Skrill Review: Online Money Transfers & Payments With Debit Card

Skrill is an online e-wallet service that allows you to transfer funds both domestically and internationally. The platform is often regarded as the nearest competitor to de-factor e-wallet PayPal. However, as is the case with any online money transfer service, you need to have a full understanding of how the fee system works.

As such, we’ve created the ultimate guide to Skrill. We’ll discuss everything you need to know, such as deposit methods, safety, mobile-friendliness, and of course, fees.

By the end of reading our review from start to finish, you’ll have all of the necessary information to assess whether Skrill is right for your individual needs.

Let’s start by finding out who Skrill is.

Visit Skrill

Who is Skrill?

Launched way back in 2001, Skrill become one of the first online e-wallets to facilitate internet-to-internet payments. The overarching aim of using Skrill is to transfer funds online to another Skrill user. As we will discuss further down, the Skrill platform now offers a range of additional services, such as bank account withdrawals and prepaid debit cards.

Formally known as Moneybookers, the company rebranded to Skrill in 2011. The company was purchased by Paysafe Group in 2015, alongside rival e-wallet Neteller. In terms of its customer base, Skrill claims to now have over 40 million users worldwide. Not only this, but the platform supports 200 countries and over 40 currencies.

On top of its more traditional money transfer service, Skrill is now accepted at a vast number of online merchants. Recent estimates place the number of merchants at over 120,000 globally, with the Skrill payment gateway utilized by the likes of eBay and Facebook. Although Skrill offers its payment gateway services to a full range of industries, one of its main markets is that of the online gambling and forex brokers.

One of the key reasons for this is that PayPal often prohibit online casinos that do not have a long-standing track record in the online gambling industry, and thus, the threshold with Skrill is much lower.

So now that you have a better understanding of who Skrill is, let’s take a look at how you can get started with Skrill.

How Do I get Started With Skrill?

Here’s a breakdown of the main steps that you will need to go through to get started with Skrill.

Open an Account

First and foremost, you will need to open an account with Skrill. Simply head over to the official homepage by clicking on this link , and then click on the ‘Register’ button. You’ll find this at the top-right-hand side of the screen.

Next, you will then need to enter your full name, email address, and then choose a strong password. Read and accept the terms and conditions, before clicking on the ‘Register Now’ button.

On the next page, you will then need to enter your country of residence, and your preferred currency. Make sure you choose your domestic currency to avoid any exchange rate fees.

On the next page, you will then need to choose the payment method that you want to use to deposit funds. Once you do, you will then be prompted to enter some more personal information.

You don’t actually need to verify your identity at this point, as long as you still within your account limits. However, in order to increase these limits, you will need to upload some identification.

Verify Your Identity

In order to verify your identity, and thus, increase your account limits, head over to the settings page, which you can access via the the left-hand-side bar. Then click on ‘Verification’.

In order to confirm your identity, you will need to upload a copy of your government issued ID. This can be either a passport or driving license, or in some cases, a national ID card.

If you decide to do this through your desktop computer, then you can upload the document straight from your device. You will also need to upload a selfie of you holding a handwritten note with the current date. Alternatively, if you decide to verify your identity via your mobile app, you can use your smartphone camera to take a photo of your ID.

What Payment Methods Does Skrill Support?

Once you have set-up your newly created Skrill account, you will be presented with a range of payment options. This includes a traditional bank transfer, debit/credit card, and a number of alternative methods such as Bitcoin or Paysafecard.

Here’s the full list of supported deposit options.

• Bank transfer
• Debit/credit card
• Neteller
• Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash
• Paysafecard
• Trustly
• Klarna

Regarding a bank transfer, you will be presented with the local bank account details that you need to transfer the funds to. You will also be shown a unique customer reference number.

It is imperative that you insert the customer reference number when you perform the bank transfer, or SKrill might have issues linking the transfer to your account. In the vast majority of cases, the bank transfer deposit will show up in your Skrill account within 2-3 working days.

Alternatively, if you’re from the UK, you can perform a rapid bank transfer via Skrill. This allows you to deposit funds instantly, via the Faster Payments network.

The other option that you have available to you is a debit or credit card deposit. This is by far the easiest option, as the funds will be credited to your Skrill account instantly.

If none of the above suffice, then you can make a deposit with one of the alternative payment methods listed above.

What Fees Does Skrill Charge?

One of the most important factors that will determine whether or not Skrill is right for your needs is fees. This doesn’t just come in the form of transfer fees, but also the costs associated with depositing and withdrawing funds, as well as currency exchange fees. We’ve broken the fees down in more detail below.

Deposit Fees

Regardless of which payment method you use to deposit funds into your Skrill account, you will be charged a fee. For the benefit of simplicity, all payment methods carry a fee of 1%. As such, if you were to deposit £500 in to your account, you would be charged a £5 fee.

This amount is deducted from the gross amount that you deposit. Using the same example as above, you would receive £495 from your £500 deposit.

Withdrawal Fees

One of the great things about Skrill is that you have the option of withdrawing funds back to your chosen payment method.

If you choose to withdraw funds back to your bank account, then you will pay the local currency equivalent of 5.50 EUR. At the time of writing, this amounts to £4.82.

In comparison to PayPal, this is actually very expensive. If you are from the UK and you withdraw funds from your PayPal account back to your UK bank account, then this process is not only instant, but it’s free.

If you want to withdraw funds from your Skrill account back to your Visa debit/credit card, then Skrill will charge you a mouth-watering 7.5%. This means that a £100 withdrawal would result in a £7.50 fee.

Transfer Fees

When it comes to actually transferring money, Skrill will charge you 1.45% of the transfer amount. So, if you were to transfer £400, you would end up paying £5.80 in fees. In comparison to rival e-wallet PayPal, this is actually much cheaper, as PayPal averages 2.90% (although this will vary depending on where you live).

