How To Receive Money With Paypal In Nigeria
How To Receive Money With Paypal In Nigeria
In This Review
Is PayPal available in Nigeria?
PayPal is available in Nigeria to send or receive money. But you will have to open a foreign account to use the platform seamlessly in Nigeria. This will prevent you from experiencing any difficulty to use PayPal to receive money in the country and unlock all the great features that come with your account.
How can I open a PayPal account in Nigeria?
To open a PayPal account in Nigeria is simple, visit either Lesotho, South African, or Iceland PayPal platform and sign up. Then follow the prompt instructions to complete your account registration.
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Can I receive money with PayPal in Nigeria?
You can receive money with PayPal in Nigeria, but you have to make sure you open an account on either the South African, Iceland, or Lesotho PayPal platform.
How does PayPal work in Nigeria?
PayPal in Nigeria works with your valid email address. You can use your email address to receive money on PayPal when the sender sends money to you with it.
How to Set Up a PayPal Account to Receive Money in Nigeria
If you do an online business and want to know how to set up a PayPal account in Nigeria and start receiving money from abroad, the best answer is here.
But when it comes to using PayPal in Nigeria to receive money online, most people are stuck.
It is disappointing after selling a service to someone online, only for you to receive payment and realize you cannot.
There are third-party wallet services you can use to receive money online but none of them exist without some limitations, which make most small businesses suffer in Nigeria.
If you know how to open an account on PayPal in Nigeria, you can connect with buyers or sellers from any part of the world without any payment issue.
The achievement is lopsided as most Nigerian businesses, individuals or freelancers still cannot receive money via their Nigerian PayPal accounts.
This is due to regulatory policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria on money transfer services which prevent FinTech companies to exploit the Nigerian market.
After seeing the problem, FlutterWave entered a business collaboration with PayPal to help merchants in Nigeria and Africa as a whole to do business online and receive payment from around the world via PayPal.
Consequently, receiving money with PayPal in Nigeria is no longer an issue if you know what to do.
There are three ways to open and use a PayPal account in Nigeria. Each of these techniques would be discussed in this guide.
But before that, I want you to quickly look at these frequently asked questions to determine the value put together in this guide and why this is the best for you to create a verified PayPal account in Nigeria.
- What is PayPal and how does it work in Nigeria?
- How can I receive money with PayPal in Nigeria?
- Where can I use PayPal in Nigeria?
- How can I open and use a PayPal account to receive money in Nigeria?
If you need answers to these questions, then this guide is for you. It will show you how to open a PayPal account in Nigeria and receive money from abroad.
After creating an online presence for your business, nothing comes next except payment integration.
With PayPal, your customers can purchase on your eCommerce website and check out in one click.
Or in absence of an eCommerce website, you can still receive payments through PayPal if both you and your clients have an account on PayPal.
All it requires to receive such payment is the email address with which you created your PayPal account.
The customer will log in to his account and use your email address to send the payment to you.
At the time of setting up your account on PayPal, you will be required to link your ATM card – Mastercard, Visa, Verve, or any.
N.B. You may not be able to link your Naira card to PayPal. So you need a Dollar card which is only possible with a domiciliary account.
Once the payment is done, your account wallet will be credited and PayPal will alert you via your email address.
You can withdraw the money by releasing funds to the ATM card that you linked to your PayPal account. Having done that, your bank account will be credited in dollars. Walk up to the bank and make a withdrawal.
PayPal works as simple as making all forms of transactions possible without sharing financial information with anyone online.
For this reason, most people prefer the PayPal payment option because the system is safe.
If your customers do not feel safe making a transaction on your website with their ATM cards, having the PayPal payment option will serve a great job to close more sales internationally.
By so doing, PayPal can protect the private data of the users from the risks of cyberattacks.
The system is designed to remove payment barriers that online merchants or freelancers have when dealing with foreign customers.
Meanwhile, PayPal is believed to be the biggest, most flexible, reliable, and cheapest global payment gateway among the others.
It officially came to Nigeria in July 2014 and was recently listed among the accredited 47 international money transfer operators in the country by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The CBN, in a tweet in March 2021, released a list of approved online money transfer operators in Nigeria and PayPal made it to the list.
This did not remove the limitations of using PayPal in Nigerian as most Nigerians still cannot receive payment with their local PayPal accounts.
There is a regulatory transactional limit set by the CBN for both inbound and outbound money transfers which makes it difficult to use a Nigerian PayPal account. You would need a foreign PayPal account to bypass the restrictions.
Just read on to discover the secret.
Limitations of a Nigerian PayPal account
When you open a normal Nigerian PayPal account, whether it is a business or personal account, all you can do with it is to send money.
You cannot receive money with a Nigerian PayPal account.
