Paypal Works in Vietnam !

This is just to verify and let any other Expats out there wondering if paypal works in vietnam...

Yes it does, its a painless process to link a bank account and withdrawal to bank takes 2 to 4 working days and the cost is only 60 000 VND ( around 3 Dollars ).

You are also not limited to big known banks, the only requirement is that the bank you use supports VND as a currency and can provide you with a Swift code.

I opened a BIDV bank account, mainly because on my first day here when i was running from bank to bank to try and convert my RMB to VNd they were the most friendly and most helpful. BIDV is not a big bank at all, and i linked it easily in less than 2 minutes.

Hello Raymerjacque.

I know it's been a while, but I would like to ask you if you could complete withdrawals from Paypal using that bank account that you mention.

It seems I'm having problems with my account in ACB.

Regards

javichu2 wrote:

I know it's been a while, but I would like to ask you if you could complete withdrawals from Paypal using that bank account that you mention.

It seems I'm having problems with my account in ACB.


Hi Javichu 2

I am also having a problem with transferring from PP to my ACB acct, but PP staff said the account name was the problem. But 2 weeks later, I am still waiting to hear if the problem has been resolved.

Basically, PP's online form wants just two names, but my account name has 3 (or four, depending on how you count).  Also, I am not yet an "established seller" as I recently closed my account in Thailand and opened my new account based here in VN. I have about 9 more days to see if that clears things up.

Also, some of my payments have been held for 21 days. I can send money in my available balance to other people with PP accts though.

Anyway, would be interested in comparing notes, either here or by private message to my inbox.

Cheers

Hello John, I think we are in a very similar situation. I'm also an 'unestabished seller' and was hold the money for 21 days, but that's no reason for having problems withdrawing money.

It's been more than 3 weeks since I tried my first withdrawal, but still the money didn't show up in my bank account. PP says it could be my name, then they said they were waiting for an answer from the bank, then that it was maybe a fail in the system :(. They will keep me informed, apparently.

What you mention about the 4 different names could be true, since my own name has also 4 different words 2+2. But still Paypal should be able to figure it out, it's not like they are beginners with this.

I personally don't like using Paypal, they charge a lot in commission first, and then they charge a mandatory change of currency using low rates. And then you have problems with time limits, money limits, withdrawals, and their costumer service. But it's how my payer wants it :(.

I will try a new withdrawal to a different account in the next days, and tell you what happen.

Regards.

PayPal offers payment toVietnam only in VND, another great money grabbing scam by Pay Pal. Paypals rates are low, at 22270 PayPal pays only 21450, a nice little profit again by this horrible bunch of money grabbers.

The big bank in Da Nang is Vietcombank, so i think you guy should open this bank.
at Bachdang street have one international bank is HSBC at indochina building, so i think all your problem will be fine when you come to this bank.

Thanks.

Not only Paypal can be faulty, also Vietnamese banks can be picky when it comes to expat money, so if any expat has info about banks to successfully withdraw money from Paypal, please share.

Regards

I use HD bank and had no problems as the money is in VND.

I use xoom and the money is ready to pickup immediately.  $2.99 per transaction.  Exchange rate last week was 22,200.

Here's the latest message from PayPal. I haven't had time to try it yet.

"Pertaining to your enquiry, kindly note that we are still in the middle of resolving this issue and we have reports from several users that this issue has been resolved on their account as well.

"In this case, I would appreciate it if you could remove and re-add your bank account again. Kindly also clear cache and cookies before re-adding your bank account.

"Hopefully, the issue on your account can be resolved soon as well. Do let us know if this does not work."


colinoscapee wrote:

I use HD bank and had no problems as the money is in VND.


garyww wrote:

I use xoom and the money is ready to pickup immediately.  $2.99 per transaction.  Exchange rate last week was 22,200.


Thanks for sharing this info.

Hi, thanks to all.

John, I received the same message from Paypal today, so let's hope the problem is solved now. The message said: "I have just received a response from the technical team that our bank account issue has been resolved. You may try to remove and re-add your bank account into PayPal."

