Will Payoneer withdrawal be still avaliable?

[#1]

I received a mail that says Payoneer prepaid masterCard program will shutdown on May, 27. Will it affect me if I don't have Payoneer cards, I usually withdraw to my Payoneer account and then to local bank?

[#2]

You can and you will be able to. I do the same way. Payoneer then bank account

[#3]

Kanan I, are you Russian? If not, you probably missed the point.

So Upwork informed Russian freelancers about that because Payoneer prepaid MasterCard® will no longer be available for users with addresses in Russia.

Below is the quote from Upwork's message:

Payoneer has advised us that this is because local regulatory authorities in Russia have placed new restrictions on the cards. As a result, if your address is in Russia, the Payoneer prepaid MasterCard® program will end and Payoneer will deactivate any cards on May 27, 2020.

If you currently have a Payoneer prepaid MasterCard®, Payoneer has told us that any remaining funds on the card as of May 27, 2020, will be transferred to your Payoneer account.

Since withdrawing your Upwork earnings to a Payoneer prepaid MasterCard® will no longer be an option, we will remove these cards from Upwork accounts by May 27, 2020. 

On the other hand, basically Payoneer allowed and confirmed that it is possible to change billing address to the country other than Russia and then card will not be blocked.

My question is: if I change billing address of Payoneer card and keep it working, will you still remove the card from withdrawal method? Will you remove this method automatically for all the Russians or depending on the further information from Payoneer?

[#4]

Dina and Mikhail,

Payoneer is no longer able to continue with the Payoneer prepaid MasterCard® program in Russia due to new local regulatory requirements concerning prepaid MasterCard®. For this reason, we removed this payment method option on Upwork. By May 27 these cards will be removed from Upwork accounts. 

Additionally, please note that Upwork freelancer accounts have to reflect the freelancer's actual location.

Thank you.

[#5]

That's what I am asking about, does this new regulation affects physical Payoneer cards only or it means complete removal of Payoneer payment option? The one I'm using now is called "Payoneer debit card" 

[#6]

Dina, 

To clarify, Payoneer will not be available at all as a payment option on Upwork accounts located in Russia. 

[#7]

Iurri, if you can have Payoneer Global Payment Service access, you should be possible to make ACH transfer from Upwork to Payoneer for 1% fee. It is definitely not the same but it is possibility.

[#8]

If only MasterCard plastic is prohibited, why close the entire Payoneer? This service is very convenient. Support Payoneer, says that in addition to plastic, all other functions of the payment system will continue to work in Russia.

I ask you to clarify the moment regarding the withdrawal of funds to Payoneer without a plastic MasterCard, I can’t understand what obstacles there may be in continuing to work with this payment method.

Regards,

Roman Z

[#9]

Hi Roman,

Please refer to Vladimir's message in this thread for more information on your concern. Let us know if you have further questions.

Thank you.

[#10]

Valeria, okay, that is clear about Payoneer prepaid cards.

Can we expect appearance of the alternative like flat fee for ACH transfer to Payoneer which is provided by the other marketplaces for all the customers, not only from chosen UK/USA/India/Thailand countries? Or Upwork is not interested at all to find any compromise solution for russian freelancers?

[#11]

Hi Mikhail,

Our team is always searching for new payment methods and options on how freelancers can withdraw their funds. Once we have any new updates we will post an update here in our Community. Thank you.

[#12]

Hi all.

As I continue of Dina's thread I'm also worried regarding the removal of the Payoneer withdrawal method since the Payoneer still works for Russian peoples and only their card is not (because of 3rd party reason and probably it will be resolved someday). So it looks like discrimination since the Payoneer account still usable and probably you can give us the option to leave the Payoneer account linked as a withdrawal method, probably on request to support. I can suggest that the main reason to prevent making it difficult to get the funds by users who are new with this withdrawal method (since they will have no access to the Payoneer card). But it's still important for the current users and I want to ask you to review the possibilities to leave existing linked accounts or make it possible by the request through the support.

As an organizer of Upwork Huddle in my city (about 10 times and for more than 70 peoples) I hear that this is important at least for 15 (of 70) freelancers (more than 20%). Therefore, I ask you to listen to the request, it's definitely important.

[#13]

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Therefore, I ask you to listen to the request, it's definitely important.

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upwork hardly ever listens to concerns their users faced with.

Simple fact they have not noticed - payoneer is not forbidden for russian users.

Thus the question - why do you remove withdrawal method without looking a little bit deeper into the situation?

[#14]

I support the topic. and as the owner of the agency, I want to note that without Payoneer I will not be able to pay my team located in different countries, because you don't provide other tools to do this inside the system or outside it.

[#15]

Hello!
I would like to choose Pioneer as my payment method, but unfortunately cannot find it as the option in the settings. Can you recommend how to attach my Pioneer account to the Upwork?
Thank you very much.

[#16]

Hi Ivan,

We apologize for the confusion. The team is working on bringing Payoneer back as a payment option in Settings. Once it's back, you'll be able to add it to your Upwork account.

We appreciate your patience. 

[#17]

Thanks for your quick response. Can you please suggest what should I do for now? Can I not choose any payment method until you bring the Pioneer back?

[#18]

Ivan, you can add an alternative payment method for the time being. We'll update this thread as soon as Payoneer is available as an option again. 

Thank you!

[#19]

I also wonder if Global Payment Service provided by Payoneer will be available as a withdrawal method. Technically it's a virtual First Century Bank Account

[#20]

Hi all,

We apologize for the confusion the recent update has created. We're happy to confirm that your Payoneer accounts will remain active on Upwork and you can continue withdrawing your Upwork earnings to your Payoneer account.