Payoneer Review

Pros

• Month-to-month billing with no early termination fee
• Some payments between Payoneer accounts are free
• Best for freelancers and international businesses
• Excellent multicurrency support

Cons

• $29.95 annual fee may apply
• High credit card transaction fees
• High complaint volume

What Is Payoneer?

Payoneer is a global financial technology company that specializes in cross-border business payments, multicurrency receiving accounts, marketplace payouts, and contractor or supplier payments.

Payoneer works with marketplaces and platforms such as Amazon, Airbnb, Fiverr, eBay, and Upwork. Payoneer focuses heavily on international business payments and multicurrency accounts, but its total cost depends on the currencies, payment methods, and withdrawal options used.

While it’s not a conventional retail merchant account or eCommerce checkout provider, it offers invoicing, payment requests, local receiving accounts, ACH debit, card payments, marketplace payouts, business cards, and supplier payments.

Products & Services

As we’ve said, Payoneer is not a merchant account provider and doesn’t offer the full range of merchant services that you’d typically get from a traditional provider. Because of this, you won’t be able to use a credit card terminal or POS system with your Payoneer account. Payoneer also doesn’t provide a traditional retail payment gateway or virtual terminal for accepting consumer eCommerce purchases.

Here’s a rundown of the features that are available:

• Payoneer Account: Approved customers receive access to a Payoneer business payment account, with available features varying by location and eligibility. Eligible businesses can request B2B payments that clients pay by credit or debit card, ACH debit, bank transfer, PayPal, or Payoneer balance, depending on location.
• Payoneer Business Card: Payoneer currently offers eligible users physical or virtual commercial cards. The standard annual card fee is currently $29.95, although availability and fees may vary by location and card type.
• Mobile App: The company offers a free app available for both iOS and Android. The app allows you to check your account balance, view transactions, withdraw funds, and make payments.
• ACH Processing: Eligible Payoneer accounts may receive USD payments through local ACH receiving details and accept B2B ACH debits through payment requests. US businesses may also use ACH bank debit to fund certain outgoing payments. Fees for this service vary.
• Online Reporting: As you would expect, you can log in online to access your Payoneer account. This is where you’ll go to make payments and transfer received funds to your local bank account.
• Security Features: Payoneer provides account-security and fraud-monitoring measures and states that it maintains PCI DSS Level 1 certification.

Fees & Rates

Payoneer is reasonably transparent about the costs of using their service, with most charges being disclosed on the Fees page of their website. However, some users have complained about unexpected fees, and Payoneer notes that pricing varies by country, account type, currency, and payment method. Review the pricing shown in your account before completing a transaction.

• Some Payoneer balance-to-balance payments are free. This is a real benefit if your customers also use Payoneer.
• Receiving USD through a local bank transfer generally costs 0% to 1%.
• Certain EUR and GBP local receiving payments may be free, depending on the payer, payment method, and account.
• ACH debit and USD local receiving payments generally cost up to 1%.
• Credit and debit card payments cost up to 3.99%, depending on the payment service and region.

Withdrawing money from your Payoneer account to your local bank account isn’t free, with fees depending on whether a currency conversion is necessary. Withdrawal fees are as follows:

• Same-currency bank withdrawals may cost a fixed fee, such as $1.50 in supported cases.
• Bank withdrawal fees currently range from about 1.2% to 4% when currency conversion or a non-local currency is involved.

Payoneer doesn’t charge most of the fees that are traditionally associated with merchant accounts. For example, there’s no account setup fee and no monthly account fee.

Payoneer currently charges a $29.95 annual account fee when the account receives less than $6,000 or the equivalent during a consecutive 12-month period, subject to regional and plan exceptions.

There are other miscellaneous fees as well, most of which are disclosed on the Payoneer website.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

Payoneer markets its services primarily through its website, and it’s a pretty good one. The site is easy to navigate and includes links to a ton of information about what Payoneer can do for your business. While a lot of what’s presented is marketing fluff, there are also some decent disclosures about the fees for using Payoneer’s payment services. Those disclosures aren’t complete, however, so you’ll still want to review the terms and conditions before you sign up for an account.

The site also includes a decent amount of educational materials, such as an FAQ and several how-to videos.

Signing up for a Payoneer account is easily done online. This online signup process makes it much quicker and easier to get an account approved and start making or receiving payments. It also spares you the hassle of dealing with independent sales agents or having to negotiate the terms of your contract. At the same time, the process is so quick that most people will quickly click through every screen and finalize their account without thoroughly reviewing the terms and conditions contained in the user agreement.

The company also has an active social media presence, with accounts on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. These accounts mostly serve to distribute posts from Payoneer’s blog, but the content is updated very frequently and contains a lot of useful educational information. Payoneer also has a YouTube channel, which includes dozens of client testimonials, tutorials, and educational videos.

Contract Length & Early Termination Fee

Payoneer does not require a traditional multiyear merchant-services contract, and users can close their accounts without an early termination fee.

The company’s flexibility in allowing month-to-month billing without a lengthy contract is commendable and in line with the practices of other payment service providers.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Payoneer currently advertises 24/7 Customer Care through live chat, email, phone, and WhatsApp after users sign in. There’s also a useful Support Center to tackle common issues.

Unfortunately, we’ve found a lot of complaints alleging poor customer support, so we encourage you to give the knowledgebase a try before resorting to the other support options.

User Reviews

Payoneer currently holds an A rating with the BBB. Unfortunately, the company has had over 900 complaints filed in the last three years. On a positive note, the company is vigilant in responding to customer complaints.

Reviews for Payoneer can be found on Trustpilot. But at the time of this review, the company’s rating was blocked due to violating the site’s guidelines about posting fake reviews. Payoneer is also rated 3.2/5 stars on G2.

Negative Reviews & Complaints

Some of the most common complaints include:

• High transaction fees
• Hidden fees
• Frozen or withheld funds
• Cancelled transactions
• Poor customer support

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

There are some positive reviews worth noting, with users stating they most liked:

• Ease of use
• Acceptance after being rejected by traditional processors
• Good for global payments

Final Verdict On Payoneer

Payoneer is best suited to freelancers, marketplace sellers, and international businesses that need to receive payments across currencies, manage global payouts, or pay contractors and suppliers. Its multicurrency accounts, local receiving details, B2B payment requests, marketplace integrations, and business card options make it useful for cross-border transactions.

However, Payoneer is not a replacement for a traditional merchant account, retail POS system, or eCommerce checkout provider. Fees can also add up, particularly for card payments, currency conversions, withdrawals, and accounts that receive less than $6,000 over 12 months. Customer complaints involving held funds, unexpected costs, and support are another concern.

Payoneer may be worth considering if its international payment tools match your business needs and the total cost is competitive for your expected transactions. Businesses that primarily accept domestic retail or ecommerce payments will likely be better served by a conventional payment processor.

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