Still I consider to open a new account in another bank, and thanks for the info about it.

About xoom, well, it's surprising that this service owned by Paypal offers better conditions to send money than Paypal itself. I guess they are trying to recover the clients that they lost due to their abusive commissions.

I used before a website called 'smallworld' to bring money from Spain. It's cheap, there was no need to change the currency and it worked great. Unfortunately, it's not up to me to choose now the service, so it has to be Paypal.

As you may know, PayPal doesn't enjoy a very good reputation. You can find a lot of info online about that.

A friend of mine in the UK managed to get a PayPal bankcard, which means he doesn't need to transfer the funds to a bank. That could be another solution if you can get one.


For anyone looking for a PayPal alternative, these two seem to be the best potential options (still just researching, not recommending yet) at the moment for people in Asia.

Payoneer:

https://www.payoneer.com/main


Skrill :

https://www.skrill.com/en/

Can you receive USD in Viet Nam from Skrill, as their conversion rate is around 4%.

I asked Skrill 1 month ago about receiving USD and they said yes, but I recommend you to check with them again, as I never got to do any transaction with Skrill.


Here is Skrill answer:
"Regarding your question, if you instruct a withdrawal from your Skrill account to your bank account in USD it will be processed as an international transfer. International bank transfers are usually processed via one or more partner banks, which may result in additional banking fees. Such fees are standard and are beyond our control as in this case we act as the payer and not a payment service provider. We cover the charges for the sending bank and only apply a €3.95 fee, which is our flat fee for withdrawals."
and continued...
"Please be informed that the fee for a withdrawal is indeed 3.95 and is a flat fee, which means that it will not change. However the fess taken from intermediary banks are beyond our control, and we can not comment on them.
We would also like to confirm that in the case of a withdrawal indeed you will receive the funds in USD as requested.  "

javichu2 wrote:

I asked Skrill 1 month ago about receiving USD and they said yes, but I recommend you to check with them again, as I never got to do any transaction with Skrill.


Here is Skrill answer:
"Regarding your question, if you instruct a withdrawal from your Skrill account to your bank account in USD it will be processed as an international transfer. International bank transfers are usually processed via one or more partner banks, which may result in additional banking fees. Such fees are standard and are beyond our control as in this case we act as the payer and not a payment service provider. We cover the charges for the sending bank and only apply a €3.95 fee, which is our flat fee for withdrawals."
and continued...
"Please be informed that the fee for a withdrawal is indeed 3.95 and is a flat fee, which means that it will not change. However the fess taken from intermediary banks are beyond our control, and we can not comment on them.
We would also like to confirm that in the case of a withdrawal indeed you will receive the funds in USD as requested.  "


So it sounds like in the end it will actually cost more to send it via Skrill. I see that PayPal also won't send money to a third party like Western Union, total grubs PayPal wish I didn't have to use the grubs.

Well, my issue was resolved. I was able to re-add my ACB account with my full name and make the transfer, which arrived in 2 days.

I still want to look into other options though. PayPal could certainly use some more competition.

Hello. Yes the issue was solved and the transfer arrived to my account too. I also had to pay +1 unexpected commission (66.000 VND).

I don't know how expensive Skrill would be, but maybe it's worth a try. The 'intermediary fees' they are talking about could be high or not, but it's an advantage if they don't 'have to' change the currency.

What I can tell accurately is how expensive is receiving and withdrawing money with Paypal in Vietnam:
- 4.4% + 0.30 USD commission for receiving the money, plus
- 60.000 VND Paypal withdrawal commission, plus
- 66.000 VND intermediary bank withdrawal commssion, plus
- mandatory change of currency on Paypal rates (700-800 dongs less per dollar, 32-36 dollars per every 1000 USD).

Paypal is good if you are American and have a US bank account. You have not, the above is what you get.

And I still have 1 more transaction to make to be an 'established seller', would any of you accept a 5usd invoice  :cool: ?