How To Send Money With Skrill

If you have an active account with an username and password, and if you have a fully verified account, then you need to start by selecting the country you are sending to, and the country you are sending from. You can select the to and from countries after logging in, but Skrill suggests that you select your to and from country before you log in. This makes no sense to me because you have to navigate to their international transfers page and click the button asking you to try the service before being given the option of choosing countries prior to logging in.

If you are sending money to somebody in your own country, then log in and select the button that says “Send Money.” Enter the email address of the recipient. The email address you enter should be the same one that your recipient opened his or her Skrill account with, (i.e. the Skrill account that the user logs into his or her account with).

If your recipient already has a Skrill account, then the money will arrive within seconds on most occasions. Sometimes, it can take up to two hours, and it may take longer if your account is rather new.

The money is received to the recipient’s Skrill account, and it may then be withdrawn via a system called “Skrill it” or via the recipient’s bank account, VISA card or mobile wallet. The money may be accessed by the Skrill MasterCard too.

Here Is A Step-By-Step Guide On How To Send Money With Skrill

Once you are signed in to your account, go to the menu sidebar on the right (as pictured below). Click on the yellow “Send Money” button.

Enter the recipient’s email address. This is the email address that the user has linked to his or her Skrill account; it is the email address that the user signs into his or her Skrill account with.

You need to pick a currency (as shown in the image below), and then enter the amount you wish to send.

Click the purple button to the bottom right that says, “Review.” You will be able to review your payment before you click to confirm it.

How Much Does It Cost To Send Money With Skrill?

The good thing about Skrill is that it has a capped fee structure, which means you benefit if you send larger amounts. At the time of writing in 2017, the fee is 1.9%, and they cap the fee at $30 per transaction, so it is cheaper if you send more with each transaction.

If you wish to convert your money, then they are going to charge 3.99%. I know I have complained a few times about how PayPal skims from the exchange rate when they charge you for currency conversions, but Skrill charges a whopping 3.99%. As a result, Skrill is on the expensive side when converting money because they are charging roughly the same as most High Street banks. Nevertheless, I should reiterate that if you are sending a large amount with one transaction, then you are getting a rather good deal; just so long as you do not convert your money to another currency.

What Are Skrill’s User Fees?

The sending fees are very low at 1.9% that is capped at $20, but there are plenty of other fees that you may not know about. Here is a quick rundown of their 2017 fees.

$0.00 – Upload via a bank transfer

2.90% – Upload via MasterCard

2.90% – Upload via Visa

7.50% – Upload via PaySafeCard

$5.50 – Withdraw your funds to a bank account

1.90% – Send money (capped at $20)

$0.00 – Receive money

3.99% – Currency conversion fee

$3.00 – Per month if your account is inactive for a full year

As you can see, some of the fees are good and some are nasty. For example, where PayPal charges the recipient, Skrill charges the sender. Plus, compared to PayPal, the fee for sending (at 1.9%) is lower than PayPal’s 2.9% receiving fee. However, The withdrawal fee of $5.50 is unusually high, and the conversion rate is far worse than PayPal’s conversion rate. Many people have a problem with the inactivity fee too; mostly because people are unaware that their account will start getting drained after a year of inactivity.

Extra Fees You May Pay When Using Your Credit Card

Your credit card company may charge you a cash advance fee and charge you the cash advance APR on your money if you upload with Skrill. However, you may be able to avoid the cash advance fee and its associated APR rate with your credit card, and here is why.

Many credit card companies understand that you wish to upload money into your Skrill account in order to buy things, and for that reason, they may not charge you a cash advance fee. Whether they will or will not is up to them, but they will almost definitely charge you their cash advance fee and cash advance APR if you use your balance to gamble with.

You Are Charged If Your Account Is Inactive For 12 Months

Skrill has an “inactive account fee,” and it is the cause of many of their negative user reviews online. If you take a look at Skrill’s fees page, it does tell you about the charge, they haven’t hidden it in the small print. Nevertheless, some people leave money on their account and come back to it over a year again to find that some of it has gone.

If your account is inactive for a full 12 months, then Skrill will start draining your account every month. At the time of writing, it is drained at $4.50 per month until the balance has gone. Luckily, they do not start pushing your account into debt, they simply drain your account until it is empty.

What Happens If My Recipient Doesn’t Have A Skrill Account?

The most typical circumstance is where an employer, client or buyer wishes to send money with Skrill to a person who hasn’t set up a Skrill account yet. The two parties agree to the transaction, but either the recipient is slow to set up his or her new account, or the recipient hasn’t verified his or her account yet.

No matter the reason why your recipient doesn’t have an account (yet), what happens is that the recipient receives an email. If the recipient has an active account, then the email says that funds have been received. If the recipient doesn’t have an account, the email says funds are available and offers a link for the recipient to set up a new Skrill account.

Skrill Has A Fair Number Of Supported Currencies

On the Skrill website, they say that they support 40 currencies, but after manually checking my account, I could only find 28 supported currencies that I have listed below.

Australian $ (AUD)

British Pound £ (GBP)

Canadian Dollar C$ (CAD)

Czech Koruna (CZK)

Danish Krone (DKK)

Euro € (EUR)

Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)

Hungarian Forint (HUF)

Indian Rupee Rs. (INR)

Israeli New Shekel (ILS)

Japanese Yen ¥ (JPY)

Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)

Moroccan Dirham (MAD)

New Taiwan Dollar (TWD)

New Zealand Dollar (NZD)

Norwegian Kroner (NOK)

Polish Zloty (PLN)

Romanian New Lei (RON)

Saudi Riyal (SAR)

Singapore Dollar (SGD)

South African Rand (ZAR)

South Korea (KRW)

Swedish Krona (SEK)

Swiss Franc (CHF)

Thai Baht (THB)

Turkish Lira (TRY)

UAE Dirham (AED)

United States Dollar $ (USD)

That leaves 12 currencies unaccounted for, but I am pretty sure it has something to do with the other countries that Skrill allows you to send money to and from. There are eight countries that Skrill allows you to transfer money to, but they have partnered up with other companies to complete the transactions. The eight countries are Ghana, Indonesia, Nepal, Armenia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Fiji and Albania. My theory is that the remaining 12 currencies (that make up the 40 currencies) must have something to do with sending money to these countries.