Skrill is becoming a major global online payment platform especially for users in Kenya and rest of East Africa. However its quite difficult to get a simple, reliable and transparent way for these users to top up up their wallets before completing their online payments. In this article, i will explore two ways in which you can top up your Skrill or Neteller account from your Mpesa.
The two ways i have successfully used are:
- Bank Cards
- Intermediary Providers
- Foreign individuals.
Bank Card
This basically refers to the use of your bank credit or debit card to make the payment. Its quite seamless and straight forward. The key challenge i discovered here is the exchange rates, its quite expensive. Other challenge is blockage of cards for some online sites which include skrill. The process of enabling a card to pay might take you days if not weeks and the approvals are temporary.
Intermediary Mpesa to Skrill Providers
In this category, I have used Eastpesa, a UK company that helps users in Kenya top up online accounts. I mostly use it for Skrill, though they support Mpesa to Neteller and Paypal as well. They are quite affordable but their service times are unpredictable. Sometimes it takes Minutes to complete a transaction while other times it may take up to 6 hours. Of the 3 I would say its my most preferred so far.
Peer to Peer Mpesa to Skrill
This basically involves a private agreement with a user who already has funds in their online accounts to send you online while you sort them Mpesa or using other means. Obviously its a risk, but if you get a reliable person that you know, it could end up being much cheaper than the two options above.
I hope this helps you as you do your online business. If you have any reviews, comments or suggestions, I will be happy to hear them in the comments below.
