How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria

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Posted by Felix Okoli on Tuesday January 25, 2011 at 19:58:13:

We've talked a lot about how to make money online in Nigeria after setting up an online business or presence and having something to offer to people but how about being able to receive payments online.
It's one thing to be able to conceive an online business idea, create the virtual platform, market your product or service but how do you receive your payment online in Nigeria?
If you're already thinking about this then it probably means that you have figured out what to sell to people so receiving the online payment is what is next. How does one receive payments online?

Receiving payments online
Being able to receive payment online means using a payment process which involves using electronic funds, web processing solution as well as database updating when the process is successful. It means the transfer of funds from your buyer's account to your account through a trusted platform. Now for a global audience, there are several ways which have evolved that has allowed merchants to be able to receive money online ranging from merchant's own merchant account to third party payment processing.

Online Payment systems that works in Nigeria
Not all online payment methods available that will be suitable for Nigeria but after doing a bit of research, I have found out that these ones would be operational for a Nigerian audience and/or if you intend receiving money online in Nigeria:

- AlertPay
- Liberty Reserve
- 2checkout
- FASTECASH
- VTN
- Softpurse

Apart from Alertpay, Liberty reserve(Lr) and 2checkout which is owned by foreign bigger companies, the others are owned to Nigerian companies and their trading currency is in the naira.

Alertpay, Liberty Reserve and 2checkout
One good thing about Alertpay is that it uses Instant Payment notification to alert you or your ipn handler that a payment has been made and you could use it to update your inventory as well as send an email(behind the scenes) to your buyer. Liberty reserve also does something like that and you could confirm if a payment actually has been made between the two before even fulfilling any online order assuming you are selling digital and instantly downloadable items. The main currency with which your account will be domiciled is in the US dollars and for Alertpay, you could withdraw to your Nigerian domicilliary account. Withdrawing from Liberty reserve is also quite easy as you could do that using any of the available LR exchangers in Nigeria who would buy your LR dollar for a naira deposit in your bank account. Alerpay and 2checkout also affords you teh ability to receive payments not just from account holders but also from credit card holders who may want to pay you with their credit cards. But in setting an Alertpay credit card platform, you would have to submit your website for verification and approval. Also it appears credit card users from Nigeria would have to verify their credit cards once for a start before they begin using it on your proposed website.

Fastecash, VTN and Softpurse
These ones hold your ecurrency in the naira and you could easily make payments and withdrawals by just using your bank account. It allows you to receive money from members who hold accounts with the same processor. One thing I like about Fastecash is that it also uses an IPN once you receive payment thus enabling you to satisfy customer's virtual purchases using an ipn handler. I have not used Softpurse yet but it is also a growing means of online payment in Nigeria especially among recharge card online vendors. VTN can be used also for sending and receiving naira online and is also allows you to fund your Graphcard account which could be used for a lot of purposes such as a virtual credit card, US phone number, US address and so on.

Receiving payment online as a Seller
Now assuming you are interested in receiving payment online as a seller, you would need to have something like a store to dispaly your goods, get people to buy and filfil their orders.
Well first in order to be abel to receive payment online in Nigeria, you would ofcourse need to have the following:

- Something to sell
- An online platform e.g website or vendor
- Payment processor
- Deliver orders

Receiving payment online from friends and supporters
While most people who receive a lot of money online do so from their buyers, we should also note that one could receive payment online too from friends and families who may want to support you in one way or the other. This may not require any serious setting up of an online platform like a website so all you may need is an email account and then hold an account with the payment receiver such as Alertpal, lr, softpures and others. You could use the plaftorm to request for funds from your contacts throughout the world and wherever the payment system is operational.People could send you money in minutes and when such payment comes in, you would normally get an email notification about it. One thing you should also need to do is to make sure that the notification doesn't go into spam by adding your payment processor's email into your addresss book. If you receive money in US dollars, you could cash the e-currenncy into your bank account using bank wire or cheque and if it is naira, you could withdraw with your savings account in Nigeria.

Conclusion
As more and more people in Nigeria get to use the internet, chances are that there would be more ways of receiving money online and it would only encourage better service from the existing service providers

Comments:
Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by OLUWAFEMI ADEDIRAN on Sunday February 13, 2011 at 13:56:5:

Can you help fix AlertPay
- Liberty Reserve
- 2checkout
- VTN
- Softpurse
on my website?

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Felix Okoli on Sunday February 13, 2011 at 13:56:5:

I think the best thing is to get a web developer to do it for you if you can't.

