Payoneer Scamming You With "Annual Account Fee"
If you are a seller on ebay please read this and don't let Payoneer scam you without a fight.
If you aren't aware Payoneer recently announced an "Annual Account Fee" that will be applied to your account if you doesn't receive 2000USD within 12 months. Here are their exact words:
"We are updating the criteria for charging an Annual Account Fee of 29.95 USD in some countries. In the affected countries, starting from the effective date, an Annual Account Fee will be charged if 12 months pass and you have received less than 2,000.00 USD (or equivalent) in payments."
In my country the effective date was 6/26/2023 (for a lot of other countries it was late April 2023).
Imagine my surprise when I got charged the 29.95USD Annual Account Fee on 6/26/2023. I contacted Payoneer numerous times and they are telling me because I didn't accumulate 2000USD from 6/26/2022 to 6/26/2023 therefore the fee applies. Did they expect us to have looked into the future in 2022 and anticipated this fee?? This is a total scam to me and highly highly unethical. Please look at your account if you reside in the UK, Europe, Australia (basically anywhere but the USA) and see if you were charged this fee. We need to band together and do something about this. I've already filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I'm going to stop selling on ebay unless they give us another option besides Payoneer. What an absolute unprofessional and unethical company. Please contact me if you have any questions and thanks for reading this.
Ming
toysandsuch
·2 years agoI’ve contested this unfair annual charge with the local Payoneer office here in Singapore, through lodging a complaint with the Monetary Authority. That was the only way to get a response and they still took 17 days. The same **bleep** answer about they having the right to change policy at any time, claiming this was agreed upon on signup. No comment about the backdating.
OP, I will pm you now.
msc1228
OP2 years agoYeah...same bull**bleep** about we can change policy at any time because we need to offer better services. And when I confront them about the backdating they simply don't mention it. Yes you are free to change the terms of your services (I can choose to not use your services going forward) but retroactively applying the terms is absurd.
thebadgorilla
·2 years agoI thought I could sell my used items on eBay as I did a few years ago...
But now it is no longer profitable as eBay forces you to use Payoneer to receive funds.
further delaying payments and add additional fees.
No thank you.
I will use smaller local sites, which may have fewer buyers, but I will save the shipping costs.
Bye-bye eBay.
fadandffancy
·2 years agoI called payoneer customer support they said they cannot refund the charges. it is totally unfair and unprofessional.
varth65
·2 years agoJust made a new local hong kong account, and upon listing my 1st item, ebay asked me to link a payoneer account. LOL. so for hong kong same problem.
ebay managed to give us the worst paypal copy on the market and force us to use it with NO alternative, for select locations.
- 30 usd account fee (if sell less than 2k usd / 12 months)
- 1 usd fee for each payment received (under 100 usd)
- 3% fee for bank withdrawals
add to this the increased ebay fees, and you better make sure it's worth it, with all the scammers and postal losses...
msc1228
OP2 years agoDon't forget about changing their policies without any clear rules and charging you just to skin another layer off you.
luxkiller65
·2 years agoIt's ridiculous to have such a fee to keep an online account open anyway. PayPal doesn't charge that, and I bet most other similar online services don't either.
I am going to try to open a new eBay account with a different address in a different country which hopefully doesn't use Payoneer. I see no other way, apart from stop selling on eBay completely.
I hope Payoneer runs out of users. I wonder who would choose Payoneer over PayPal if they had the choice. Nobody? And if they do, they'd run away as soon as they realise they charge several extra fees.
Yeah, I've just heard of the 1$ fee for payments under 100$. They just can't stop stealing! Wonder what they'll come up with next.
gerbert3
·2 years agoYes, this is just robbery and scum.
In my country I can not pick up bank account as payout option, so I HAVE to use these thiefs service payoneer.
Ebay, you keep disappointing me.
An now, the real bomb - payoneer started to charge 1$ fee from EACH payment under 100$ the you get.
This means that if your average payment is 10$ then you pay to payoneer 10% from each transaction!
Nice!
I call you call to fill complaints to payoneer and to ebay.
