PayPal’s opening up of its services to Zimbabwe this past week has created a lot of excitement in the market.
Many entrepreneurs see this as a godsend and I can just see them smiling all the way FROM the bank (after going to deposit their funds to start transacting using the payment gateway).
But there may be some of you who are wondering what all the excitement is about. Why is everyone (well at least those online) excited about being able to PAY other people and NOT SELL their goods and service?
I penned an article yesterday of why I felt that PayPal wouldn’t be a hit just yet here in Zimbabwe and how local payment solutions were better poised to service the Zimbabwean market.
Well, there are still sections of the populace that may want to know what they can pay with PayPal now that it has opened up. Let me first break down to how it works.
As PayPal is a payment gateway, it accepts various payment providers through their system (an option that many suppliers would prefer), including VISA and MasterCard.
If any website used PayPal to process their payments, even though you have a VISA (for example) because Zimbabwean cards were not recognised by PayPal your card would be rejected and essentially your transaction would fail. +
This created a stumbling block for many-an-entrepreneur that needed to buy services and products online. Well, PayPal has finally recognised that we exist and have been gracious enough to open their platform to us (someone give these guys a Bells).
With this comes a host of opportunities, and I hope to list at least 10 services that you can now enjoy as a Zimbo.
- WhatsApp subscriptions: For those of you that have been having sleepless nights over how you can pay your WhatsApp subscription and are tired of downloading and using it for FREE, the day has finally come.
WhatsApp has been lenient with us and continually extend our expiry date for their service every year. No, it is not because Econet and/or Telecel (or whatever mobile network you’re on) paid for you as some people believe!
One of the challenges that the Facebook-owned instant messaging app has is how to collect money from developing nations. The coming of PayPal is a step in getting you to pay that $1 per year. C’mon guys, rejoice with me!
Update – As of January 2016 WhatsApp is now free, but there are still other cool apps that require payment. PayPal will help with that. - eBay: From the amount of comments and feedback from my last post on the issue, eBay should be a happy lot. It seems everyone was waiting for PayPal so that they can start buying stuff from the American website. Hokoyo ZimBay.
If you didn’t know, PayPal is a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay (arguably the biggest consumer to consumer marketplace, a.k.a. classifieds) and now we can buy goods through their website. (Anybody do a transaction yet? Please advise of the logistics so that we all can start enjoying)
- Skype: If you need to communicate cost efficiently then Skype is your answer. Internet connection allowing you can stay in touch with friends and relatives all over the world with your Skype Credit. PayPal now affords us this opportunity.
- DropBox: For those of you that are always on the go and need to store information in the cloud, enter DropBox. The cloud storage service offers a limited amount of storage for FREE but for just $9.99 you can get access to 100GB extra!
- Fiverr: My love and flirtation with Fiverr dates back over two years, where I have been using it ever since. For just $5 you can get an app made, Facebook login plug-in developed, even hire a “fake girlfriend” to make that somebody on Facebook jealous. Now that we can make payments there are so many freelance services that we can get for less than the price of the lowest DStv package (hey, wait, just about anything is lower than that!)
- WordPress: For those of you who like to churn out websites on the fly and use WordPress for quick to market solutions, now you can buy your favourite templates easily. The world of themes and templates, plugins included are estimated to be a $25m industry, so believe me there is some value in them.
- GoDaddy: For those of you that are more interested in .com websites (I’d recommend .co.zw instead, get them from Name) he is one of the industry leaders that will aide you in getting online quickly.
- Udemy: if you haven’t visited Udemy, then what are you waiting for? This has got to be one of THE BEST learning resources online, though it might have a few FREE courses that will help you to further your career; the paid content is off the chain! (NB Econet offers this website along with over 50+ other FREE websites through their Econet Zero service, though I have been unable to access it). The courses that are available are widespread and very relevant to what is needed in today’s app market, e.g. Apple Swift Programming
- iTunes: For the iEnthusiasts (all your iDevices) here is an easier way for you to now buy your Apple iTunes Store products at cost. Say goodbye to middlemen who we visited at certain stores locally and bought iTunes credit at a premium (I know, you can thank me later).
- Market Motive: I have saved the best for last. My passion is in Social Media Marketing and this is one of the world leaders when it comes to online learning. Teaching you topics such as SEO, PPC, Social Media and Content Marketing, you can get yourself a worldwide recognised certificate all from the comfort of your desktop…
If you are interested in more information on what services you can use with your PayPal account, be sure to check out their Store Directory.
Do share in the comments below, if there is any service that you can now access through PayPal payments that makes your busy life so much easier.
