We are living in a digital era where jobs and businesses are no more confined to our own country. Small and large businesses have risen above the border restrictions. They are spreading their wings globally. Therefore, Payoneer has entered the picture. It’s a hassle-free payment platform that allows users to send and receive money worldwide. It’s handy and serves you wherever you live.
Is it worth it? Let’s find out how it serves you and where it’s lacking in performance so you can make a final decision.
Payoneer has provided a super solution that we didn’t even know we needed. Its network is spread across many industries including Upwork, Airbnb, Wish, Getty Images, and Fiverr. It seems well-equipped to successfully bridge the gap between various countries. Now freelancers have another option to receive money from foreign employers.
Once registered, he/she can enjoy automatic money transfers to their local bank account within 24 hours. Requesting payment from international clients has never been easier. Although PayPal, the top competitor of Payoneer, is still leading the race. Top reasons include price difference. Payoneer is working its way into the market well enough considering it’s still young in the business.
Let’s see how it works.
Operation is easy. Here’s a step by step guide for you:
Payoneer Sing-in Page
Sign in to your Payoneer account
Click on ‘request a payment’
Select the payer from your list of contacts
Enter your personal (name, email) and payment details (currency, amount)
Quickly attach all the payment documents and work samples
Preview if you want.
And DONE.
A link will be sent to the client on your behalf. When they click on the “Pay Now” link, they’ll be redirected instantly to their Payoneer platform and can send you the money.
The most difficult task for Payoneer is obviously outdoing PayPal, which has been in the market for much longer time. It all comes down to the user experience though. If the app satisfies the users, more downloads will follow.
Payoneer Customers
Top Features of Payoneer
1. Easy onboarding: You can set up a Payoneer account direct from the website and it’s free. Since credit card is unacceptable, there’s no underwriting process.
2. Local Currency account: Changing currencies is a tricky task but Payoneer lets you wash your hands off it. You’ll just receive money in your local currency.
3. Marketplace Network: Its network has spread to almost all popular marketplaces and it’s constantly growing. So, you can always use the same app no matter which industry you work in.
Payoneer – Pros
Hassle-free money transfer
Extremely beneficial for freelancers and contract workers. The freelance market is growing and global transactions are necessary. You’ll need this so you can focus on your work only and not the payment hassle.
You can increase your reach to the international market without worrying about the currency exchange.
Payoneer – Cons
The cost of exchanging is higher as compared to some top competitors.
Payoneer is an online money transferring app that lets you send and receive money from foreign clients and automatically converts currency to your local one when a transaction is made.
Does Payoneer work in India?
Yes, Payoneer was banned by RBI earlier but is now functional again in India.
Is it free to register on Payoneer?
Yes, Registration is free on Payoneer.
Final Words
Freelancers and contract workers will dominate many service industries in a few years. Sign up today and open doors to the international market. Become a part of this top payment app that allows super-fast money transfer at a low cost.
As of today, 160 million unique digital payments users are found just in India, which accounts for about 13% of the population. In European countries, the percentage is as high as 68%. The pandemic has further boosted the use of digital payments. This triggers a question, that being, “Which is the best suited platform for digital transactions?”
Here, we are going to discuss and compare two digital payments platforms, namely Instamojo and Razorpay, both of which were founded in India, with a difference of 1 year. Although the primary difference in the interface one would notice, is that while Instamojo is more of a payment processor and uses payment gateway in the back-end, Razorpay is in itself a proficient payment gateway with a plethora of other options such as payment links and webhooks, there are many other factors which draw the line.
Founded in 2012 and based in Bengaluru, Instamojo is a convenient and adaptable payment gateway solution, which seamlessly integrates with websites through the use of feasible APIs. When it comes to online payments, the user usually looks for security, transaction speed, and transparency. Instamojo has all of these to offer and more.
Instamojo has an excellent pricing model compared to its counterparts. With a freemium approach, the its basic services come free of cost, while the more advanced features are priced.
It also offers management of gift cards for a positive customer experience.
Instamojo also has an efficient fraud protection algorithm to prevent unnecessary revenue losses.
Cons of using Instamojo:
Instamojo doesn’t work for you if you are a freelancer. It is specifically built to cater to the needs of small to large enterprises.
There is no subscription based plan like Razorpay.
Instamojo has a relatively limited availability, and is not available on WinPhone, IOS or Macintosh.
The interface is designed in such a way that the user has the convenience to provide payment links on their website, add pay buttons with integrated payment gateways. Instamojo is a multi-channel payments collection, encompassing some great amenities such as effortless checkout and payment links. Through the use of payment APIs, platform plugins and webhooks, Instamojo integrations with a website or a stack has never been easier. Along with that, its Android SDK enables payment through applications through Android integrations.
