PayPal’s opening up of its services to Zimbabwe this past week has created a lot of excitement in the market. Many entrepreneurs see this as a godsend and I can just see them smiling all the way FROM the bank (after going to deposit their funds to start transacting using the payment gateway). But there may be some of you who are wondering what all the excitement is about. Why is everyone (well at least those online) excited about being able to PAY other people and NOT SELL their goods and service? I penned
an article yesterday of why I felt that PayPal wouldn’t be a hit just yet here in Zimbabwe and how local payment solutions were better poised to service the Zimbabwean market. Well, there are still sections of the populace that may want to know what they can pay with PayPal now that it has opened up. Let me first break down to how it works. As PayPal is a payment gateway, it accepts various payment providers through their system (an option that many suppliers would prefer), including VISA and MasterCard. If any website used PayPal to process their payments, even though you have a VISA (for example), because Zimbabwean cards were not recognised by PayPal your card would be rejected and essentially your transaction would fail. This created a stumbling block for many-an-entrepreneur that needed to buy services and products online. Well, PayPal has finally recognised that we exist and have been gracious enough to open their platform to us (someone give these guys a Bells). With this comes a host of opportunities, and I hope to list at least 10 services that you can now enjoy as a
Zimbo.
- WhatsApp subscriptions: For those of you that have been having sleepless nights over how you can pay your WhatsApp subscription and are tired of downloading and using it for FREE, the day has finally come. WhatsApp have been lenient on us and continually extend our expiry date for their service every year. No, it is not because Econet and/or Telecel (or whatever mobile network you’re on) paid for you as some people believe! One of the challenges that the Facebook owned instant messaging app has is how to collect money from developing nations. The coming of PayPal is a step in getting you to pay that $1 per year. C’mon guys, rejoice with me!
- eBay: From the amount of comments and feedback from my last post on the issue, eBay should be a happy lot. It seems everyone was waiting for PayPal so that they can start buying stuff from the American website. Hokoyo ZimBay. If you didn’t know, PayPal is a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay (arguably the biggest consumer to consumer marketplace, a.k.a. classifieds) and now we can buy goods through their website. (Anybody do a transaction yet? Please advise of the logistics so that we all can start enjoying)
- Skype: If you need to communicate cost efficiently then Skype is your answer. Internet connection allowing you can stay in touch with friends and relatives all over the world with your Skype Credit. PayPal now affords us this opportunity.
- DropBox: For those of you that are always on the go and need to store information in the cloud, enter DropBox. The cloud storage service offers a limited amount of storage for FREE but for just $9.99 you can get access to 100GB extra!
- Fiverr: My love and flirtation with Fiverr dates back over two years, where I have been using it ever since. For just $5 you can get an app made, Facebook login plug-in developed, even hire a “fake girlfriend” to make that somebody on Facebook jealous. Now that we can make payments there are so many freelance services that we can get for less than the price of the lowest DStv package (hey, wait, just about anything is lower than that!)
- WordPress: For those of you who like to churn out websites on the fly and use WordPress for quick to market solutions, now you can buy your favourite templates easily. The world of themes and templates, plugins included are estimated to be a $25m industry, so believe me there is some value in them.
- GoDaddy: For those of you that are more interested in .com websites (I’d recommend .co.zw instead, get them from Name) he is one of the industry leaders that will aide you in getting online quickly.
- Udemy: if you haven’t visited Udemy, then what are you waiting for? This has got to be one of THE BEST learning resources online, though it might have a few FREE courses that will help you to further your career; the paid content is off the chain! (N.B. Econet offer this website along with over 50+ other FREE websites through their Econet Zero service, though I have been unable to access it). The courses that are available are widespread and very relevant to what is needed in today’s app market, e.g. Apple Swift Programming
- iTunes: For the iEnthusiasts (all your iDevices) here is an easier way for you to now buy your Apple iTunes Store products at cost. Say good bye to middlemen who we visited at certain stores locally and bought iTunes credit at a premium (I know, you can thank me later).
- Market Motive: I have saved the best for last. My passion is in Social Media Marketing and this is one of the world leaders when it comes to online learning. Teaching you topics such as SEO, PPC, Social Media and Content Marketing, you can get yourself a worldwide recognised certificate all from the comfort of your desktop…
If you are interested in more information on what services you can use with your PayPal account, be sure to check out their
Store Directory. Comment - just watch out that servicesyou may be able to pay for may not deliver to Zimbabwe.
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