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33 comments
Thanks Paypal for coming to Zimbabwe with this payment gateway but i guess it is also gateway to our bank accounts by hackers. Please Mr Writer tell us the implications of internet buying and the measures we should put on our browsers to combact issues of privacy and spoofing issues. Im sure many people need to be aware about these things before they start using paypal with unsecured browsers…..
i have been doing all those payment using my Zimbabwean Barclays except Ebay because its expensive to ship something that cost less than $100.
Saka zvine basa rei? why did you even read the article kana zvakoo zvanga zviribhooo? do you think everyone has a barclays a/c
I agree with Muti. We’ve been able to make all those payments ever since banks introduced international debit cards (Visa/Mastercard). If that’s all PayPal is offering then there’s nothing to write home about.
Its not particularly true as Muti purports that items that cost less than $100 are expensive to ship. It depends with the sellers location and also the carrier that they use to ship your product. Some sellers especially Chinese sellers offer free shipping so you can buy an item for $1 and have it delivered free.
Anonymous, Paypal has numerous advantages over the international card. even if uses the same card
1. You do not expose your card details to every merchant you buy from when using PayPal.
2. With PayPal you can buy from small sellers (who might offer you better deals), who can’t afford their own payment terminal
3. With PayPal you can pay with your local debit card if you do not have an international debit card
4. You can use more than one card to pay for a purchase with PayPal, which you can’t do with your credit or cheque card
Paypal is owned by Ebay. Beyond Ebay there is no other extraordinary functionality I get from using it. I’ve been a user since 2007 and I find my debit card more useful for the rest of the things youve listed.
I have been waiting all these years for this, Thanks Paypal
Thank you Paypal, been waiting for this for years, please visit http://www.zollywoodzim.co.uk, watch Zimbabwean Movies using paypal…
Please stop lying to people as an IT proffessional I can safely say I have have been using my Standard Chartered Bank issued Visa card. I always use it whenever I go abroad the only problem was I could not use it on paypal that was the only issue there was.
Does anyone know when you will be able to add bank accounts.(If you don’t own a credit card)
Hi,
I think some key players were left here. I was hoping to see such sites as alibaba, pluralsight, lynda, etc being mentioned as well. The other thing i am thinking could have been added is the issue for clearance because as much as we would love and be excited to buy stuff from ebay, amazon etc there is still some costs associated with getting the product to Zim with the Zimra duty issues, etc
Thanks
Hmm. Guys I tried purchasing an item of ebay just now , its denying payments. Not sure why but definitely not an issue with money in the card. I linked it using fbc mastercard.Has anyone tried a simple purchase on ebay.com ?
Can i recieve payment for my services through PAYPAL in Zim?
Hey there Vee,
Thank you for reading and for your question.
Unfortunately PayPal have not enabled the ability for PayPal account users in Zimbabwe to receive payments right now.
As soon as they turn on the ability, we’ll let you know right here on Techzim.
Thank u. i am anxiously waiting for that day 😉
mmmm pretty soon we wl hear of credit cards debit cards ….. enslavement #thinkingloud
WOW!!! That’s a bit extreme there Superman, don’t you think?
hey ansa the question ”can one recieve payment online using paypal an if not then wen is it gonna be rectified”this biased fake deal”
Hey there Acher,
Thank you for reading and for your question.
Unfortunately PayPal have not enabled the ability for PayPal account users in Zimbabwe to receive payments right now.
As soon as they turn on the ability, we’ll let you know right here on Techzim.
Can I link my paypal acc to the Ecocash debit card
Can we now recieve payments on paypal? On my paypal account it has a tab for payments recieved. Does that mean we can now use paypal to recieve payments?
I have looked at the interface for an international PayPal account and it has features that a Zimbabwean account does not have. Sadly, we are still not yet able to receive funds in our accounts…
can we now receive paypal payments recieve payment for services through PAYPAL in Zim? –
Is there anything we can do as Zimbabweans to help speed up PAYPAL for us to be able to recieve payments in Zim. I need to work fulltime in Zim but can only be paid thru it please?
So which bank works with paypal? I’m with barclays and up till now, I’m yet to make a single payment. Any update on that?
If paypal did not put access for Zimbos to receive funds besides paying,then it is as good as non existent,it is biased.
I cant seem to create an account for paypal it comes up with the “some incorrect information ” error message but i made sure everything was correct and it does it everytime can someone help me on this issue . If so you can message me on 0775143422 whatsapp
Can you receive payments through paypal
Guys, forget paypal. If you want to receive payments, then click on this link https://share.payoneer.com/nav/X9m0Pp7iTQGnnW13zPKemAFLrLyxtogUGYM-lH1Xk3yzBINhA2kKcAYj3QTIcuRuNGdm8sp5naGDXtkbOAu2Tw2
Thanks Tinashe am trying this one
Can l make payments using my Ecocash debit card
Can l link my PayPal account to my Ecocash debit card
ecocash mastercard did not work for me on paypal. Any alternatives