Payoneer South Africa: How To Set Up

Payoneer is one of the major global payments methods available in South Africa. You can use it to withdraw money into your local bank account, to an e-wallet, or to a debit card that you can order from Payoneer that you can use at ATMs or Point-of-Sale tills

Payoneer is fast becoming a contender on the world of online global payments. It was created in 2005 with a focus on opening US sites to vendors in developing nations. It is available in a lot of developing countries where PayPal is not available. You can use Payoneer to send and receive money from aboard.

Sign Up To Payoneer In South Africa

To sign up for Payoneer, head over to their website and click the sign up button. First decision is whether you will be opening an account as an individual or a company. If you are an individual you wil input your personal details such as your name and surname, email address and date of birth. In order to sign up for Payoneer you will need to be at least 18 years old.

Payoneer Landing Page

Personal Details

In the next step you will have to fill in your address details and phone number. You must use a phone number that you will remember because it will be used for verification in later stages.

Security Details

Next up you will need to set up security details. These are your passwords and security questions that you will have to answer to access your account in case you forget your details or are locked out. These questions are very important and they must be questions you can answer even in your sleep.

If you do business online business you can have thousands of dollars in your account and you must always ensure that you are able to access your account. It might even be a good idea to write the answers down and to put in a physical safe that you can access in case you forget. In the sign up process, you will only be requested to create one security question, but you will need three in total to start using Payoneer.

Setting Up Banking Details

The final step will be to set up your account details. This will serve to link your Payoneer account to the local bank account that you will draw your money to. Your personal details you should naturally have access to. If you are new to global payments you might be unfamiliar with SWIFT code which is always necessary for direct deposits from abroad.

Each of the different banks have a SWIFT code that all the users use. You can simply google the SWIFT account of your bank accordingly. At this time, the SWIFT codes for the different South African banks are as follows.

  • FNB: FIRNZAJJ
  • Nedbank: NEDSZAJJ
  • Absa: ABSAZAJJ
  • Standard Bank: SBZAZAJJ
  • Capitec: CABLZAJJ

Once you have input your banking information, your application is completed and will undergo a review process. You will receive notification to tell you that you have completed the application successfully. You will also receive an email for account verification.

How To Start An Online Business

Account Verification

To verify your Payoneer account, all you have to do is open the email and then click the link, and your account is verified.

You can now login to Payoneer. On your first login, you will be required to create two additional security questions, as mentioned earlier. Once this is done, you can access Payoneer and when is your account is reviewed (which takes a few business days) you will receive an update and be able to transact.

Payoneer Interface

Withdrawing Money Locally

Most online business owners and freelancers will be interested in how to withdraw money from Payoneer. Once you have received money from an overseas benefactor, you can either have it paid to your bank account or to a Payoneer debit card.

Can I Use The Payoneer Card In South Africa?

The Payoneer card is a MasterCard Debit Card which means that it can be used at local ATMs or tills. Once you have set up your Payoneer account you can order the debit card, which will take about two weeks to be delivered to you.

Why Do I Need Payoneer?

Online earning is diverse and you will often earn money from different sources such as affiliate marketing programmes and freelancing gigs. Different sources will offer different payment methods so you are likely to run into the need for each one of the major payment platforms.

The biggest affiliate programme in the world is Amazon. If you want to make money through amazon affiliate marketing from outside of the US in countries such as South Africa, you will be payed out through Payoneer.  That is if want to use a global payment system rather than a mailed cheque. ClickBank, which is one of the biggest affiliate networks in the world, pays through Payooner. One of the biggest paid survey platforms, ClixSense, also uses Payoneer as the main payment method for people outside of the US.

121 thoughts on “Payoneer South Africa: How To Set Up”

  1. hi i received my payoneer card . now i want to know how i can deposit money/link my card with my bank in order to pay online. please reply its urgent. im in south africa

    Reply
    • Hi Mohamed. Payoneer is a great alternative to PayPal. It’s great because you don’t necessarily have to create a FNB Profile and you also don’t have to wait more than a week like when you withdraw from PayPal. I highly recommend signing up. The process is covered pretty well in this article but let me know if you have any point you’re stuck on.

      Reply
  2. Does Payoneer offer an online payment method if I need to refund a customer overseas, that does not have a Payoneer account?

    Reply
    • Hello Stan,

      You can’t do direct transfers with Payoneer. You can only send the money from one Payoneer account to another, or withdraw the money to a bank account that is linked to your Payoneer account.
      It’s the same with other global payment systems like PayPal.

      Reply
      • Hi can i link any bank account in South Africa to my Payoneer account, I mean from any bank and any type of account, even a savings account?