Thanks
msc1228
OP2 years agoYup crooks..... I contacted Payoneer multiple times and they just gave me the same copy paste response. I've stopped selling on ebay due to Payoneer.
luxkiller65
·2 years agoJust logged in to my Payoneer account after a long time, and saw the news about the annual fee.
It's not about being able to pay it or not, it's about eBay who first told us it was dropping PayPal in order to give sellers an INTEGRATED PAYMENT SYSTEM. Then, for some countries, it was Payoneer. We found out it was not integrated. It was just a copy of PayPal without the user base of PayPal and without free bank withdrawals like PayPal. So it was already worse, but whatever.
With PayPal, I could withdraw for free to my bank account, as long as the currency was the same. With Payoneer, I am charged 3% no matter what.
And now we have to pay 30$ just to keep the account alive, if we are small potatoes selling as a hobby, most likely not reaching 2000$ a year. Also, does that include the item price only, or with shipping? Couldn't find any information.
So far they haven't charged me retroactively, which would have **bleep** me off just like the OP. I really wish we could opt out and use something else.
What it looks to me is that first eBay gathered all the sheep-sellers and pushed them to Payoneer. Payoneer then could cash in with credit card fees, withdrawal fees and now the amazing "pay to have a f***ing account with us or stop selling on eBay fee".
I can't believe there is no link whatsoever between eBay and Payoneer. There's got to be 😉
msc1228
OP2 years agoYup...Payoneer was touted as a better option compared to Paypal and has anything but...
Terrible way of treating customers.
Sucks that I no longer sell on ebay but oh well.
downunder-61
·2 years agoAustralia does not use Payoneer, we have MP through Adyen like the US.
New Zealand does use Payoneer and they pay $29.95 per year which is not unusual for many financial institutions, seriously, it is 0.50c a week and if you can not afford to pay that you need a better business model.
msc1228
OP2 years agoMy main complaint is not the annual fee. It is retroactively applying the fee and not letting us know from the start how the fee is going to applied. Let us know all your rules well in advance and let us decide if we want to use your service. I have no problem with that.
fochunwa-0
·2 years agoJust logged into my Payoneer account as I've recently made a sale on eBay. I did not notice the annual fees charged only until when I clicked into the transactions page. The annual fee is ridiculous in my opinion. For context, I am based in Singapore, and am a small time seller (est~ one sale in every 1.5months). So basically, the requirement of 2000USD per year would be quite difficult for me to achieve.
msc1228
OP2 years agoYup...it is absolutely ridiculous. They touted Payoneer as a better alternative to Paypal but I don't see it at all. Most small time sellers will have a tough time reaching that amount. I sell quite regularly and still didn't hit that amount. And to charge us with this shady tactic is another slap to the face.
Would def speak out (even though Payoneer will do absolutely nothing about it). There are def lots of sellers who don't even realize they've been charged this fee.
accessories23_7
·2 years agopayoneer charges an annual fee of $28.99 and a withdrawal fee of $30
simple_colours
·3 years agoAbsolutely agree with you. When Ebay pushed me to open Payoneer account it was totally free and after I receive letter about annual fee. I think that it is a scum when one company pushes you to use only one option and it is not voluntarily.
kalyoth
·3 years agoJust because I am from the US - I am curious. What is Payoneer? Ayden I thought was ebay's payment processor globally? Or did they have to negotiate in every markeyplace for each web site they opened? Also - why is the scale in USD & not local currency?
msc1228
OP3 years agoHi Kalyoth,
Payoneer is a third party payment processor that ebay uses now for sellers (it used to be Paypal). Yes Payoneer is global..to sell on ebay you need a Payoneer account no matter where you are. The fee is charged in USD ($29.95). I do most of my selling on the USA ebay site so I receive USD when buyers pay me anyways.
kalyoth
·3 years agoI do not have a Payoneer account unless that is the ebay managed payment process? First I've heard of them ever & I am an active USA seller atm. Could it be because of your location - that is why you have the requirements you do? I know ebay dropped Paypal & replaced them with Adyen, out of Amsterdam in the EU, a ways back.
msc1228
OP3 years agoOk I did not know that. When I used to live in the USA, Paypal handled all the payment processing...I assumed that because eBay dropped Paypal and replaced it with Payoneer it was true for all countries. I stand corrected. Thank you.
janet9988
·3 years agoNO you do not............. Only from some countries.
msc1228
OP3 years agoI did not realize this. My apologies I stand corrected.
krazzykats
·3 years agoIs it worth $2.50 a month to pay for your processed monies?
