PayPal is not yet fully available in Peru. While I believe that PayPal can be used in Peru for making online purchases, it cannot be used to accept payments. This is a real shame as it limits the opportunities available for Peruvians wishing to use the internet for private money-making purposes.
PayPal in Peru: Writing Online
This is particularly true in my field: online freelance writing. There are many opportunities online for people wishing to write and earn at the same time. But these doors are closed to Peruvians due to payment problems. A writer friend of mine here in Tarapoto recently asked how he could get paid for writing online. Honestly, I’m not too sure.
As far as I can tell, the only option would be to get a relation living in a foreign country (one where PayPal is fully functioning) to set up an account on your behalf. Obviously, this is only possible if such a relation exists. If anyone knows any other (legitimate) options please let me know
PayPal are continuously expanding their territory. How long it will take for PayPal to become fully available in Peru is anyone’s guess. It could be this year or it could be in 10 years time. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.
PayPal en Perú
(lo siento por mi mal español!)
Para ganar dinero escribiendo en línea, los escritores necesitan de Paypal para cobrar. Lamentablemente, PayPal no está disponible en el Perú para este. Quizás en el futuro estará disponible, pero cuando? En verdad, no sé.
PayPal está siempre en expansión, así que espero que pronto estará disponible en el Perú.
Thanks man, your always informative. and your Spanish is very good, excuse my English, hahah. Take care and good luck
Tony,
Hello! My name is Andrew. I am a chiropractor (Recently graduated) and am looking at Tarapoto to start an office. I have enjoyed reading your articles, they are quite informative. I would like to touch base with you. I have been doing some research on the city, but most of it is through tourism websites. Just wondering if you have any thoughts about the area or the people that you think i should know before heading down there. Thanks!
Hello Andrew,
That’s quite a broad question! The first word that comes to mind regarding both the people and the area is “relaxed”. Tarapoto is a large town but has a very laid-back vibe. It seems to me to be a good place to start up a business. As far as chiropractic things are concerned, I have no idea! But you could do well here – you need to be patient and you need to speak decent Spanish.
If you don’t mind heat and humidity then you’ll probably like it here. If you are thinking of buying or renting a house, keep the climate in mind. Getting up high, whether up on the hill or in a third or fourth floor apartment, keeps things fresh!
Let me know if you have anymore questions, I can’t think of anything else right now!
Hi Tony,
Thanks for the information you’ve been hanging on my blog has given me much to think about the use of payment systems, especially by the company where I work are looking for a solution to this.
I mean, I work at a company that provides services, but also makes sales to persons of mostly Europe and Latin America as well. We’ve been wanting to see the settlement of payments via Internet, we used Moneybooker until recently, I am new to it, so as I am with my boss in charge of the information area, we see the need for an alternative solution. We are currently between Moneybookers and PayPal, pros and cons will be presented at a meeting, and be seen.
But your opinion, what would be a better solution to our dilemma?
Thanking your oponión and apologizing for my bad English, I say goodbye.
Sorry, in the first line i wanna say your blog, not mine.
(sorry my bad english again)
I have never used Moneybookers before, so I’m not very familiar with it. However, I think it is more widely accepted internationally. Would your company even be able to receive payments using PayPal?
If you can find a way to use PayPal in Peru then I think it would be the best solution. I only say this because customers are more likely to be familiar with PayPal (especially in Europe and the USA). You could lose potential customers if they are not familiar with a payment system such as Moneybookers.
If you do a Google search for “moneybookers vs paypal” you’ll find some forums where people are discussing this subject. Also, has your company considered offering both PayPal and Moneybookers as payment methods? This would probably be the best solution, although I don’t know what fees may be involved.
Hope that helps a little. (and your English is good so don’t apologize!)
It is a real problem. I do internet marketing and freelance writing, and am very fortunate that I have my account in the US. I’d love to help some of my friends here make money online too, but can’t see any way around the PayPal issue.
Hi Kelly, thanks for dropping by!
I’m pretty much stumped too as far as PayPal is concerned.
Do you know what is possible as far as Google Adsense is concerned? A few websites like Xomba pay via Adsense alone, and Adsense offers payment through Western Union. I’m really not too sure how that all works, but it’s the only option I can see as far as finding a way for Peruvians to earn money writing online. It would be pretty limited, and the Adsense minimum payout is high, but it might be an option. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Tony.
