How Paypal works in Trinidad and Tobago

How to receive money from Paypal?

If I told you that this question gets Googled in TT over 30,000 times a month, would you believe me?

The reason is that Paypal is the largest payment platform in the world and since more locals are doing more remote work for international companies and clients, getting paid is naturally one of the most important topics that need to be thoroughly understood.

So let’s start by answering the top question about Paypal: does Paypal work in TT? Yes, it does.

Now let’s dive into how it works and what you will need, because there is a small window for it to work here in TT.

I thought I would just point out that Paypal doesn’t work in most Caribbean islands for withdrawing the funds, so TT is one of the three lucky countries that Paypal does work in.

Here’s how it works.

You are going to need a Visa debit card from either JMMB, Venture Credit Union, PSCU or Copos credit union.

You can also use a Visa credit card from any institution except RBC, as it has blocked its Visa credit cards from receiving funds from Paypal.

Now everybody asks if their Scotiabank, RBC, Republic or FCB Linx Visa debit cards can work with Paypal and the answer is no. Any of the Linx Visa debit cards that you have received from your bank which have the Linx logo on the back will not be able to connect with Paypal.

Another key reason why many of you have not been able to receive funds is that you registered an account on Paypal with a US or Skybox address and since Paypal doesn’t allow you to change the country and address, you would need to create a new account. When signing up for Paypal, scroll to the bottom of the screen and in the bottom right-hand corner, you will see a flag. Make sure you change that to the TT flag and create your account with your local address.

When you are adding the Visa debit or credit card to your account, you need to input the details from the card and not put in your bank information, since we cannot connect a direct bank account to Paypal.

The money that you receive from Paypal will automatically be converted to the currency of the card you are depositing the funds to, since all funds received in Paypal will be in US dollars. So if you are depositing the funds to a US-dollar credit card or Visa debit card, the funds will stay in US dollars.

Paypal charges a 5.4 per cent transaction fee, and if you do a manual withdrawal, it will charge you US$5.

Now here is something to think about. Whilst most global employers will pay you via Paypal for different reasons, you need to keep this in mind. Paypal reserves the right not to allow you to manually withdraw the funds and instead will only deposit the funds on the first of the month.

It also reserves the right not to grant you withdrawal access at all, and your funds will stay stuck in Paypal forever, since we cannot send or use the money that’s in our wallet with a TT account.

I advise all businesses or freelancers to try a small amount first, like US$12, to see if they can withdraw the funds, or if Paypal has not given you access. This will save you a lot of headache and grief.

Paypal isn’t the only way to receive funds internationally but it is the most popular, especially when companies abroad are paying you.

For service-based businesses or freelancers, you may want to check out Payoneer, Wipay or Fygaro to send your digital invoices, which can be paid with credit cards from your international clientele.

I hope this brings some awareness as to how to go about receiving money from Paypal here in TT.

The goal is to have more people learning how to become freelancers and get paid by an international audience or company and also to help businesses understand how they can receive payments and participate in the global economy.

To learn more about building your digital presence and monetising your platforms, visit Keronrose.com or follow Keron Rose on Instagram/Linkedin/Tiktok. You can also listen to the Digipreneur FM Podcast on any Podcast directory of your choice.