Do you want to know what Skrill is all about and how you can successfully open, fund, and withdraw from Skrill in Nigeria? Then you are just at the right place. In this article, I will be showing you how to operate Skrill in Nigeria without stress.
Interested? Let’s dive in.
A Brief Intro Of Skrill In Nigeria
Skill is an online payment platform that you can use to send and receive money from anywhere in the world. In the past years, skrill was a lifesaver for many Nigerians as it was of the first major payment platforms that didn’t discriminate against Nigerians. Thankfully, quite a number of website Nigerians earned small bucks from accepted it as a payment system. Most importantly, Nigerians could even withdraw directly to their domiciliary account without an intermediary. I enjoyed that the most.
Then came some regulations by the Central Bank Of Nigerians that forced them to stop Nigerians from withdrawing their funds directly into their domiciliary account. Instead, they gave Nigerians the option to withdraw directly into their naira bank accounts. I tried that once, only to discover that the exchange rate was the CBN exchange rate. As such, the banks benefited more from this change. I then opted to sell to Nigerian online exchangers because their rates were more favorable.
Recently, due to the unstable regulations from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Skrill has completely withdrawn the options of also withdrawing your funds to your Naira account. This speaks bad business for a lot of Nigerian exchangers and with platforms like Payoneer gaining momentum, many Nigerian online exchangers have altogether stopped exchanging Skrill. Never to worry, some still do.
And before you say there’s no more hope, I’ll like to say there’s still a ray of light in all these turbulent decisions against Nigerians. In this post, I will be showing you 3 different ways you can still use to withdraw your Skrill funds in Nigeria.
But before that, let’s take a deeper look of what Skrill really is all about.
What is Skrill?
Skrill, a European-owned online payment platform, is available to Nigerians as well as nearly 200 other countries. Skrill is available in Nigeria and makes it easy to send or receive money. Skrill is an online payment platform that offers a digital wallet with 40 currencies for individuals and organizations, as well as a gateway to eCommerce merchants.
Skrill was originally called Moneybookers. In 2001, it was rebranded as Skrill. The headquarters of Skrill is located in London, with offices in Europe and the USA. There are over 500 employees in more than 30 countries.
Skrill has made digital payments easy, fast, and secure since 2001. Skrill allows you to easily send money to people around the globe. Many companies have adopted Skrill, such as web4africa to receive and make payment for their website hosting. They are often considered second to PayPal and one of the best PayPal alternatives after Payoneer.
Types Of Skrill Accounts
There are two types of skrill accounts and they are:
- Personal account and
- Business account.
What Is Skrill Personal Account Used For?
- Fund Transfer – with your Skrill Personal account, you can transfer money to several anyone in the world who has a Skrill account for free. Not only that, you can also send money to their bank account (if their country is supported).
- With a personal account, you can also receive money from any other Skrill user.
- Online shopping – You can buy items online at hundreds of merchants that offer different products and services using the Skrill MasterCard or Skrill wallet (if they offer Skrill payment).
- Trade Cryptocurrency: Personal account holders can instantly buy Bitcoin Cash, Ether, and Ethereum Classic, as well as Ether and Bitcoin Cash.
What Is Skrill Business Account Used For?
Skrill business account is specifically designed for people (Merchants) who wish to accept payments online on their website. With the Skrill business account, they can be able to accept credit card payments on their website once the integration is completed. This integration includes enhanced fraud management and it supports the following payment methods:
- Skrill Wallet 1-tap: A quick checkout page.
- Credit and debit cards
How To Open a Personal Skrill Account In Nigeria
You will need the following to open a personal Skrill account. Note that I am going to only focus on the personal Skrill account as that is the most popular one you’ll need. If you are an online merchant in Nigeria and wish to sell on your website, consider opening an account with Flutterwave or PayStack.
- An email address
- Bank account – This would also assist with verification
- Visa / MasterCard debit or credit card
To open an account with Skrill In Nigeria:
Step #1 – Visit the website and click the “Register“. Then, fill in all the required information.
Step #2 – When prompted, confirm your email address and log in to continue with the registration and verification. Make sure to choose a personal account when prompted and your account will be created.
PS: Note that skrill does not allow you to open more than one personal account. If found out, both accounts could get banned.
Also, make sure that USD (US Dollars) should be your currency. This is to avoid double currency exchange fees as you will not be charged any extra fees for sending money in USD if you choose USD. Another reason to choose USD is that your domiciliary account will most likely be in USD. USD is usually the universal payment currency.
