African countries often face disadvantages when it comes to making money online, as many platforms either require or prefer PayPal for payouts. While this isn't an issue for countries like South Africa, others are unable to receive funds directly into a fully functional and legally compliant PayPal account. Another major challenge is withdrawing that money as cash. These are some of the issues I'll be highlighting in this post. Keep in mind, this isn't a guaranteed fix as it may not work for everyone.
In many African countries, setting up a PayPal account is either complicated or comes with major limitations. Take Zimbabwe for instance: while you can send money using PayPal, receiving funds is not an option, even if your account is linked to a card. It's still useful in some cases, but the restrictions make it far from ideal.
But here's the good news, it turns out you can open a fully functional PayPal account in Zimbabwe under your own name and address that allows you to both send and receive funds. This method also works in many other African countries. The key is to register for a business or merchant account instead of a personal one.
While this type of account lets you send, receive, and hold money, it does come with transaction fees since it's a business setup. For instance, if you receive $10, you might get around $9.26 after fees. Depending on your situation, that small cut might not be a dealbreaker.
How to Open Your PayPal Account
- Visit PayPal: Go to https://www.paypal.com/za/home.
- Sign Up: Click Sign Up and make sure 'Business Account' is selected.
- Enter Your Details: Fill in your personal info, including the email address you want to use for the account.
- Email Confirmation: Enter the code sent to your email to verify the address.
- Choose Account Type: If you have a registered business, select Business. If not, go with Individual Seller/Sole Proprietor.
- Confirm Personal Info: Select your nationality, add your phone number, and confirm your details.
- Add Your Address: Use your residential address. If you don't have a postal code, you can use 0000.
- Business Name: Enter your business name or just use your full legal name.
- Skip Optional Fields: You can skip the business registration number and VAT ID if you don't have them, but do select your product or service category and preferred currency.
- Use Your Residential Address: Again, for the business address, simply use your home address.
Once you complete these steps, your account should be ready to use. You'll be able to send and receive money, as well as view your balance and transaction history.
How to Use Your Business PayPal Account
Your account should work just like a regular personal PayPal account. For example, if you've earned some money from a survey site that pays through PayPal, you can simply give them your registered email address and receive the funds instantly once they send it.
You can also send invoices to clients, create custom payment links to receive payments, and accept money from personal PayPal accounts from anywhere in the world. While you can link a bank card to your PayPal, you will not be able to withdraw funds directly into it.
To withdraw, you will need a US bank account. There are services that help with this, and I will cover them in a future post along with some great PayPal alternatives for both business and personal use.
I write a lot about starting a successful business, making money online, and more. Feel free to check out the other articles on this site. I hope this post helped you. God bless you!