However, it is important to note that if you are transferring funds to a person to utilizes a different currency, then you will need to pay exchange rate fees. Unfortunately, this is where things can begin to get a bit expensive.

Skrill charges an additional 3.99% on top of the current mid-market rate. When adding that on to the previously mentioned 1.45% transfer fee, you could end up paying as much as 5.44%.

On the other hand, Skrill never charges you to receive money, which is definitely a plus-point. On the contrary, the likes of PayPal will charge you a variable fee when receiving funds, unless you are from the UK and the person sending the funds is also from the UK.

So now that you have a better understanding of the fees charged, in the next part of our Skrill review we are going to look at how safe the e-wallet is.

Is Skrill Safe?

If you’re not familiar with how e-wallets work, then you might be concerned with safety. However, established e-wallets such as Skrill are extremely safe to use. Firstly, the platform is authorized by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. This ensures that your funds are kept safe.

When it comes to keeping your account secure, it is highly advisable to set-up two-factor authentication. This is where you will need your mobile phone every time you want to log in or withdraw funds. Without it, nobody will be able to access your account.

You will also be asked to choose a 6-digit PIN number, which will also be required when you perform key account functions.

When you enter sensitive financial information (such as your debit/credit card details) in to the Skrill website, the platform uses advanced encryption security. This means that even if the data was intercepted, nobody would be able to read it.

What you should be extra aware of is ‘Phishing Emails’. This is where scammers will impersonate Skrill by sending you an email. They hope that you reply to the email with your login credentials, so that they can then gain access to your Skrill account. However, Skrill will never contact you by email asking for your account passwords, so be sure to tread with caution.

All in, Skrill is a very safe e-wallet platform to use.

Skrill Customer Support

If you need assistance with your Skrill account, it is always worth checking their extensive FAQ section first. We found that most account queries can be solved by reading the many help guides on offer. However, if you need to speak with the Skrill team directly, then you have a couple options at your disposal.

You can contact Skrill by telephone, and the platform offers a number of local toll numbers, including that of the UK and U.S. Before you call them, make sure that you write down your customer reference number so that the support agent can bring up your account. You’ll find this at the top-right-hand side of the screen.

Alternatively, you can send a direct message to the support team via your Skrill account. The team usually reply within 24 hours, although if you need instant assistance, you’ll be best off contacting them via telephone.

If you are a VIP Skrill member, then you will get access to 24/7 support via a dedicated telephone number. This will avoid having to hold for long periods.

Unfortunately, Skrill does not offer a live chat facility.

Skrill Mobile App

Skrill now offers a fully-fledged mobile application that you can download straight to your phone. The app is supported across both Android and iOS devices, however Blackberry and Windows aren’t supported. The app allows you to access all of the same account functions as you will find via the main Skrill website.

This includes the ability to check balances, transfer funds, deposit and withdraw money, buy and sell crypto, and more. When we tested the app out ourselves, we found that the overall layout was very user-friendly. There were no issues navigating from section-to-section, and we were able to transfer money with ease.

The general consensus in the public domain is that the app operates without fault. Some users have complained about server issues when using the app via Android devices, however these are few and far between.

The app also makes it easier to verify your identity, as you are not required to upload a selfie of you holding a piece of paper with the current date.

Skrill Pre-Paid Debit Card

Skrill also allows you to obtain a pre-paid debit card issued by MasterCard. The card is linked directly to your main Skrill account, which gives you more options when it comes to spending your balance. For example, you can use the Skrill pre-paid debit card when making purchases in-store, free of charge.

You can also withdraw cash from an ATM machine, although you will be charged a 1.75% fee for this. On the other hand, the fees remains the same regardless of where you are, which makes the Skrill pre-paid card useful when travelling abroad. The Skrill pre-paid card comes with a fee of 10 Euros, which you will need to pay every year.

Nevertheless, this actually makes it much cheaper to get money out of your Skrill account, especially when you consider the 7.5% fee charged to withdraw funds to a Visa debit/credit card.

Buying Crypto via Your Skrill Account

Skrill recently entered the cryptocurrency space by allowing registered users to buy and sell coins via their account.

It is important to note that when you buy cryptocurrencies from Skrill, you are not actually buying the underlying asset. Instead, you are buying CFD-like (Contract-for-Difference) products.

This means that you are only speculating on whether the price of the cryptocurrency will go up or down. As a result, you can’t actually withdraw the coins to an external wallet outside of the Skrill website.

Nevertheless, Skrill currently supports eight different cryptocurrencies, which we’ve listed below.

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Ethereum Classic
• Bitcoin Cash
• Litecoin
• Ripple
• Stellar Lumens
• 0x

In terms of fees, if you are buying or selling cryptocurrencies with either the USD or EUR, you will pay 1.5% at each end of the transaction. If you are using an alternative currency like GBP, then this fee increases to 3%. Not only are these fees rather expensive, but Skrill do not make it clear how they import their live pricing feeds.

Skrill Review: The Verdict?

In summary, Skrill is a really useful tool to send and receive money online. No matter where the other person is located, you can transfer funds with ease. We really like that the platform supports a significant number of deposit methods, such as a bank transfer and debit/credit card, as well as alternative options like Paysafecard.

While transfer fees of 1.45% are rather competitive, things can be a bit expensive when you need to transfer funds using a secondary currency. This is also the case if you need to withdraw funds back to a Visa card, with the fees amounting to a whopping 7.5%

However, a simple workaround in this respect is to obtain the Skrill pre-paid card. This way, you can withdraw your Skrill funds out via your local ATM at a rate of just 1.75%. This is especially useful if you want to use your card in another country.

Visit Skrill