I will be showing you how to withdraw money from PayPal to South Africa using the FNB online profile in this article.
PayPal is the world’s most popular global payment system. It has been in South Africa since 2011 and it allows us to receive money from abroad without worrying about putting sensitive personal information like credit card details at risk on internet transactions.
In South Africa, PayPal has an agreement with FNB and if you want to draw money from PayPal to South Africa, you can only do so through an FNB Profile.
Fortunately, you don’t need to be a client of FNB to create an FNB online profile. Clients of Nedbank, Absa, Capitec and Standard Bank can also create an FNB online profile and withdraw money from PayPal
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What You Need To Withdraw Money From PayPal To South Africa
To use PayPal in South Africa you will need the 2 things:
- A verified PayPal Account
- An FNB Online Profile
To verify PayPal account, you need to link it to your FNB profile. See our guide on how to link PayPal to FNB
How To Withdraw Money From PayPal To South Africa
Step 1: Login To FNB PayPal Portal
First thing you do is log into your FNB account.
Once you are in the home screen, choose Forex.
This will bring you to a menu with 5 options, one of which is PayPal Service. The layout may look different depending on whether you are on a phone or a desktop. Press PayPal service.
Under the PayPal Services page you will see the different options that you have under PayPal. This is where it can get a little confusing. You can’t click on any of these options. Instead, you have to press the menu tab on the left of the screen. This is the part that is a bit tricky because the menu is placed in an unintuitive place. A lot of people often get stuck here so we have indicated it clearly with the below picture.
Step 2: Grant FNB Permission (Might be optional)
If it’s your first time using PayPal, you might first have to give FNB permission to withdraw money from your PayPal account. You might not have to do this, but when I initially wanted to withdraw, FNB wouldn’t give me the option to withdraw. Allowing access to my PayPal balance then seemed to fix the problem.
To do this, click on “Grant” under PayPal Settings.
This brings up a page that says that you give FNB permission to access your information and that you agree to their terms and conditions when using the platform for PayPal withdrawals. You must check the two boxes and then click Grant on the orange button at the bottom right corner of the screen.
This will create a pop-up screen. If your browser is configured to prevent pop up windows, you just have to allow the pop up. In my case, I just have to go to that yellow tab at the top of the screen, click on options, and then allow. This will allow me to log in to PayPal from my the FNB online platform.
Enter your PayPal login details to log into your PayPal Account.
You will see a message that says that FNB is asking for permission to see your account balance. Give your permission by clicking the Grant Permission button.
Once permission is granted to FNB, you can click Finish at the bottom right of the screen.
If at any point, you don’t want FNB to have access to your bank balance anymore, you can go back that menu. Instead of having Grant, there will be an option to revoke the permission that you have given to FNB to access your bank balance.
Step 3: Withdraw From PayPal
From there, you can go back to the PayPal Services menu and then click Withdraw From PayPal.
In the next step, you will have to choose how much money you want to withdraw. The money that is in your PayPal account is written here as a US Dollar balance. You have to first choose the account that you want to withdraw the money to, the amount you are drawing (in USD) and the reason that you are withdrawing the money for. There is a long list of options and if you are not sure, you must just pick the one that is closest to your reason for drawing.
The reason they ask you to state the reason is for tax reporting purposes. When you draw money from PayPal, FNB will report all transactions to SARS and if you earn beyond the tax threshold, you will have to pay tax on earnings received from abroad.
When I draw money it’s usually for online work that I have done so I usually choose 266 – Proceeds for Services. When you have filled in this info, you can then get your quote by pressing the Get Quote button at the bottom right of the screen.
Step 4: Confirm Transaction
In the next page you will receive your quote and it will tell you the exchange rate, at which FNB will do the transaction for you. From my experience, the exchange rate will always be a bit lower than what the current exchange rate is on other exchanges so don’t be surprised by this.
There after, you have to accept the quote to confirm the transaction and confirm that your details are correct.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How Do I Withdraw from PayPal to Nedbank?
You can withdraw from PayPal whether you are a client with FNB, Absa, Standard Bank or Capitec. You just need to create an FNB online profile app. You don’t need to be an FNB client to create an FNB online profile. Just go to www.fnb.co.za and register as a non-FNB customer.
Can I Withdraw From PayPal to FNB Card?
No. You can’t with draw from PayPal to your bank card. You have to withdraw the money from PayPal to your FNB account using the FNB online banking platform. This takes about 8 days. Once the money is in your FNB bank account, you can withdraw as you would normally.
Can I link From PayPal To FNB on my Cell Phone?
No. You
have to do conduct FNB to PayPal transaction from a computer (desktop
or laptop). There is no option to link PayPal in the app and,
unfortunately, if you log on to the website from your phone through a browser it will still give you the app menu.
How Long Until The Money Is In My Account?
After you confirm the transaction, you are done and the transaction will be submitted to FNB for processing. From my experience, it usually takes about 8 days for the money to reach my account. Once the money is in your account, you will receive a notification from FNB that the money has been deposited.
Some rules when using PayPal in South Africa
When your PayPal account is verified through FNB, the use of the PayPal account is subject to FNB’s terms and conditions.
- If money that you are receiving from PayPal is a payment, that money is subject to tax if you are younger than 65 and above the tax threshold of R79,000 per year (R122,300 if you are older than 65). This means that you will have to file an IRP6 tax return on whatever money you earn from abroad. If you earn less than R79,000 you fall below the tax threshold and don’t have to pay tax on any money you receive.
- When you receive money into your PayPal account, you are not allowed to conduct any transactions other than withdrawing it. So for example, you cannot use your money in your PayPal account to buy something online. If you want to pay for something using PayPal, you have to withdraw the money from PayPal, and then top up your PayPal account with money to pay.