On your attempt to use a Nigerian PayPal account to receive money, the sender will receive an error message that says he should visit your website instead and make the payment via your checkout page.
So, while Nigerians are being denied full access to PayPal services, it is difficult for most small businesses to recover their return on investment (ROI) in the country, most especially those who do not have an eCommerce website.
This means, if you do not have an eCommerce website, where having a checkout page is possible, you cannot use PayPal in Nigeria.
Requirements for opening a PayPal account in Nigeria
It is free to open a PayPal account either for personal or business use in Nigeria.
The only thing that is required to set up a PayPal account is just your personal information, which is to guarantees that you are real and the bonafide owner of the account.
So, you must have the following information ready before you can open and verify a PayPal account in Nigeria.
- Means of identification: PayPal requires you have a valid means of identification, preferably any government-issued identification card such as a national identity card, driver’s license, or international passport.
- Full name: It must be noted that you cannot use a fake name to create a PayPal account. The name you want to use must be as it appears on your ID card.
- Valid email address: PayPal works with user email addresses to send or receive money. So, you need a valid email address that you have not used before on the platform.
- Phone number: In the course of opening a PayPal account, you need to add your phone number. You will need it to verify and authenticate your account down the line.
- Contact address: PayPal wants to know you and where you can be located. So you have to make your address available. It can be your business or home address.
- Domiciliary account: Because of the CBN limitations on Naira accounts for making online transactions, you need a domiciliary account with which you can generate a dollar ATM card.
- Valid dollar ATM card: PayPal will use your dollar ATM card to connect your account to your domiciliary account. So the card information is required to withdraw or deposit money in your bank account.
Once you have all these requirements in place, you are qualified to create your PayPal business account in Nigeria and start receiving money from any part of the world.
You can use your smartphone or computer to launch the PayPal website and begin the registration.
All information you share with PayPal stays on PayPal, it is safe and protected.
How to set up a PayPal account in Nigeria
If you want to create a PayPal account that receives money in Nigeria, you have three good options:
- Use FlutterWave to access PayPal
- Integrate PayPal into your website
- Create a direct PayPal account
Now let us go into details and see how each of the 3 methods works.
#1. Use FlutterWave to access PayPal
The collaboration between FlutterWave and PayPal makes it possible for you to use PayPal for receiving money in Nigeria.
This method does not require you as a merchant to have a PayPal account. But at least, your clients must be PayPal user to make this work for you.
All you have to do to unlock this opportunity and start receiving payments from PayPal users from any part of the world is to open a business account on FlutterWave.
PayPal has a very big user base as a leading global payment platform. So, no doubt your client is one of the 377 million-plus PayPal users.
The implication is that your clients will have to own an account on FlutterWave and use the PayPal payment option on the platform to send money to you.
FlutterWave will help you receive the payment from the PayPal account of your clients and send the money to you through your FlutterWave account.
To use FlutterWave for receiving money on PayPal, take the following steps:
- Visit FlutterWave website.
- Create a business account (follow the prompt instructions to complete your registration).
- Once your account is ready, go to your FlutterWave account dashboard to enable your preferred payment method.
- Select PayPal from the list of options available on the platform.
After setting up your account on FlutterWave, PayPal will start displaying on your checkout page.
This will make it possible for your customers to use the option for paying you.
So when a payment is made to your account, FlutterWave will help you receive the payment from the PayPal account of your clients and send the money to you through your FlutterWave account.
#2. Integrate PayPal into your website
Another way to use PayPal to receive funds in Nigeria is having an eCommerce website and integrating PayPal into your checkout page.
This makes it easier for your clients to pay you directly from your website cart with PayPal.
It means, before you can receive payments with this approach, the sender must have bought something, product, or service via your website.
And secondly, if you do not have a PayPal account that can receive money, this approach may not work.
In finding a permanent solution to this problem, I recommend the third option, which is to open a PayPal account that can send and receive money in Nigeria.
Much on this option would be discussed in the next section.
What is most important about the second option is to look at the requirements to create an eCommerce website and integrate the PayPal payment option into it.
- Design a product or service you want to sell.
- Find a name for your website (it can be your brand name or product name).
- Choose any of these web hosting providers to register your domain name and host your website.
- Install an eCommerce platform to your website.
- Integrate PayPal into your website.
- Hire us to set up your website.
You can learn more from our dedicated guide on how to create an eCommerce website or hire us to open a PayPal account for you.
We provide very affordable web and app solutions for businesses.
Create a direct PayPal account
It is obvious that not all PayPal accounts can receive money and not everyone will like the first two options.
If you have been looking for the best way to open a PayPal account in Nigeria, there are steps you need to take and beat the limitations posed to Nigerian users.
