George A.

I began to use Payoneer when first freelancing, and after due diligence and lots of inquires in forum boards over the web, I began using Payoneer. It is no Paypal: the registration, interface, fee structure, accessibility and other functions are a step down. However, it perfectly works for what is intended for: to receive money from freelancing sites, from US, UK and EU companies, and then send it to your bank.

As I opened my account and began to earn money on Elance/Upwork, I made some trial deposits, in order to find out the real exchange rate and fees. Payoneer is not particularly transparent in this. Luckily, it all went right. Exchange rates when depositing to my bank account are around 20-30 cents better than Paypal (for USD - Mx), the debit card can be used in the Internet to pay directly in dollars (Amazon), and I have seen no problems for deposits, nor additional fees from my Mx bank.

For non-us citizens, you can use it as a virtual USD account.

Now, you have to play by their rules: always check any fees your freelance website may charge ($0 for Elance, $2 for Upwork), check when you can get your money (2 hours for $2, in 2 days for $0), and not ever use the card for ATM disposals (they charge high fees, plus the fee from bank).

Many complains come from guys in Sri Lanka and India that withdraw via ATM and need the money asap, then get ripped to shreds by fees and exchange rate. But, if you use it as part of your freelancing strategy, can always wait two or more days to receive funds, have a cushion to operate a month or two until national bank withdrawal, Payoneer is a very good companion to Paypal.

The platform is buggy and slow. Still, is is the largest freelancing site in terms of user base. With the acquisition of Elance, they are the only place to go. Enlace had way better interface, though Upwork still has some nice things, such as multiple categories for users.

As in most freelancing sites, the top 10% are getting 80% of gigs. The lower 10% gets another 10% of gigs, and the 80% down below gets 10% of gigs. It is very competitive, and many gigs are never awarded. Amateurs will not survive there, but pros can use it for certain amount of income.

It varies, as some months you earn a lot, others you earn nothing. I would not recommend to depend on it for your single income source until you have a killer profile and reputation. If you are really a pro and are willing to put up the time to create a killer profile, market it, study your competition, study market prices within Upwork, work and gather reviews for your profile, it can be a good income source. It can take anywhere from 6-18 months, depending if you are on it full time or part-time.

The structure of the site makes you to bid at $5, which is good for some dude on Sri-Lanka, but can barely pay for beer plus metro ticket on developed countries. You can indicate that client must select extra options to complete work at low, but somewhat fair price (e.g. Using the fast delivery and extra gig to up the price to $50). But the client cannot be forced to do so, so you end cancelling gis.

The main issue is that cheap, low quality service terms attract cheap, low quality clients. This site may work for poor high school students and citizens of countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Africa.