Anyone anywhere can use Pecunix.
https://www.pecunix.com/money.refined…welcome
Craig
Hi Craig,
I trashed your comment at first, thought it was spam. I’m presuming that you are the Craig from ExpatPeru (with the gold bars profile pic). Not sure that this Pecunix thing would work as far as paying writers is concerned.
I’m glad you figured out it wasn’t spam. Yep, same Craig.
It would work.
The payers would have to open (free) and fund a Pecunix account. That is a LOT easier to do than PayPal or Moneybookers. But, granted, the payers may resist doing that anyway due to inertia.
Of course, the payees may not have any use for Pecunix right now. They probably want to get soles. But that situation is no different from PayPal or Moneybookers. They are unlikely to have any use for PayPal or Moneybookers balances either.
I will buy any Pecunix tendered for soles at spot and at cost. That means, I will pay the international spot price for the gold (in any quantity). [FYI: that rate is given in soles
https://www.pecunix.com/money.refined…gld.rates
on the Pecunix website.] And I will only deduct whatever costs (eg. ITF, giro fees, etc.) I incur for making the payment to the payee. I think that can be zero for payments via Pagum,
https://www.pagum.com/Spanish/index.asp
for instance.
Best,
Craig
Well, I don’t think any of these writer websites are going to be using this system any time soon (chances = snowball + hell). Then again, I’ve no idea how large scale this Pecunix scheme is. PayPal is king for now (as far as earning money writing online is concerned).
Thanks for the info though, it should be of interest for anyone looking for alternative international money transfer options.
Some of the advantages of Pecunix:
1) It is entirely outside the US. So it is much more accessible to non-Americans.
2) It does not involve the banking system, credit cards or any national currencies so it is straightforward for all to use.
3) Unlike payPal it works reliably, honestly and respects its users and their property.
4) It is entirely free of the fraud, crime and abuse that plagues PayPal.
That being said, if you are dealing with American companies with whom you have no leverage, you are right that they are not going to change their established way of doing business to use Pecunix.
I did run into one suggestion. [I have not done this myself because I refuse to have anything to do with PayPal.] But apparently it is possible to fund Xoom
https://www.xoom.com/
with PayPal. This means you can have Xoom send your PayPal balance to anyone in Peru (eg. cash at any branch of BCP). This is the most expensive way to fund a Xoom transfer (eg. 20% fee for $50) but it seems to be possible.
Craig
My recent experience with Paypal related to Peru.
I want to buy some goods via ebay. Suppliers were in Hong Kong, Miami and Melbourne. All accepted only PayPal and ship only to the registered address. I have a European PaypalAccount that can be funded by a European bankaccount (only in the same country). So what to do?
1. I opened a new second Paypal account with my address in Tarapoto, Peru.
2. Then I funded my European PP account from my bankaccount.
3. And after that made a private transfer to the Peruvian PP account. There are no cost involved for private transfers. Only the conversion form Euro to USD is quite steep.
I ordered the goods I needed, and hopefully they will arrive the next couple of weeks.
Summarize: The problem is not opening Paypal accounts for Peruvians. The problem is taking cash out of your account after you receive payments.
For the creative Peruvians there are ways around this problem. Order online goods that are not available or expensive in Tarapoto and sell them. (or take orders for family and neighbours.) You can even make an extra buck. Beware of the import and VAT (TGV) duties!
Ruud
Hi Ruud, thanks for the info.
PayPal upgraded the Peruvian account since I wrote this article (it’s hard to keep track of all these things!) — receiving payments became possible back in August 2010 I think. Buying stuff online does seem to be the best option — unless a Peruvian PayPal account holder has a US bank account, of course.
I very rarely shop online (or in real life, to be honest) — have you come across many Peruvian websites that accept PayPal payments? That could be quite handy.
Hi Tony,
Non Peruvian website accepts paypal. Peruvian websites are horrible. Even Saga, which allows you to order online, does not give you a nice user experience.
So, any expat looking for business ideas: e-comerce in Perú, but don’t wait too long, between now and 3 years it takes of.
No, I am using my Paypal account to order goods online from ebay. I ordered stuff from Australia, HongKong, Floride US and even the UK. Hopefully nothing will get lost in the mail. You might wonder what would a person living in Tarapoto need. Well after fighting snails for two years I decided to order Slug killer form the UK.
Ruud