        Reply
        • Yes. Savings/Cheque account doesn’t make a difference. Although some people did have issues with Capitec, but I have never heard anyone having issues with any of the other main banks.

          Reply
  3. Hey, I am trying to use Payoneer to set up my Kindle Direct Publishing account but I am having difficulties with the process. I have my FNB account approved. How do I continue? Thank You

    Reply
      • I have been requesting a letter of confirmation from Payoneer for weeks. No response. Clickbank needs this to register on their system. There is no alternative to contact them. All I have is a customer number and I have complied wity all the requirements. Help please.

        Reply
      • I’m trying to change the number I use to receive my authentication code but it’s not going through. Won’t let me login to my account cos I don’t have access to the number anymore. What can I do?

        Reply
  4. Hey guys,

    Does anyone have a direct contact number for a South African office or individual?
    I have been waiting for close on two weeks and just get their automated responses via email and messaging services.

    I have stalled my rollout as they originally said 3 working days for account details. (Its been close to 10 days now) I have no outstanding document submissions etc

    Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
    Regards
    Duncan

    Reply
    • Hi Duncan. There is no South African office. If you already tried contacting support through the messaging function, your only other option I can see is to call the “Outside the U.S.” phone number under “Contact Us”.

      Reply
      • Hi Greg, I’m surprised that you haven’t mentioned the higher charges that Payoneer has compared to others. $3 set rate for every transactional fee.

        The amount you can withdraw seems to vary between users though.

        “The amount you can withdraw depends on the following:
        Your available balance
        Your minimum withdrawal amount per transaction
        These details are unique to each Payoneer user and are clearly displayed beneath the withdrawal amount field.”

        From their, FAQ…this is a non-answer to me, because I want to know beforehand, all the information.

        Also, they have the right to charge you for inactivity or “maintaining a zero balance” in your account. Some people like me might not cash out like Ysense for instance only allows you to cashout to Payoneer once you have accumulated $50. For a new person, they will not really to get $50 within a month doing surveys.

        Payoneer seems worthwhile for a business or a big team with a much bigger amount of money, not an individual who is freelancing.

        Reply
        • Hi Ryan. Thanks a lot for the comments. A lot of good points too.

          I wrote this post over 2 years ago and a lot of things have changed since then. Since things change often, I don’t delve into those specifics as I would have to keep updating the post in perpetuity. This post is mainly to help people to get set up, and help with things I struggled a bit with since there were no local sources available when I was looking. I do however, always respond to questions and link to relevant sources to help when someone gets stuck (which always requires me to redo the research), as you can see above.

          I totally agree with you about Payoneer not being worthwhile in many instances. It is just an option to add to your bag. With regard to YSense, when I wrote the post (it was still called ClixSense then), it was the only option for getting paid so there was no room for comparison. With Airbnb and Amazon Associates, it’s still the only way to get paid so it’s good that we have that option.

          Reply
          • Thanks for replying back bud, I appreciate it. I do understand that it was a few years ago that the article was written. Would you consider writing an updated article for work from home sites for 2020? I am unemployed and really need the cash. Thanks to one of your articles I am trying to find various ways to make some but want to delve in the wealthy affiliate program when I can afford it.

    • So, for what it’s worth, I just came across the $5000 requirement in Payoneer. This is for requesting a payment, which is a different transaction to withdrawing. Requesting a payment sound like a pull transaction. So if you are a merchant and need to execute one, you need to first receive $5000.

      But if someone is sending you money (like Amazon or AirBnB), there shouldn’t be any issue. I started receiving money from Amazon with $0 in my account.

      Reply
  5. What does the payoneer debit card cost in South Africa and can i transfer money from paypall to payoneer in order to transfer from payoneer to my capitec account? I want to avoid the whole FNB online profile thing?

    Thank you.

    Reply
    • Hello Shané
      I signed up for payoneer quite a long time ago so I couldn’t tell you what the cost is now.
      For the record, Payoneer doesn’t use FNB for withdrawal so what you mention above isn’t an issue. You can withdraw from Payoneer to your Capitec account. The article above has a link to my article on how to withdraw. Just check what the fees are before you withdraw. I limit the number of time I withdraw and only make large withdrawals to avoid fees.
      Lastly, there you can’t send money between PayPal and Payoneer.

      Does that answer all your questions?