Features offered by Instamojo:
Instamojo free version
Instamojo premium version
Payment gateway available
Payment gateway available
Transaction fee is 5% + 3
Transaction fee is 2% +3
Allows 1 picture for each product
Allows 10 pictures for each product
No offers or discounts
Offers, coupons, discounts and gift cards
All the mentioned payment methods come with payment analytics and a post payment customizable experience, which makes the experience of both, the user and the customer, an inordinate one.
The analytics feature that Instamojo has to offer is no less than the payment aspect. It offers analysis and overall rundown of the sales performance which not only helps manage payments, but also offers insights as to where and in what domain the strong suite lies. It also allows you to Geo-navigate your customer base and engagement with real time performance comparison as well as gives a detailed look on the payments through an organized and user-friendly dashboard. Also, even if the payment fails, Instamojo adds it as a lead as well as allows you to communicate with your potential customers to make their experience a bit more personalized.
Instamojo is more than just a payment gateway. Instamojo provides complete business solutions right from business capital requirements shipping & logistics.
Instamojo offers a suite of products to help businesses grow. The business solutions are as follows :
mojoCommerce: mojoCommerce is a free online store, you can sell your physical and digital goods through the platform.
Smart Links: Smart payment links can be created with the help of Instamojo smart links. These smart links help to make payments faster and collect customer data.
Instamojo App Store: As a business, you can connect your favorite apps with Instamojo through the Instamojo app store.
mojoCapital: mojoCapitals allows people to simplify and resolve their business cash flow requirements and capital requirements.
mojoXpress: mojoXpress provides delivery services for businesses. It delivers to more than 12000 pin codes in India.Instamojo for Developers: Simple Payment APIs and Plugins to integrate into websites or mobile apps.
Razorpay
Razorpay was founded in 2013 and is based in Bengaluru as well, with the current serving CEO, Harshil Mathur since 2014. One of the first few things that crosses your mind when it comes to a successful payment application is its user base, because that is what reflects its reputation and usage. That is exactly where Razorpay excels; with a market of more than 8,00,000 users, Razorpay flaunts an interactive interface with features such a automated receipts and custom payment pages.
With a payment gateway that supports Credit/Debit cards, Netbanking with over 50 banks, UPI and various mobile wallets, Razorpay has a plethora of payment modes which make it customer friendly and accounts for a greater transaction number due to the availability and variety of payment methods. Its powerful and interactive dashboard offers in-depth analysis and statistics on payments, invoices, and refunds making it easy to use. Also the real-time stats help user in strategic and performance based decisions and generate custom reports.
Features offered by Razorpay:
Razorpay Standard features
Razorpay Enterprise features
Designed for small and medium business
Designed for big enterprises
Transaction charges 2-3%
Custom pricing for business needs
Support via email and call
Offers 24/7 priority support
Complete online activation
Online activation within 24 hours
Many a times, a customer is retained by the ease of interface and transaction if you have an online marketplace. Razorpay offers seamless and android integrable SDKs(one of the lightest there is, with about just over 200KB) with features such as auto update and auto fill OTP, which helps provide customers, the best experience. Thirdwatch, a subsidiary of Razorpay, helps you track fraud customers and recognize non deliverable addresses, saving users from unnecessary revenue loss. It is an AI based engine which recognizes and flags the high risk addresses with a red and low risk ones with green color, which is quite convenient, to say the least.
Built for all MSMEs and caters to individuals as well
Does not support individuals and/or freelancers; only enterprise support
Does not offer SSL support making it less sequre
Secured through Secured Sockets Layer(SSL)
Razorpay Pricing for MasterCard, Debit Card, Visa and net banking is 2%
Pricing for MasterCard, Debit Card, Visa and net banking is 2% + INR 3 and 5% for digital goods
Offers mobile optimization on standard and enterprise version
Does not permit mobile optimization
Permits recurring payments
Does not allow recurring payments
Auto-update feature updates the application with every new mobile wallet update to hit the market
No auto-updating available for mobile wallets
Failed payments are not handled as well
Failed payments are altered into leads and are organised
Does not allow personalised customer interaction
Allows a more personal interaction with customer
Conclusion
To say, one works better than the other would be quite unjust, since both of these applications excel at user specific areas. While Instamojo charges a little more than Razorpay, it also offers SSL security. Moreover, while Razorpay offers mobile optimization for both of its versions, Instamojo gives away gift cards for better customer service. An apt comparison would be that Razorpay can be used for even individual business and freelancing purposes, on the contrary, Instamojo could be slightly more suited to bigger enterprises which demand security.
