Moneybookers for US residents?

[Bencuri]

I have read at many casino related sites that Moneybookers is not available for US residents, however on their site you can choose USA when signing up, and also they don't exclude US residents. The only term about US residents in their terms is this:

11.2. It is strictly forbidden to make payments to or to receive payments from persons or entities offering illegal gambling services, including (but not limited to) illegal sports betting, casino games and poker games. We may suspend or terminate your Moneybookers Account at any time or refuse to execute or reverse a transaction if we believe that you directly or indirectly use or have used your Moneybookers Account for or in connection with illegal gambling transactions. Countries where online gambling is illegal include the United States of America, Turkey, China, Malaysia and Israel. This list is not exhaustive and it is your responsibility to ensure that you do not use our services for transactions that may be considered illegal in your jurisdiction.

My question is, if you are from the US and want to use Moneybookers for non-gabling purposes, can you sign up? I want to send money to my friend through Moneybookers. He is a US resident, and he would withdraw the money to his bank account. Is this possible? Or maybe his bank will deny the transaction? I asked Moneybookers, but they do not reply. Do you have any experience about this kind of use of Moneybookers? I don't want to use other processors, because they are expensive.

 

[Jasminebed]

If the reason you want to send your friend money is so that he can do a player to player transfer somewhere for you to gamble, I think that falls under the "indirectly" funding gambling clause.

 

[Cleveland]

Just curious...If that is the reason, why don't you just use paypal? Easy and quick.

Sorry don't know the answer to your question but I agree with Jasminebed.

 

[Glunn11]

I have read at many casino related sites that Moneybookers is not available for US residents, however on their site you can choose USA when signing up, and also they don't exclude US residents. The only term about US residents in their terms is this:

11.2. It is strictly forbidden to make payments to or to receive payments from persons or entities offering illegal gambling services, including (but not limited to) illegal sports betting, casino games and poker games. We may suspend or terminate your Moneybookers Account at any time or refuse to execute or reverse a transaction if we believe that you directly or indirectly use or have used your Moneybookers Account for or in connection with illegal gambling transactions. Countries where online gambling is illegal include the United States of America, Turkey, China, Malaysia and Israel. This list is not exhaustive and it is your responsibility to ensure that you do not use our services for transactions that may be considered illegal in your jurisdiction.

My question is, if you are from the US and want to use Moneybookers for non-gabling purposes, can you sign up? I want to send money to my friend through Moneybookers. He is a US resident, and he would withdraw the money to his bank account. Is this possible? Or maybe his bank will deny the transaction? I asked Moneybookers, but they do not reply. Do you have any experience about this kind of use of Moneybookers? I don't want to use other processors, because they are expensive.

The "Moneybookers International" section, which enables the e-wallet service, is disabled for US registrants by default. For my work, I had to go through a bunch of paperwork and they enabled it for me.

Due to the SUPER EVIL ONLINE GAMBLING MONSTER, Moneybookers does not allow anyone from the US to use the e-wallet service unless they can state they are using it for business transactions. You have to send them an e-mail and if they think your intended use of the service is acceptable, you can start filling out the paperwork.

I have withdrawn from Moneybookers to my USA bank account several times with no problems. However, since you'd be using it for personal use, I doubt that Moneybookers would let your friend use the e-wallet. You could e-mail them at

us-service@moneybookers.com

to inquire.

If PayPal isn't working, I'd consider alternatives like Google Checkout, Amazon Payment, or AlertPay.

 

[Bencuri]

Don't think of anything bad. Why would I need a player to player transfer, when I can register anywhere, I am not a US resident! I just want to send him money to cover the shipping costs for something he is sending to me. This is nothing about gambling. I just asked it here, because in this forum people are very much concerned about working payment solutions to US residents, so I guess somebody has experience. PayPal was the first one I suggested to him, but he is unable to verify his bank account in PayPal. He says the amount PayPal sends him for verification doesn't arrive, but he promised to call his bank asking why. But if he cannot set up his account there, Moneybookers would be a good alternative.

By the way Moneybookers replied today, it took a long time to get the reply but fortunately it arrived:

'Dear xxx,

Thank you for contacting Moneybookers Customer Service.

With regards to your message to us, we would like to kindly inform you that as our new project has already started, newly registered US customers can easily use our services.
Kindly note, that if you wish to send funds to a US resident, simply inform them to register an account on our system and then provide you with the email address they should use to register.

As soon as you send them the funds, they can then withdraw these funds to a bank account registered on the recipient's name and one which is directly connected to the SWIFT network.

Please note, that all 'Send money' transactions are instant and irreversible and there is a fee of 1% of the amount sent, but no higher than EUR 0.50.


We hope you find this information useful.
Should you have any further questions or queries, please feel free to contact us via the Support centre'

From this the whole transaction seems easy. But I worry about that they will ask for too many proof of ID to withdraw, unlike PayPal, that my friend may not wish to send online. Not every people like sending ID scans online.

 

[chuchu59]

Wouldnt it be simpler to use Paypal?

 

[Jasminebed]

Does your bank offer email transfers of money? It's used widely here in Canada, and costs about $3. Receipient enters their account details after receiving the notification.

I actually had problems verifying my moneybookers account, due to them sending the verification amount in euros and receiving it in CAD. It took until after my bank statement came in, and sending a copy of it to them, because I could not enter the exact verification value.

And I never thought you needed a player to player transfer, I thought perhaps your US friend did to play.

I really value my Moneybookers account, and I'd do nothing to jeopardize it personally. It's low cost, works well.

If the amount involved is small, maybe cash in an envelope?

 

[Bencuri]

My friend would never play poker online if it is prohibited for him, with using illegal tactics. He is a soldier, so he wouldn't risk his job.

The banks here only do wire trasfers, and that costs 20$ min, that is too much. WU costs almost the same 15$-20$, so I would avoid that.

Maybe Moneybookers will be okay.

 

[Bencuri]

Wouldnt it be simpler to use Paypal?

I have answered your question before.

 

[costaricalawyer]

MoneyBookers

Hello
MoneyBookers will not process for US clients for the online gaming business. If you market to the Non US market it will not be a problem.

Thanks
Lic Giovanna Barrantes
San Jose Costa Rica

 

[Crusnik02]

Well you already said he has a paypal account and just having a problem with verification. Paypal has excellent customer service. He should be able to get the verification issue resolved in less time than it would take to open a new account with anyone else and go through their verification process.

Just tell him to get on the phone with paypal customer service or support and get it resolved. Also while he's on the phone he can tell them he will need to do transactions with a friend overseas, and is there any international restrictions or other verifications he will need to do that. Just get it all done probably on the first call.

Any place is going to have a verification process so take the shortest route available that you can trust. If $20 wire transfer is too much and this won't happen often but needs to happen asap you might look into services like moneygram, western union, etc. Not sure what their fees are but I could swear I didn't pay $20 to send about $200 internationally via moneygram.