Skrill South Africa Review

Update: 31 May 2020

I have been getting a lot of reports from users about Skrill not allowing them to withdraw money.

You are allowed to deposit money using MasterCard but when you have to withdraw, the transaction is declined and they do not respond to any complaints.

This confirms that Skrill is not a trustworthy platform and you should avoid them or run the risk of losing your money.


With the availability of Skrill in South Africa, we looked into if it is a good option for an online payment gateway. Today we are getting more and more into online transacting. Whether you are buying products and services online or doing commercial transactions like selling goods or even selling shares, you need to be well-versed in at least a few payment processing systems.

Thanks to the internet, the whole world is your potential customer so processing global payments is important. For this we have companies like Skrill which you can use to send and receive payments from people around the world

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What is Skrill

Skrill is an online payment platform that is used to store and transfer money. It was originally known as Moneybookers, and was used for gambling sites and other similar platforms. They rebranded from Moneybookers to Skrill in 2011 and have been growing rapidly over the past few years. Since then, it has grown into a payment platform with more high profile partners that offer it as a withdrawing option.

They offer a mobile wallet and you can sign up for both individual services and commercial purposes (as a merchant). The platform is very popular with online trading platforms and many who trade in online investing, like forex trading for example, are familiar with Skrill.

Summary Review of Skrill

Skrill is an online payment gateway similar to PayPal and Payoneer. It offers the same basic services as similar payment gateways. It developed from being a payment processing system for high risk investments like gambling and trading, but has developed to include other products and services. The offering is marred by high transaction costs that make Skrill stack up less favourably against its competition.

How Skrill Works In South Africa

You can sign up for Skrill on the website, and set up an account as you would by providing your personal details and other particulars. Once your account is set up, you will have access to a wallet where you can store money that you get from merchants that support Skrill as a withdrawal option, or for direct payments.

In South Africa, Skrill works with 4 of the 5 big banks, with the exception being Capitec. You can save your bank account details and then send the money to your bank. With Absa, which I tested it on, you will receive a notification after payment is made. This will provide you with all the details you need to know how to have the money released into your account. Standard bank is the one bank where it is reported that the money is released without much processing.

Depending on your preferred withdrawal option, there are different processing times for Skrill withdrawals. For EFT, it takes up to 5 working days while for VISA withdrawals, it takes up to 7 days.

Might have problems with other banks. It works with no hitches on Standard Bank.

Related Article: How To Draw From Payoneer In South Africa

Fees

Where things go wrong with Skrill is in the fees that they charge for transactions. Skrill has excessively high fees for using them, which do not make sense if you compare against other players in the industry.

The transaction fees that you are charged for using the digital wallet are 1.9% + €0.29. There is also not a lot of clarity with the conversion process.

The chargeback fee is €25. The problem with this is that there is a long history of Skrill not working well with South African banks like FNB. Because the format of the transfer on Skrill did not match that of FNB, users have had chargebacks, where their money is returned when they are trying to draw. The terrible thing is that people got charged exorbitant fees while still not getting the funds withdrawn.

I drew $240 only to get R2230. At the current exchange rate, $240 is equal to around R3400 so that is a third of the value of money lost to charges. Another reported issue is if you get paid in pounds, it might mark those as euros at a 1:1 conversion so you lose on the conversion from pounds to euros.

There are no maintenance fees, you only have to pay for transactions. But this does not make up for the loss that you make on transaction fees compared to other payment processing platforms. When you transfer your money from your Skrill wallet to a bank account, you have to pay 4 euros.

If you are a merchant, there is a €0.49 fee for any returns that your customers make. The competition make if for free.

Pros

Compatibility with Payoneer – You can draw your money from Skrill to Payoneer. This is unlike PayPal where you cannot send money from competitors.

Having another option – In South Africa where banks are often restrictive in terms of compatibility with global technologies, it is good to have more options. You can compare the advantages and disadvantages of different platforms and use the one that best suits your needs at that instant.

Less restrictive on partnering – If you are a merchant, Skrill is much easier to partner with than with a company like PayPal for example. The also support partnerships in higher risk industries so many industries that don’t get support from PayPal can partner with Skrill.

Cons

Exorbitantly high fees – The fees are much higher than the competition. The services are the same as other payment platforms, there are no extra benefits to using Skrill. So if Payoneer or PayPal are supported for a platform you are trying to use, there is no reason to go with Skrill. If you are using it for online trading from South Africa, Neteller is an alternative offered by some of the popular online trading platforms.


Limited support with local banks – It does not work very well with most of the banks in South Africa. The only bank that supports it locally without complicated clearances at the current moment is Standard Bank.


Questionable reliability – History of failed withdrawals where users would draw money and it would not reach their account and instead be sent back to Skrill. In this case, you would still be charged the fees which means that you lose a substantial amount without even getting your money. Some reports of deposited money not reflecting in one’s account.

Why You Should Use Skrill

Skrill is frequently used by people who use online trading platforms, online casinos, and similar services. If you have a skrill account, you will be covered for many of those platforms since it has a good number of partners in that space. This will save you from having to have many different payment gateways when you use different platforms. In short, Skrill is good for that particular sector of the online economy.

Alternatives to Skrill

When you choose options it depends on what the person is paying you allows as a way to draw your money. If they offer other payment gateways like Payoneer, I would recommend choosing to use those instead. This is because it is much easier to get your money into your South African bank account from Payoneer. Also, if you are in a different country where no bank supports any of the payment gateways, Payoneer stands out because they give you a MasterCard debit card. That is something that you can use anywhere in the world because every country has a MasterCard ATM or swiping points.