      Reply
  6. Hi guys
    I’ve opened an individual Payoneer account and it’s approved but the problem now is in order for Payoneer to process my payments successfully I need to provide more information about my business … I’m confused

    Please assist

    Reply
  7. Hi Greg
    I have locked myself out of my account which had the final set up to do i.e banking details. I am an Indie author and go through Amazon. I found out that FNB is not accepted by payoneer so would you suggest I open an account at Nedbank or Standard in South Africa. It has been so frustrating as my books are just about ready to go to Amazon I have someone helping me do this. I sent an email to tell them I was locked and I needed to reset my password but I have heard nothing

    Reply
    • Hi D’Leane. Please forgive the late response. I’m not getting notifications for comments for some reason so I only saw this now. Where did you hear that FNB is not accepted by Payoneer? I am signed up to Payoneer with an FNB account. If you are locked out, have you tried the “Forgot Password” link? That should allow you to reset your password and you only need your email address for them to send you the reset link.

      Reply
    • Yes Victor. You can withdraw from Payoneer from basically anywhere in the world. There is also the option of ordering a Payoneer card and using it at any MasterCard compatible ATM.

      Reply
  8. Hi Greg. I just wanted to commend you for your selflessness in assisting so many people with their Payoneer questions. I don’t have a question for you (am just researching alternatives to CrapPal ?) but I just want to you to know that your assistance and dedication is greatly appreciated. If only more people on the world would be so kind, the world would really be a much better place. Keep paying it forward (I know I will).

    Reply
    • Hi Pam. Thank you so much for the kind words and I’m glad you found this helpful. To be honest, it’s not all altruistic. The website is part of my business and I do derive material benefit from it. I do, however, strive to be as helpful as I can on all my online channels and comments like yours are their own reward.

      Reply
        • Hi Jennifer. Just search “how to set up Payoneer” in YouTube and you will find plenty. I recorded one when I wrote the article but YouTube editing is too much work so I left it. 😅

          Reply
  9. Hi, I have recently signed up for a Payoneer account, I would like to find out when I withdraw money from my USD Payoneer account to my local bank which is Capitec bank, will the funds be converted and paid to me in my currency which is ZAR?

    Reply
  10. I have been battling for weeks to get a letter of confirmation from Payoneer to say that I have opened my account. Clickbank needs this in order for me to start trading.
    It shows my account number etc. on the letter
    All I can get when I open my account is my customer number.
    Please help.
    Desperate.
    Keith Munnik
    Payneer does nit even reply to me several requsests,#.

    Reply
  11. Hello Greg,
    please i want to know the cost of the debit card for the payoneer account because i intent withdrawing my money from an ATM or sale till. secondly how long does it take to receive the debit card?

    Reply
  12. Hi i am trying to register on the sa amazon but dont seem to get it right. I also tried to place an order foe a poly gel nail kit but it told me there is a problem with either my order or delivery adress. Can you assist

    Reply
    • Hi Engela. As I responded in the previous comment, there is no SA Amazon store. You have to use Aramex and their address. It’s all explained in the article.

      Reply
    • Help me understand something. Is this for the setup process of for withdrawal? For the setup I don’t think there was a requirement for a routing number, just a SWIFT code.

      Reply
  13. Hi Grep, please help. I would like to withdrw fujds from my payoneer to my bank account in SA. Does payoneer use FNB or CAPITEC. How do i go about the process.

    Reply
  14. Hi Greg

    I am new to Payoneer. I set up an account as I teach English online and my company uses Payoneer to pay employees. The company I work for says I need to request a payment in order to get paid. I tried to do this, but I am quite confused. My employment does not fall into any of the categories they provide. It then takes me to a page which explains additional ways to get paid by using Global Payment Service. From what I understand, money gets transferred into a foreign bank account. I am not in favor of this option, I am worried about high fees. Could you please provide some help on how to request payments on Payoneer as an online English teacher? I would greatly appreciate your help. Thank you so much.

    Reply
  15. Hello, I tried to set up an account and got no further at the BIC Code of my Standard Bank. May be I should ask a question first.
    I sell occasionally goods to overseas, but mainly locally. With Overseas, not I but also the seller is safeguarded in the PayPal scheme, i. e. the money is only transferred to me when I send the DHL Waybill to the client. I would like to do the same her for my SA customers. I am using The Courier Guy for safe transport and would like for the buyer to have the assurance about his pre-payed amount.
    Can you help please? I suppose I can find out the BIC Code from my bank?

    Reply
  16. Hi. This was very helpful. I’m honoring you are able to assist with a query on withdrawing funds. Which of the following methods would be the most cost effective to withdraw for an online teacher. Payoneer, PayPal it direct bank swift deposit. Thank you so much!

