Getting paid in South Africa

David62
Level 1
Cape Town, South Africa

Getting paid in South Africa

Recently the pay out process for hosting in South Africa has changed. Although Airbnb is sending us a message that they have received and released payment, it take a number of days, sometimes over a week before our bank contact us and let us know that they received an international payment. It is then a complicated process to verify payment and source of income before our money is received in our bank account. This happens for each and every payment / booking we receive.

Is there any other way in which we can receive payment, without having to go through the process of declaring international payments each time with our bank?

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

 

52 Replies 52
Jo6
Level 1
Johannesburg, South Africa

Ive just joined airbnb and am trying to figure out the best way to get paid as well. As is noted here and in another similar thread, converting US$ to Rands and then paying hefty international bank fees doesnt seem to offer much promise in terms of making some money out of hosting. I was curious to know if anyone had tried the PayPal option.  That is to say using FnB to link ones account to the paypal account for payouts.  According to some information I found on FnB's information page regarding setting up paypal to link to your local SA account (even non FnB) the costs involved are as follows:

What will it cost?

  • FNB charges 1.5% of the ZAR amount per Top Up or Withdraw transaction
  • FNB will quote a ZAR/USD exchange rate for each Top Up or Withdraw transaction
  • No PayPal™ set up costs
  • PayPal™ charges between 2.4% to 3.4% + USD 0.30 per transaction
  • PayPal™ currency conversion fees may apply at 2.5% above the prevailing exchange rate
  • For more information on PayPal™ costs visit www.paypal.com/za
 So after airbnb have taken their 3%US$ cut, paypal will take another approx 3%US$ cut and finally FnB will take a 1.5%ZAR cut:
so on R500 this should mean you land up with roughly R460....which seems better than going the international bank transfer route
 
Of course I've yet to trial this being new to airbnb.  As I understand it , there a re a few hoops to jump through to get it all set up.  I found the information below from :https://www.fnb.co.za/travel-products/paypal.html
 
How do I withdraw money from a PayPal™ account

FNB provides a 'Withdraw' service that allows you to transfer (withdraw) funds from your PayPal™ account into your South African bank account. Simply login to Online Banking and select the 'PayPal™ Services' menu option.

Once you have registered for the service, you can transfer funds (US dollars) from your PayPal™ account to your South African bank account in rands.

NB: Remember that according to South African Reserve Bank exchange control regulations, all funds received into your PayPal™ account must be withdrawn within 30 days of receipt.

When completing the FNB 'Withdraw' service you will be required to disclose the purpose of your transaction and provide contact information to ensure that you comply with all South African Reserve Bank regulations as this is a cross border payment.

....
So I dont know if this if feasible or not.
Does anybody out there have any experience with going this route?
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks
Jo

 

Hi Jo,I am also new to Airbnb. Is FNB Paypal working for you? I am with Capitec Bank, and am also looking for other options.They deduct R148 from Airbnb's payment + R 80.00 for International Rep fees. So on a payment of R530. I only received R382

Thank you, your careful explanations really are helpful!

Since writing this, have you any more tips for us? !

Tanya13
Level 1
Durban, South Africa

Dear Jo I am very new to this and have huge difficulty creating a payment preference that allows an international bank wire to my account - it simply won't allow me.  I bank with Investec.  I wondered if you had gone the Paypal way and how it was working for you? Any information would be hugely beneficial! Best regards Tanya 

Jimmy-And-Lauren0
Level 2
Johannesburg South, South Africa

I have also just realised that I cannot transfer the funds from Paypal into my business account because it is with Nedbank and not FNB !  Have you had any success yet ?  Also struggling to change the default payout method to "International wire".

You can link your PayPal account via FNB to your non-FNB account. I have just gone through this process.

That said, I have yet to extract the funds from Paypal. That's my next step.

Matthew44
Level 1
Sandton, South Africa

Hi Jo, 

 

Do you know which code (i.e. reason for transaction we should be using?). 

 

It is blocking me from transferring funds from my PayPal account due to this, error code reads: 

 

(E-8037) Code Description Not Defined On Pcd 1301

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Matt

Janet111
Level 2
Umdloti, South Africa

I am also struggling to get my monies out of the AirB&B account and sat at the FNB bank for 50 minutes to sign me up for a paypal payment.  After much frustration and filling out information twice , handing in proof of residence etc , 2 phone calls to ask for help by my bank assistant, we still did not get it right.  I was told to please do it on my laptop at home by myself.  

Well i had tried that already and that is why i went in to sign up with FNB.  Now what do i do?

I have allocated my Capitec banking details for AirB&B to pay into but am worried that this will not work?  Any help would be appreciated?

Janet

Sarah31
Level 1
Cape Town, South Africa

 

I am also having issues with this. It seems ludicrous that we have to go through this process PLUS the bank fees to get a payment that was often paid by the guest in rands in the first place.

 

I have just complained via the Help centre. Perhaps if more hosts from South Africa do so, they will  put more effort into restoring the payout method that was available prior to November 2015.

 

 

Andrew46
Level 1
Cape Town, South Africa

You can complete a Standing Instruction and Indemnity form with your bank (I am with Capitec - sure the other banks must have the same procedure). Thereafter the bank does not have to contact you for each payment from USA.

 Hi Andrew

 

I am currently completing this form for Capitec and wondered where you found the Sender's Details for Airbnb. Could you point me in the right direction? 

 

Thanks a lot

Lorien 

Clifton0
Level 1
Dolphin Coast, South Africa

Guys

 

Does anyone have final direction on how we as HOSTS can get money from PayPal into our bank accounts? Other than the FNB route ?

Sheldon2
Level 1
Cape Town, South Africa

I had an email from Exchange4you which sent me a form that they said i should fill for the SARB so that my bank would not have to phone me everytime there were funds that have to be transferred .

 

Has anyone else received this , are they legitimate ?

Hi @Sheldon2,

 

yes just gone through this myself, it is all legit just fill out the mandate and they will transfer the funds same day.

 

Good luck.

 

Cheers

Mike