Digital payment is a way of performing payments without the use of digital currency. It is also known as electronic payment. In digital payments, both payer and payee rely on digital modes to send and receive money.
In today’s digital era, our dependency on smartphones exceeds the wildest possibilities. Millennials eat, live, and breathe smartphones. In fact, the use of wallets has declined ever since mobile phones started supporting e-wallets. Carrying change and holding debit cards has become a fad of the past. Digital payments have been ingrained in the way people perform transactions today.
The digital payments service sector is growing big, and top tech firms are coming up with innovative payment services of their own. Amazon with amazon pay, Ola money, Apple’s Apple pay and Google with Google Pay are amongst the latest offerings. The emergence of mobile wallets wasn’t an overnight phenomenon. Peter Thiel and Elon Musk’s PayPal was an early initiative. It paved way for several others.
India is not far away in terms of cashless economy; homegrown apps like Paytm and PhonePe are now facilitating payments for millions of Indians. Paytm launched the first active digital payment services in India. It was launched in August 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma and was no less than a disruption. Around 130 million people use Paytm services in India. Facebook recently announced Facebook Pay which will be available on Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook.
Cryptocurrency, a digital asset, is being touted as the next step in digital payment services. Facebook has taken a step in this direction. Libra is Facebook’s cryptocurrency. Mark Zuckerberg claims Libra to be the future of banking and transactions, “Libra is a permissioned blockchain digital currency proposed by the American social media company Facebook.” Libra’s initial release is planned in 2020.
With Facebook’s Libra, Mark Zuckerberg wants to disrupt the way how money works. But such initiatives are riddled with issues. Several lawsuits followed post Libra’s announcement. To regulate the working of Libra, it shall be monitored by an independent association called Libra Association; this association would by governed by organizations like Uber, Lyft, PayPal, VISA, MasterCard, etc. Facebook will be maintaining a cryptocurrency wallet called CaLibra. Though Facebook claims Calibra will be maintained with high-grade security and have no effect on one’s privacy, many people don’t believe it.
“Libra is a global cryptocurrency built on blockchain to promote financial inclusion. Libra is digital, mobile, stable, fast, cheap and secure”. An organization independent of Facebook would oversee Libra. CaLibra, the mobile wallet to hold Libra, would be integrated in all the apps owned by Facebook such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and others. Transactions done with Libra would be the same as PayPal or any other medium available today.
The money from your bank account can be transferred into CaLibra that you can use at shopping malls and online stores. You can also get back your money i.e. Libra can be converted to physical money from Libra authorized people. The exchange of Libra currency and the mechanism behind the transactions’ executions still beg reasoning.
The whole Libra blockchain will be organized and maintained by a 28-member strong Libra association comprising Uber, Lyft, VISA, Mastercard, eBay Vodafone, etc. It is proposed to be a non-profit organization with its main office at Geneva, Switzerland.
Each member needs to give $1 million to get one vote in the organization. The organization will elect a representative to oversee the Libra council. Whenever you add money to your Libra account, it goes into the giant Libra reserve which in turn gives you Libra tokens. The value of Libra stays the same irrespective of the volatility in a country’s economy.
Facebook’s cryptocurrency shall cut down transaction fees and establish a global currency. Financial irregularities and hassles in transactions would become a talk of the past.
Like the concerns and question marks accompanying any major announcement, troubles arose for Mark Zuckerberg’s Libra initiative. In the first week of October, PayPal become the first to step out of the Libra association. The reasons for its withdrawal are not known yet. eBay, Stripe and Mastercard followed PayPal by leaving Libra Association.
Soon, Mark Zuckerberg was summoned by the US Congress. He asserted the launch of Libra would not be done without the approval from US regulators. Zuckerberg further emphasized on the need to take risk via innovation for ensuring US retains its position as the global leader. France and Germany blocked Libra and amended certain laws. Many banks and law makers are also changing rules related to monetary transactions.
After these issues, Facebook began losing momentum on Libra’s launch. With the criticisms and questions Libra faced, it’s clear that the world still holds scepticism on the idea of online payments and digital currency transactions through payment apps.
While certain parties continue to loath cryptocurrency, the technology of future is undergoing rapid improvisation. More complex algorithms ensuring hack- proof network and privacy-oriented transactions will catalyse the acceptance of cryptocurrency. The future of digital payment services, though shrouded with negativity and hesitance at present, will stay for decades to come.
Ansh Mehrey