    Reply
    • It depends. If you want to make frequent withdrawals of smaller amounts, then probably PayPal.
      SWIFT is not good for small amounts as you are charged a minimum of R150 for any deposit you receive.
      Payoneer is good because you don’t have to have an FNB linked online profile to withdraw. But you are essentially receiving the money into Payoneer and doing SWIFT transactions yourself so the costs are high because of that.

      Reply
  17. Hi Greg. Wondering if you could offer any assistance.

    We are developing a online platform for anyone to teacg their skills, around the world and in any language. We launching in October 2020.

    WE want to offer payoneer as a payment method for students and a withdrawal method for teachers.

    What is the best way to do this, do we need a payment gateway to connect payoneer? We were told by our indian developers to intergrate 2Checkout and then to connect paypal. Is this the right method? I await your responce. Very eagerly 🙂

    Reply
  18. I have send numerous e-mails to support with no response. My online teaching company paid into my Payoneer account. The problem is that the status on my Payoneer side is PENDING for almost 10 days.What cna I do? My bank is ABSA.
    Thanks

    Reply
  19. Your website says i have a registered account? I never registered for one. My correct email was used but i assure you today is the only day i learned about Payoneer and decided to register. How do we find out wats going on n if this is identity theft?

    Reply
  20. Hi Greg. I love what you doing, good job with that!

    My question: I require international payments from the US, do I need my tax number for Payoneer? Will I be able to sign up and use my account without creating an FNB online account? There was so much hassle with that. Is there any other info you can give me please send it my way via email if possible. I’d love to have a chat with you, I would actually offer you my service free of charge as a thank you (I’m In IT)

    Reply
    • Hi Zain. If it’s not mentioned in the article, you don’t need it. The FNB thing only applies to PayPal.
      You can contact me at admin@onlinebusinessguide.co.za if you want to hit me up privately
      Leave a comment here if you email me and don’t hear back from me because I sometimes don’t get notifications for email but I do always get them for comments.

      Reply
  21. Hi Greg,

    Thanks for this enlightenment. I applied and got approval for a Payoneer account this week and want to confirm if I can make withdrawals directly to my FNB cheque account. I checked to confirm at two FNB branches and the staff seems not to know anything about Payoneer. Is it safe to go ahead and make deposits into my Payoneer account? Will I be able to transfer such a deposit to my FNB account? I’d really appreciate the feedback.

    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Hi Paul. Yes you can withdraw to your FNB account. I use FNB as well. You will just have to set it up as the account that you withdraw to. Just make sure that you understand the charges. Because Payoneer charges are higher than PayPal, for example, I tend to restrict my withdrawals to bigger amounts. Here is the link for the fees. https://www.payoneer.com/about/fees/

      Reply
      • Thanks Chief, I sent you an email. Any chance we could communicate further through that channel as I have a few more personal questions?

        Reply
        • Sure. Send an email and I will respond. There is an issue with my email and I don’t get notifications. Give me a heads up here once you have sent the email and I will check it.

          Reply
          • Hi Chief,
            I’ve made a withdrawal to FNB since Monday 2nd November morning and it hasn’t reflected. How do you advise I go about it as it shows “transaction completed” on Payoneer? Thanks, bro!

  22. Hi Greg
    I have to set up a Payoneer account for a South african based non-profit museum bookshop to enable the selling of its books via Amazon.com. Must the setting-up be done from the PC, email address and phone number of the non-profit museum bookshop (not finalised yet* – see below) or can I use my own computer for setting up the Payoneer account – giving, of course, the bookshop’s details?
    I’m performing the secretarial duties for the museum bookshop.
    When set up the email address and web address of the nuseum bookshop will be:
    http://www.huguenotmuseum.org.za (registered but not yet active) & inf@huguenotmuseum.org.za (already active)

    Many thanks & regards
    Gabriel

    Reply
    • Hi Gabriel. Excuse the late response.

      How you set it up is your choice (or the choice of the museum bookshop). If I am pressed for an answer, I will say use the email and phone number of whoever the bank account you withdraw to belongs to, whether that be you or the non-profit.

      If you are the only person who will be managing the business and accounts (e.g. a sole director), you can do it any which way that pleases you. All funds earned through my business go through my personal account since that is how I set it up when I first created a Payoneer account and I am the only person involved in running my business.

      But if you have to report to other parties, administratively, it is better if transactions remain through relevant accounts.

      Reply
  23. Hi Greg,

    I’m struggling with my mobile number number to sign up to clickbank.

    Got the info from payoneer, it ain’t working.
    Please help

    Reply
  24. Thanks for this information Greg. I am very much excited as this article has responded to the question I asked in your other article about Amazon. In that article I asked whether Clickbank does work with Payoneer, this article just gave me the answer.