Make sure you are careful in choosing the currency as Skrill will not allow you to switch currencies after you have created your account.
Step #3: Fill all necessary forms correctly. Skrill will usually want you to verify your account. For that, you will need an ID like a driving license, international passport, or permanent voters card (I don’t think our large national ID card will be accepted). You may also need a recent utility bill or statement of account for proof of address verification.
Never to worry if you don’t have all these for verification, you will still be allowed to use Skrill, but you can only do transact limited amounts of money ( I think the minimum you can transact as an unverified user is about $800).
On a general note, Skrill account opening and verification consists of four parts: email verification, proof of your location, credit card or debit card statement, and proof of address.
Verifying your credit or debit card
Skrill account verification with Naira MasterCard will not work. I’ll advise you to get a Dollar Mastercard or Visa card.
To do your Mastercard verification on Skrill, make sure that the registered name matches the name on your debit/credit card.
Skrill will add a small amount to your credit card, approximately $2.00. After verifying it, Skrill will return the amount to your card.
Skrill Login: How to Login to Skrill
Logging in to your account can be done via their website. Skrill mobile app can be downloaded on Android, iOS apps for iPads, iPhones. Skrill mobile app allows you to log in and manage accounts easily from your mobile device.
How To Fund Skrill In Nigeria
To fund Skrill In Nigeria today, you need to have a Naira Mastercard or a Visa Naira card. You can also fund your Skrill account with a dollar Mastercard. To get a dollar Mastercard in Nigeria, you need to have a domiciliary account – See how to open one here.
However, if you don’t want to go through the stress of opening a domiciliary account, you can use your Naira Mastercard or get a Nigerian Visa naira card – preferrably UBA Visa card. Access Bank Visa card should be okay too.
Another option is to get a Payoneer MasterCard. See how to get a Payoneer Mastercard for free here.
The Skrill transaction charges for funding your account vary depending on the means you use in funding your card but ranges between 0 – 5%.
Aside from Mastercards and Visa cards, Skrill accepts many other card types, including international and local ones like AMEX, JCB, and much more.
How to withdraw from Skrill in Nigeria
Before now, there used to be a lot of options for Nigerians to withdraw their funds from Skrill. Back then, we could withdraw our funds from Skrill to our bank accounts – both local bank account or directly into our domiciliary bank account. Thanks to the Central Bank Of Nigeria, those options are now closed to Nigerians.
This has made a lot of Nigerians run helter-skelter looking for how to withdraw their funds. If you are one of such people, I want to assure you that all hope is not lost. I will be showing you 3 different ways to withdraw you can withdraw your Skrill funds from Nigeria.
Method #1 – You can withdraw to your Visa card
If you are in Nigeria, this is probably one of the best ways to withdraw your funds from Nigeria for now. You can get a Visa card from UBA, Access bank, or any other Nigerian bank. Then you can withdraw your Skrill funds to your Visa card. The money goes into the local bank account that is linked to the Visa card.
However, you must note that the exchange rate will not be the black market rate but rather the Central Bank of Nigeria rate.
Method #2 – You can sell to Online exchangers
Just like we have local exchangers like the “Abokis” or “Mallams”, we also have online exchangers. These are people who specialize in buying currencies from people and sending the naira equivalent to their local bank account.
Note that some of them specialize in buying funds from certain payment platforms so it’s normal to find some that may or may not but Skrill. Some popular platforms some Nigerian exchangers buy are Payoneer, PayPal, Perfect Money, Neteller, Skrill, Bitcoin etc.
You just need to Google Nigerian online exchangers and you will see a bunch of them.
PS: Thread with caution and only buy from those you have vetted and see as trustworthy.
Method 3 – You can sell on Airtm
Airtm is a platform that allows you to upload your Skrill funds to its platform. It converts you Skrill money into Airtm money. $1 is equivalent to 1 Airtm. Once you have uploaded your Skrill fund on Airtm, you can then withdraw to your local bank account.
However, to be able to upload your Skrill funds on Airtm, you need to pass through verification. To pass their verification, you need to upload your ID and other documents like the utility bill and bank statement. Bear in mind that they will reject your national ID card so make sure you have a driver’s license, international passport, or permanent voters card.
Conclusion
These are some of the essential things you need to know to successfully operate Skrill in Nigeria. Bear in mind that if you leave your account dormant for up to one year, Skrill will start to charge you $5 per annum for every year you leave your account dormant. To avoid these charges, you should at least make one transaction per year. You can make a transaction as low as $1 on Skrill.
Got any questions or suggestions? Let us know in the comment box.