 

Conclusion

Skrill is not a good option at all for an online payment processing solution. It offers nothing special compared to the competition but the fees that are associated with transacting are insanely high. The only way it would make sense is if you are receiving money from high risk investments, banking, or if there is no other option to get your money. I don’t know of any county where Payoneer is not supported yet and that is a better service than Skrill. The only exception is if the merchant you are getting the money from does not offer any viable alternative other than Skrill. For that reason, I recommend you rather create a Payoneer account instead and use that to receive your money.

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48 thoughts on “Skrill South Africa Review”

  1. Ive been trying to send skrill emails a out my withdrawals but they dnt answer me because it always decline but when i deposit money they take it very fast and without a hustle

    Reply
  2. Ive been trying to send skrill emails about my withdrawals but they dnt answer me because it always decline but when i deposit money they take it very fast and without a hustle when i want to make a withdrawal it decline

    Reply
  3. I use FNB, no hustles when depositing but when I tried withdrawing it kept reversing it back to my skrill account. Disappointing really, if withdrawals aren’t allowed so should deposits otherwise how do I now get my money back?!?!?

    Reply
  4. Deposited money on Skrill and was very easy but when I want to withdraw it keeps saying bank not supported, How do I resolve this problem as I need to withdraw my money.

    Reply
  5. ?Skrill is a scam, how come they accept my deposit with Mastercard while mone deposited by Mastercard is not accepted to pay anything.

    Worst of all no live chat emails are not acepted.

    Reply
    • The funny part is that, i tried to make a deposit, exceeded the money i have in my bank account, they called me immediately trying to assist me to proceed with my the deposit, but no one is assisting when i am trying to make withdrawals, another disgusting thing about skrill is that of charges, they charge you R900 for trying to withdraw R12000, charging R325 from sending 12k to other skrill user. I think this is the scam, they will feast on our money as we transfer from skrill to skrill until we have zilch balance.

      Reply
  6. I think FNB doesn’t support Skrill…they should block deposits as well because now our monies are stuck in these stupid platform…I wish I could send it to paypifnit was possible.

    Reply
  7. I thought i was the only one experiencing this.When depositing,its so flawless but im yet to find someone who has managed to withdraw or do anything with the funds they have deposited on skrill.In conclusion,Skrill is a scam and should be reported to the authorities.#SkillMustFall

    Reply
    • Guys if u have money on skrill you cant withdraw open up an account with Netteler then verify account.Once verified you log in to you Netteler account then go to deposit and enter skrill option.Once done it easier on Netteler to withdraw just add your bank details and it takes only 1-2 days for funds to appear but you have to have online banking to accept the funds from Netteler.FNB users…

      Reply
  8. Please add this update to the article.
    FNB does not support skrill, or neteller anymore.
    In fact most of their consultants doesnt have any clue about these e-wallets.

    Standard bank and absa still work, only on VISA for Skrill, and it works best if you have a cheque account.

    Reply
  9. Hi Guys, if you need assistance with withdrawing your money from Skrill contact Ansley 074 655 4296, he assisted me and I had my money in my Fnb account in 3days.

    Reply
  10. Skrill is bullshit, I don’t know why I researched after I put money on their platform. Nonsense, a pure Scam. Stay away from Skrill . R4800 stuck on the stupid account, they don’t support any of our local banks only STDBNK, meaning now you have to go open a visa at standard bank just to get your money. I’ve never seen such nonsense.

    Reply
    • Your money can be withdraw if you can send to another skriller who needs the funds Don’t try to withdraw to unsupported banks or cards use Skrill to Skrill option

      Reply
  11. Hey guys,

    I tried depositing money from my FNB cheque account to both Forex and gambling site.However , before I could send the money to these sites, theres an option on skrill that asks of the money of for gambling, etc.

    And if it is for gambling, the money will not go through.So I am really confused because how else must I send the money if the gambling site has given Skrill as one of the payment methods?

    Anyone have a loophole to this, or can you please let me know if you had a similar issue?

    Either way # Skrill Must Fall!
    #Skrill se Ma se poes!

    Reply
  12. I tried this but the very same Skrill says it can’t be withdrawn as it was deposited with a Mastercard and I’m damn stuck now .

    Reply
  13. I was a victim of one coin scam I was left in tears , for several months I couldnt get on with life properly after losing about 75k to this scammers, I rather do charity with it or buy some exotic pets rather than just dash it out but I got lucky when I was introduced to hack101 at they help get back all my funds from this guys .

    Reply
  14. Hi everyone. Im from south africa. I made a withdraw from skrill to my capitec bank card after verifying my account and it was paid out immediatly. The only thing is there is a small fee when withdrawing to bank card but it is the fastest

    Reply
  15. I’ve been using skrill over 6 years now. I have been through possibly every problem you can think of but I know the solutions. Mastercard deposits are almost impossible to withdraw unless you have standard bank Mastercard. FNB does not work very well but I’ve used it a few times I am with fnb atandard bank and discovery bank. I’ve found ways to withdraw and take out funds no matter how stuck they are. There’s fees from skrill but I have always been able to withdraw and take out my money. So if anyone does need help just message me on Instagram. I’ll show and guide you step by step or help. @rudy.nasdaq oh and by the way I’m a trader and I gamble and use it for payments so I’ve basically used and deposited via every method. So I have the experience and spoken to support so many times where I’m at a point where I know the troubleshoot fixes and answers.

    Reply

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