    Reply
  25. Hi Greg I have set up a click bank account and a payoneer acount but now clickbank is not accepting my payoneer details once i enter all the payoneer details such as account no..routing..and so on …once i try save it ..it defaults back to check

    Reply
  26. Hi Greg, I’ve set up a pioneer account but they say I need to submit a tax form. Please assist with which tax form do I need

    Reply
    • Hi Nthabiseng. You don’t need to submit a tax form. I have been using Payoneer for years and never submitted anything of the sort. What were you doing where it said that you needed a tax form?

      Reply
  27. Hi. I am attempting to register an ABSA account in which to receive my money from Payoneer. My account number is 12 numbers long, yet the number spaces on the Payoneer website only allow for 11 numbers. As a result, I left out the last number of my bank account number. Is this going to affect me getting my money in my bank account? Is it possible my money could land up in somebody else’s account?

    Reply
    • Yeah, something is definitely wrong there. You must input your number in full. You will have to ask Absa what the deal is. The Absa account numbers I know of are 10 digits and FNB is 11 digits. This is the first time I hear of 12 numbers.

      Reply
  28. Hello

    I am trying to apply to be a merch by Amazon contributer and I have signed up with Payoneer.

    When applying, what country should I say I am from and what do I fill in when they ask for banking details?

    Thank you in advance for the help.
    Craig

    Reply
    • Last time I checked, there was no drop down for South Africa when setting up in Amazon. If that’s still the case, you will choose USA and use your USD checking account that Payoneer gives you to fill in the details.

      Reply
  29. Hi Greg

    I created my Payoneer account and have received 47.38 dollars in it. I have linked my Standard bank account and am trying to withdraw the amount. It is telling me this is below the minimum amount for withdrawal. Do you know what the minimum is for Standard bank

    Reply
  30. I registered.my fnb and capitec accounts with payoneer, sent money 2 both FNB funds arrived still waiting on Capitec, is it normal to wait longer than 3 days for funds?

    Reply
  31. Hi Greg. Please help, i would like to know if the SARB form i have to fill from exchange4free is legit and that its not a scam. Will i receive my money if i sign it?

    Reply
    • Hi. If you are asking about Exchange4free yes, they are legit. They have an agreement with Payoneer and your money has to go through them first before it is sent to you. They called you after you withdrew the money from Payoneer, right?

      Reply
  32. Hi Greg

    How do i link my Payoneer account with my clickbank account.Then where do i find my Payoneer bank account details for an individual so that i can link it to clickbank

    Reply
    • You don’t link your Payoneer account with anything other than your bank account for withdrawal purposes. In your Payoneer dashboard there are three checking accounts. One for USD, one for GBP and another for JPY. Each of those has is own account details. You use those checking account details just as you would your own banking details for wherever you want to receive payment from (Clickbank in this case).

      Reply
  33. I opened a Payoneer account today – but got an email message saying that I already have a Payoneer account – Yet, I never had one??

    Their support sucks – still waiting for a reply?

    Reply
    • Hi Leonie please let me know if you were able to add your bank account because the only option available is Absa, there’s no other banks on the list.

      Reply
  34. Hi Greg I urgently need assistance with adding my bank account however on the available list of banks to choose from, it only shows Absa. Do you know if there’s something wrong with the website or what can I do to add a bank account other than Absa. cherozade@gmail.com

    Reply
  35. Hi, I am currently trying to create a Payoneer account I live in South Africa. When I’ve filled in all my info I get to last page that asks for for my S.A bank info when I try and find my bank, which is Nedbank it doesn’t give me an option it just gives me Absa…can anyone assist please

    Reply
  36. Hi Greg,

    I am a South African citizen resident in SA. I have a UK based (Pound sterling) bank account. Is it possible to do the following:

    1) as a South African resident to specify a UK based bank account during the Payoneer registration process?
    2) to withdraw funds from my Payoneer account to my UK based bank account?
    3) to receive GBP currency to my Payoneer account without it being converted to any other currency?

    I would be so appreciative for your response.

    Thank you.

    Reply
    • Yes you can do all of that. By default, Payoneer give you 4 wallets, for USD, EUR, GBP and JPY. So you would have to be paid by someone who is paying in GBP for it to go into the GBP wallet, therefore requiring no currency conversion.

      Reply
  37. Hi Greg, thanks for writing the article, it is very useful.

    I want to get paid from Clickbank, but I do not see USD as an option. Do you have any advice for me?

    Reply
    • You don’t need a Payoneer card. Just set up withdrawal to your bank account and then transact digitally like you normally would.

      Reply

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