This is different from the normal account you open when you visit the Nigerian PayPal website.
And it does not involve the use of a VPN and falsely claiming to be in another country while you are in Nigeria.
With the following steps, opening a PayPal account to receive money in Nigeria is possible.
Choose a foreign PayPal platform
To create a PayPal account that works in Nigeria, you need to choose a foreign PayPal platform. For this guide, the three countries I recommend are:
- South African PayPal
- Lesotho PayPal
- Iceland PayPal
Using any of the three foreign PayPal platforms above has been tested and confirmed okay for opening a PayPal account in Nigeria.
So, the following links will take you to any of the foreign PayPal platforms you prefer to use for opening your own Nigerian verified account.
| Country | Website |
| South African PayPal | Visit South African PayPal platform to create a Nigerian PayPal account |
| Lesotho PayPal | Visit Lesotho PayPal platform to set up a Nigerian PayPal account Iceland |
| Iceland PayPal | Visit Iceland PayPal platform to open a Nigerian PayPal account |
N.B. To avoid glitches, I advise you to use a computer – laptop, or desktop to launch the platform. After successfully creating your account you can use your mobile device for subsequent operations.
Assuming you prefer Iceland PayPal, click the Iceland PayPal link to launch the platform.
Once the page finishes loading, go to the site menu at the top right of the page and click “Sign Up” to set up your account.
Select account type
PayPal offer two different account types:
- Personal account
- Business account
Since the scope of this guide is all about how to set up a PayPal business account, the account type to select is Business Account.
Creating a PayPal business account will give you more business opportunities, most importantly the chances to send invoices to request payment from your clients.
If you are more of B2B, dealing with brands as a brand, you will be required to send an invoice ahead of receiving payment. This will allow the company to document the details of your service or product so they can easily track you next time they need your service.
Enter your valid email address
Enter a valid email address that you would like to use to sign up for your business account on PayPal.
Make sure you have access to the email address because PayPal will be sending important information to you through it.
On the next page, create a strong unique password for your account and remember not to lose the password or share with public.
When you are done with the password, click the “Continue” button to proceed to the next page.
Describe your business
It is important for you to describe your business by specifying the type of business you offer and assigning a suitable or relevant keyword to your product or service.
If you have a website, try to add it in the form.
Your CC Statement Name can be your first name which is required.
PayPal does not want you to add your business information for nothing. They want to be familiar with your business. So, you need to tell them about your business.
You would be required to give the legal name of your business contact person. This can be your name if you are the owner of the business.
Your legal business name can be your brand name or the name you would like your clients to use to identify you in all your transactions.
If you have a CAC registered business name, you can use it.
Use your normal verifiable business or home address and enter (***) as your post code. If your business does not have an address yet, you can use your home address. You may contact me for your post code.
When you are done, click the button to continue.
Enter your personal information
Another important step for opening a PayPal business account is to identify yourself as a genuine human being.
What you are meant to do here is to personalize your account.
Add your date of birth, and Nigeria as your nationality. It does not matter you are using a foreign PayPal platform.
You are to choose your means of identification – National ID, International Passport or Driver’s License and enter the correct number on your preferred means of identification document in the form.
Both your home address and phone number can be the same as your business address and phone number.
When you are done, click the Submit button.
On the next page, PayPal will welcome you to their platform and show you a brief summary of all the features of your account.
This is an indication that you have successfully set up your PayPal business account.
Confirm your email address
Before you can begin sending or receiving money on your account, you are required to confirm your email address.
Your email address is what you will use for any transaction you make through PayPal. So you have to confirm it first.
Look through the menu of the site at the top left of the page and click Summary.
You will see your PayPal account balance and some other information.
Click “See details”.
On the next page, you will see all your details, go through it and make sure all the information is correct. Then click Submit.
Go to your email inbox and look for PayPal confirmation email. Open the mail and click the “Confirm Your Email” button.
You will be redirected to your PayPal login page.
Your email address will display by default. Just enter you valid password and then click “Confirm Email Address” to login to your account.
Link and confirm credit or debit card
Linking your card to your PayPal account is the last step to setting up your PayPal account. You have to do this right away to get the scoop of your account.
Go to the menu of the site as seen in the image above and click Summary.
On the page, look for “Link and confirm credit or debit card” and follow the prompt instruction.
Conclusion
Without leaving the corners of your home, you can get customers from any part of the world.
That sounds so good!
But when it comes to receiving payment from foreign customers, the story is different.
You may not be able to receive money via PayPal in Nigeria, except you know the way around the limitations which PayPal places on Nigerian users.
If you would like to tap into this opportunity, you need to know how to set up a PayPal account to receive money in Nigeria.
All you need to know is in this guide.