When it's no longer profitable or enjoyable, maybe it's time to call it quits.
msc1228
OP3 years agoYes I agree. But don't take my money without my consent. A new rule or policy should only be applied going forward not retroactively.
How would you feel if ebay changed their Final Value Fees to 30% and retroactively applied it to your previous sales? "Oh to provide better service we've increased our Final Value Fees" and "the fee will be applied to all of your previous sales so you will be billed the amount owed by the end of the year".
I can't believe there are users that are ok with these companies taking your money without your consent.
krazzykats
·3 years agoI'm not okay with it, but realize I can't do much about it. If I want to use the service, I will have to pay what they charge.
But that retro charge going back a year ago though is very unfair.
msc1228
OP3 years agoThanks for the response! At the end of the day I totally understand your viewpoint. If you want to sell on ebay we will need to adjust and live with it. If it isn't worth it then we are always free to sell on another platform. I'm not upset at the policy change...I'm upset with how unfairly it is being implemented to squeeze a quick payment out of us. It's not that easy to make $30 from ebay nowadays.
kensgiftshop
·3 years agoEbay can't do anything about the fee's that Payoneer charges, so don't know what a complaint with the BBB will do.
If you want to sell here, you have to play by their rules and they say you have to use Payoneer to get paid.
Some sellers don't like having to provide a checking account and their SSN, but they don't have a choice if they want to sell here and get paid.
msc1228
OP3 years agoSure I have no problem playing by the rules but if you read what I posted they didn't mention retroactively reviewing your account. Rules are set and if the rules are changed they should be effective from a certain date in the future. You can't change a rule and go back and review transactions in the past. The Annual Account Fee was not part of the deal when I signed up for Payoneer. If you want to change this rule, fine give me plenty of time to avoid the fee or close my account. You can't say oh you've had this account for 12 months already therefore we are charging you.
And you are right ebay probably won't do anything about it but they sure will have some influence. They are the ones that chose to partner with Payoneer and can dissolute the partnership if they want to. So don't agree that ebay "can't do anything about it."
janet9988
·3 years agoIt is so wrong for them to back charge you before the policy went into effect.
fab_finds4u
·3 years agoIf you Google it you will see complaints about the $29.95 going back to at least 2021.
msc1228
OP3 years agoThat is for their Payoneer credit card (which there is also a lot of controversy).
The Payoneer Annual Fee I've mentioned is for the majority of countries (I believe the USA is exempt) whether or not you have a Payoneer credit card.
Here is an example:
msc1228
OP3 years agoThank you for your reply. Yes it is completely wrong yet every customer service representative won't acknowledge it and wouldn't respond directly to my question. They never said they would retroactively review our accounts so it is a super easy way for them to make 29.95USD. Basically if you are a big time seller on ebay it probably wouldn't matter, otherwise they'll easily scam close to $30 off you in a second.
Thanks again for your reply and stay away from this company if you can.
heckofagame
·3 years agoAre they the only payment processor? If so, they have you by the you-know-whats.
msc1228
OP3 years agoYes they are the only payment processor for sellers. You can pay using a variety of options (credit card, paypal, etc) but as a seller you are forced to use Payoneer. Previously it was Paypal and Payoneer was touted was a better option but boy are they bad. They take way longer to deposit your earnings (often the buyer has to receive the item or the payment is withheld) and now there is this account fee (I don't think many small sellers will receive 2000USD per year).
soh.maryl
·3 years ago"Yes they are the only payment processor for sellers."
Shouldn't "in our location" have been added to this sentence?
In this country, as well as many others, Payoneer is not a payment processor for sellers.
msc1228
OP3 years agoThanks for the responses.
Based on the last few responses I've received my statement is incorrect.
I stand corrected.
Payoneer is sadly Taiwan's only option...I'll no longer be selling on eBay because of this company.