Skrill (formerly known as Moneybookers) are a financial services company based in UK. They are one of the best Paypal alternatives, and it is often regarded as second to PayPal.

This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, their currency conversions fees are cheaper than PayPal, so when converting from USD to Naira you get charged less.

Secondly, Paypal doesn’t allow Nigerians to receive money but to just send making Skrill a popular choice when it comes to Nigerian online transactions.

It is important to note that Skrill is a highly regulated company. As a result of this, they have very strict rules implemented in order to abide by anti-money laundering laws in the UK and throughout Europe.

Skrill is particularly popular among people that use foreign betting platforms like Bet365, Bet Victor, Ladbrokes, William Hill etc., and (Note that you will have to be verified with them to withdraw funds from them to Skrill).

Note that you will need a domiciliary account to process withdrawals, if you do not have and want to open one, read this ;  How to Open a Domiciliary Account with Gtbank, Firstbank and Zenith Bank to create one.

Getting Started (How to Open  Skrill Acount )

Getting started with Skrill is relatively easy. All you need to do is;

1. visit their website www.skrill.com and click the “Sign Up” button. It is important that you fill in your details accurately.

The details you will need to fill in on the form are:

 2. Select your ACCOUNT TYPE – personal or business.

If you are a registered company and want to do business with this account, you should choose business. Likewise if you receive a lot of payments from companies or individuals for services you provide, you should not hesitate to pick “business account”.

If you want to use your Skrill account to deposit to a betting site, to pay for goods or services, or to transfer money to other people, then you should choose personal. If you will be making infrequent, minimal and little transactions, a personal account is all you need.

3. Enter your COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE – Nigeria, except you are currently outside the country.

4. Input your CURRENCY

Your currency should be USD (US Dollars). This is to avoid double currency exchange fees. If you choose USD, you will not be charged anything for making transfers in Dollars. If you receive a lot of payments in Euros or other currencies they may be a better choice. Another reason is for especially for domiciliary account being in USD.

Make sure you are happy with the currency you have chosen. Skrill do not allow users to switch currencies after their account has been created.

5. LANGUAGE – select English.

6. and then Personal Details

Make sure everything here is spelled correctly. Skrill will check all the details and you will need to verify your name and address with scans of your identification and a utility bill.

The fields they ask for here are:

First name

Last name

Address line 1

Address line 2

City

Post code

7. Finally, enter Phone number, tick – I’m not a rebot and agree to skrill terms and conditions; click on open account as shown below.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Skrill only allows one account per person so do not create multiple account under any circumstance as you could end up having it blocked.

THE SECOND AND FINAL PART IS ACCOUNT VERIFICATION

ACCOUNT CREDENTIALS

The final fields to enter are:

• Email address
• Date of Birth
• Account Password – This should be obvious but just in case, make sure you choose a very secure password. Don’t go for something like pass1234 or 123456.

Verifying Your Skrill Account

 Verification is a four part process with your card details the most important, reason being you can use Skrill without necessarily completing all the four steps. The only problem is you will be unable to continue to use Skrill after you have make transactions of up to £2,500. Therefore it is important to make complete verification a priority.

Its four part process includes Email verification, physical address, credit/debit card, and bank account.

The first is step is to verify your email address. As with any email verification system, Skrill will send you an email. You click the link in the email and easily your email address gets verified.

The next stage in verification is to verify your physical address. Skrill will send a letter to the address you entered when registering.

The letter you will receive contains a 6 digit code. You must then login to your Skrill account and enter the code on the account verification page. Once that is done, your limits for sending money to other Skrill users will be raised, as will the amount of money you can withdraw.

VERIFYING YOUR CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD

The third part in getting verified with Skrill is to set up your debit or credit card. The name you used registering must match the name on your debit/credit cards.

Skrill will charge a small amount to your card around $2.00. Once you verify it they will refund this amount back to your card.

VERIFYING YOUR BANK ACCOUNT

You have two ways of confirming your bank details. You can either deposit money to Skrill by bank wire or you can withdraw money.

When you withdraw money via bank wire, you will need to first select the “Add bank account” option. For this you will need to know the SWIFT code of your bank. Contact your bank branch for the swift code at the bank or through one of their online representative or give them a call. Not all bank branches have SWIFT codes, so you may be given a general code to use.

After you have added your bank account correctly, simply click withdraw and choose the amount of money to send to your account. Withdrawals usually take about two working days.

Manual Verification

On very rare occasions, withdrawals from Skrill may not show the code in your bank statement. If this happens, Skrill do provide a third option whereby they will manually verify your bank account. However, in order to do so, you will need to send them on some more details.

You will need to email them a screenshot of your online bank account statement or else a scanned copy of a statement from your bank.

These must clearly show:

• Your name ( the account holder)
• Your account number
• The item on your statement that shows the withdrawal from Skrill in your account.

If you have trouble with this, you will need to go down to your local bank branch and get a physical print out of the actual SWIFT transaction to send to Skrill. Your bank will supply you with a copy of this on request.

VERIFYING YOUR BANK BY UPLOADING FUNDS:

In order to do this, you will most likely need to visit your local bank branch. Simply copy down Skrill’s bank details and fill them in on an international wire form. If you have the ability to send money internationally online, you can do this using your internet banking account.

Sending wires internationally can be expensive and the cost varies from time to time.

Notes for Freelancers and Businesses

If you chose the commercial account option at the beginning of this article, you will also need to send Skrill:

• A copy of an identification document such as a passport or driver’s license.
• A copy of a utility bill showing your home address from the past 3 months.

If you followed all this processes, your account will be completely verified by Skrill.

How to Fund Skrill Account in Nigeria

For uploading cash to you Skrill account depending on the platform will you get charged nothing to as high as 7% .

Using bank transfer via Swift is free and it takes 2 to 5 working days to process.

Using Master and Visa cards cost 1.9% of your deposit and it is instant provided you have verified your card.

Skrill supports many international and local card types such as AMEX, JCB, Diners, Maestro, Paysafecard etc.

PLEASE NOTE: You can verify your skrill account using your GTBANK Naira MasterCard, once you have done that; you can easily fund your SKrill account from your GTBank savings account using your GTBank Naira MasterCard.

Methods like American Express and Paysafecard cost 2.5% and 7% respectively.

How to  withdrawals Money from Skrill account in Nigeria

You will be charged 1.75% of your withdrawals up to a maximum of £10, you will also be charged 2.99% for transfers between USD, GBP, EUR, CAD and PLN currencies and 3.99% for transfers involving any other currency like naira.

Skrill supports withdrawals via bank transfer and credit or debit card (VISA), hence the need for domiciliary account as stated earlier.

Some of this processes and fees can seem a little overwhelming but it’s relatively straightforward. Here is a comparison with PayPal

In conclusion Skrill is decent, secure online merchant for Nigerians and a wonderful alternative for PayPal as a transfer platform and for web payment.

If you run into any issues opening, funding or withdrawing from skrill account; you can  leave a comment below using the comment box.