pound - Sort code, account number, and IBAN
  3. Euro - SWIFT/BIC and IBAN
  4. Australian Dollar - BSB code and account number
  5. Canadian Dollar - Institution number, transit number, and account number
  6. Singapore Dollar - Bank code, bank name and account number
  7. Japanese Yen - Bank code, branch code and account number
  8. Hong Kong Dollar - Routing number and account number
  9. United Arab Emirates Dirham - Bank name, IBAN

With local accounts in these 9 currencies, customers can pay you in their local currencies. You can also save money on international wire fees.

💡 Get local account details for other countries with Wise Business. Get paid like a local, and convert funds at the mid-market rate.

Payoneer debit card

With a Payoneer account you can use the Payoneer Commercial Mastercard® to pay for your international business expenses.

Here’s a brief Payoneer mastercard review of the key features:

  • Fee-free Purchases - Use the debit card to make fee-free purchases in USD, EUR, GBP, and CAD and in supported countries.
  • High Spending Limit - The daily spending limit for the debit card can be as high as 200,000 USD, with no monthly cap.
  • Pay Anywhere - The card is accepted at all vendors around the world that accept Mastercard® payments.

You can also choose whether you want a virtual or physical card, and the two offer slightly different perks:

Virtual card perksPhysical card perks
  • Order online and start using it straight away
  • Environmentally-friendly choice
  • Use it to withdraw funds from ATMs and sidestep exchange rates
  • Buy online or in-store at any business that accepts Mastercard®

Mobile app

With the mobile app, Payoneer users can do the following:

  • Withdraw funds - Cash out to your local bank account in over 150 countries
  • Manage payments - Track balances and the status of transactions
  • Make payments - Request and make payments
  • View cards - See the balance on your cards and change security settings

Payoneer app

Payoneer pros and cons

Reasons to use Payoneer

Low-cost payments - Make fee-free payments to other Payoneer accounts, and bank account transfers with a 1% fee

Free to set up - Set up your account today without any payment

Make international payments - Pay international clients in their preferred currencies

What are the cons of Payoneer?

No payment gateway or POS system - The lack of POS and payment gateway limits how you can receive payments

Not suitable for large businesses - Payoneer is best suited to small businesses and freelancers with its lack of advanced payment features

Is Payoneer trustworthy?

Payoneer is used and trusted by more than 5 million users.

The payment provider protects users’ funds with the following security measures:

  • 2-step verification - 2-step verification makes it difficult for bad actors to access your account
  • Firewalls and anti-hacking features - Transactions made through Payoneer are safeguarded with firewalls
  • Email notifications about card usage - Keep up to date with how your card is being used with email notifications

Payoneer fees

Here’s a snapshot of the fees you’ll pay with Payoneer:³

FeatureFees
Get paid
  • From Payoneer customers: free
  • Directly by clients: 3% credit card fee and 1% ACH bank debit fee
  • Directly by networks and marketplaces: Fees determined by networks and marketplaces
  • From receiving accounts: Free with EUR, GBP, and others. 0-1% with USD
Pay others
  • To Payoneer customers: Free
  • To non-Payoneer customers: Up to 2% of transaction sum
  • Fixed fee of 1.50 applies (USD, EUR, and GBP) when sending funds to a bank account which:
  • Uses the same currency as your account
  • Is located in a country where the payment currency is the same as local currency
  • Is located in the same country as your Payoneer profile
Use funds
  • Payoneer Commercial Mastercard®:
  • Card registration and delivery: $0
  • Annual card fee for first card: $29
  • Transactions in same country and other supported countries: $0
  • Transactions with currency conversion: up to 3.5%
  • Transactions with cross-border fees: up to 1.8%
  • ATM withdrawal: $3.15
  • ATM balance inquiry: $1
  • Funds Withdrawal:
  • Withdrawal to local currency from Payoneer balance with different currency: up to 2% of transaction sum
  • Withdraws to local currency from same Payoneer balance currency: $1.50
  • Withdrawals to non-local currency: Up to 2% of transaction sum
Currency management
  • 0.5% fee for moving funds between different currencies

Does Payoneer charge a monthly fee?

No, however, if you keep your account open for 12 months without making any transactions you’ll pay a 29.95 USD fee.

Alternatives to Payoneer

There are seven alternatives which may work better for your business:

  • Wise
  • PayPal
  • Neteller
  • Skrill
  • Payza
  • World First
  • Entropay
🔍 To read about each option, you can check: 7 great Payoneer alternatives for international transfers

Use Wise Business to make international transactions with ease

Wise Business is an excellent option for sending and receiving money internationally. Wise is not a bank, but a Money Services Business (MSB) provider and a smart alternative to banks.

You can use the Wise Business account to simplify international payouts, allowing you to pay suppliers abroad with ease.

You can make payments at the mid-market rate, and pay your suppliers in their preferred currencies to save them the expense of exchange fees.

Need to pay international employees? With Wise Business, you can send up to 1,000 payments in a single transfer and take care of global payroll in one go.

You can also receive payments like a local with major account details.

There are no monthly subscription fees, and no minimum balance requirements with Wise Business. Just a one-off fee for account details in the US. You also get access to a host of business tools, such as the QuickBooks billing integration.

Get a Wise Business account today

Whether you need to pay your suppliers in China, or receive money from Amazon - Wise has you covered.


Sources:

  1. Low fees and no hidden costs when you work with Payoneer
  2. Read Customer Service Reviews of www.payoneer.com
  3. Low fees and no hidden costs when you work with Payoneer

All sources checked November 29, 2022.


*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.

Money without borders

Find out more

Tips, news and updates for your location