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by edna on Wednesday April 13, 2011 at 12:28:6:

I find your information quite interesting. However, i want to find out if google adsense, ebay and amazon use AlertPay, Liberty Reserve, 2checkout to pay nigerians involved in their programmes.

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Felix Okoli on Wednesday April 13, 2011 at 12:28:6:

No most of them pay you with an international cheque in dollars that you can cash in a Nigerian bank account. Google adsense sends cheque, Amazon too but can also pay you with Amazon.com credits which you can use to buy stuff online from them.

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Mike sonoja on Sunday May 8, 2011 at 22:26:29:

With your wealth of experiance in internet marketing.what kind of advice will give beginers on the issues of buying and selling and how can one register

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Felix Okoli on Sunday May 8, 2011 at 22:26:29:

If you want to buy, you can do so with a credit card. If you want to sell online, you can use Alertpay

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Attamah C. Malachy on Thursday July 7, 2011 at 21:2:27:

Great! Thanks for the idea

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Kenny on Wednesday July 27, 2011 at 9:45:51:

I am an online seller, i want receive a u.s cheque to cashed in nigeria, is it possible? Which banks? And how long would it take? Also can i use a post office adress as my adress or a house adress please let me know

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Felix Okoli on Wednesday July 27, 2011 at 9:45:51:

Yeah. it's possible to cash international cheques in Nigerian banks. What you will need is a domicilliary account for doing so. I wouldn't advisse using a post office address as most merchants would not want to send your cheque to a postal address.

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Lawrence on Thursday August 25, 2011 at 20:4:24:

Sir, I have signed up for Alertpay for my oversea payment here in Nigeria, but it has refused to accept my mobile number for all my transactions. I wouldn't know what other number it wants me to fill in the column,as I can't understand the instruction. So please advice me.

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Felix Okoli on Saturday October 1, 2011 at 8:26:8:

When signing up with a country outside Nigeria with your phone number, you should use it in the format 234your number. So if your number is 080333 then the number you should have used with Alertpay would have been 23480333.

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by victor chinedu on Monday November 7, 2011 at 11:8:29:

which banks in nigeria accept such payment services.

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Adegoke Oluwafemi on Tuesday November 22, 2011 at 18:4:1:

Your article is very enterprising. More power to your elbow. Please, help me out on these:
I have many online products to order for via Clickbank and Paypal, but the major barrier is that Nigeria is not included among the Countries. Also, How do I receive payments via Clickbank and Paypal? How do I go about these. Thanks. +23430603521, +23452345918.

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Felix Okoli on Tuesday November 22, 2011 at 18:4:1:

Paypal doesn't work in Nigeria so just forget about them. You may only be able to use it if you have resident in a paypal acceptable country though. You can try using a friend or any of the paypal agents in Nigeria

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by ekene on Wednesday November 23, 2011 at 11:55:23:

sir, i use to work at home online work so pls which will be the most efficent means of getting my money online. Again am involved in buy and sell shares online but i need an online broker i dnt know if there is one in nigeria here please

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Felix Okoli on Wednesday November 23, 2011 at 11:55:23:

Well you can use:
Bank wire
Alertpay
International debit cards like payoneer

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Samuel on Wednesday January 4, 2012 at 4:34:47:

Sir, pls i need your help, i have an alertpay account and a serious money in it. But i don't know how to cash it here in Nigeria, pls place it step by step on how to get my money. Thanks

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Felix Okoli on Saturday April 7, 2012 at 13:24:39:

@Samuel, sorry for not answering your question soon.

Friendly advice, there are 2 ways I know you can cash money out from your Alertpay account in Nigeria:

- Direct payments by Alertpay: You would need a domicilliary account for cashing their cheque or bank wire
- Selling Alertpay funds to someone else: you can try sites like exchangezone.com which allows you to swap it for liberty reserve and then easily cash in Nigeria.

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Patrick on Wednesday March 27, 2013 at 9:4:57:

I have used www.payfas.com payment processor to accept online payments in Nigeria and they are fantastic.

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by kingsley on Monday October 21, 2013 at 7:28:47:

tnks a lot 4 ur indept info. bt i wnt 2 know if all naija bnks ar compatbl wt alertpay, 2chekout, liberty reserve paymnt

Re: How to Receive Payment Online in Nigeria Posted by Felix Okoli on Monday October 21, 2013 at 7:28:47:

Yes they are but apart from liberty reserve. Liberty reserve has been closed