There was a time when it was extremely difficult to make PayPal to M-Pesa transfers.
However, PayPal surprisingly partnered with Safaricom in 2018. This made it easy for Kenyans to get money from PayPal to M-Pesa superfast.
Question: Can You Withdraw Money Directly from PayPal to MPESA through a Kenyan Platform?
Yes, this is now possible!
It wasn’t possible to do this for a long time till 9th April, 2018 when the big partnership happened.
It’s now official that Kenyans can directly receive their PayPal cash to their M-Pesa accounts.
It takes a few minutes to 3 days to receive money on M-Pesa once you’ve withdrawn, depending on the amount you’re withdrawing.
You can literally withdraw $200 and get the cash on your M-PESA in 5 minutes or less. Sometimes it may take a little longer, but it mostly works in minutes.
Here’s an official video from PayPal that shows you how to do all this:
Another great service that you can use to withdraw from PayPal is the Equity Bank PayPal Withdrawal Service.
So Do PayPal to M-Pesa Agents Still Exist?
Yes, they’re still there.
However, as seen above, there’s now an official partnership between PayPal and Safaricom.
It can work in minutes depending on the amount you’re withdawing. Therefore, you may not need to use other services.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a PayPal to M-Pesa Agent
Once again, this has been majorly negated by the partnership we’ve talked about here. However, there are people who still have issues using the official channel and would want to use PayPal to M-Pesa agents (people who exchange PayPal money for M-Pesa in minutes).
If you’re in this situation, you’ve probably seen things like these:
“With our service, you get your cash on M-Pesa within 5 minutes”.
“We exchange your Paypal cash instantly”.
Sounds familiar? I know.
But who should you trust?
Here are things to consider before using anything apart from the official channel.
- The safety of your PayPal account – Some great services do not involve sending money directly to a personal PayPal account. Others involve sending cash to a trusted person’s PayPal account then they send you the equivalent. Withdrawing PayPal money in Kenya through suspicious guys may still work but soon your personal account may be limited, especially if the person gets in trouble with PayPal for whatever reason.
- The speed of delivery – How fast do you get your cash? Most service providers will serve you in 10-30 minutes. The official channel takes you just a few minutes. But if you’re having issues with that channel, you may get an agent who can also deliver fast.
- Quality of support – How is the support team? How do they respond to your queries?
- Exchange rate – How much money will you get at the end of the day?
Some quick ratings of the official PayPal withdrawal method
Why should you opt for the official method? Let’s look at the pros:
Safety of your account 5/5
This is an official service that’s offered by PayPal, Safaricom’s M-Pesa and Thunes, therefore your account is 100% protected.
Speed of delivery 5/5
You mostly get the cash in minutes, which is amazing!
Quality of support 5/5
PayPal and Safaricom are known for excellent support. Ah, okay, not always, but they try. They got you covered 🙂
Exchange rate 5/5
The biggest asset here is the rate! Using this method gives you the highest possible exchange rate. At the time of updating this post, it’s even faster than Equity’s withdrawal method.
Other services
I had a whole list here when I first wrote this article. I decided not to update this with other services since they seem to come and go real quick. And the official method works fine for most people.
You can always do a quick Google search to see which the latest PayPal to M-Pesa service is. However, to be safe, make sure you check out their reviews to ensure they are not scammers.
What if you can’t use the official PayPal to M-Pesa platform? No sweat. You can use the Equity Bank method instead.
Note that PayPal is not the best method to transact online. There are awesome PayPal alternatives out there like Payoneer, Wise (formerly TransferWise), Paxful, and Skrill.
Conclusion
It’s great that freelancers can now officially withdraw from PayPal to MPESA using an arrangement that is directly endorsed by both PayPal and Safaricom.
In case the official method doesn’t work for you, you can always use Equity’s service and still get your cash from PayPal in 3 days.
Equity is also 100% endorsed by PayPal so your safety is guaranteed at all times.
Note that PayPal to M-Pesa is still way cheaper than PayPal to Equity.
Of course, that’s limited by Safaricom’s daily transaction limits.
Those transacting more than Safaricom’s daily limit will have to transact in a couple of days. So if you’re withdrawing $5,000, it may be more practical to just use Equity.
What’s your experience with this method?
I am so glad and embraced by the services of Paypal to Mpesa.
It is just superb.
Thank you so much Paypal and Safaricom.
Great article there Walter , guys you can also check out our new rates here http://www.premierpesa.co.ke. We have been in this industry for over 5 years now with best rates and that’s why most freelancers prefer using our services which are always instant and available 24/7. Get your cash in less than 5 minutes 0723013549
Looking for employment is there any with p premier.
Awesome content Walter. Just awesome, i would never get this type of well-researched content anywhere i the freaking internet. Umm, Walter i have not linked any debit/credit card to my paypal account but i’ve linked it to my m-pesa accounyt, Can i receive payments from abroad and channel them to my M-pesa? Can m-pesa hold the payment?
Your response will be highly appreciated
Hi Charbelito,
Thanos a lot.
Please link first for a smooth experience. Should take you a few minutes.
Hi Walter,
I had registered my Safaricom number with a Paypal account that I’ve since closed. Now, I can’t use the same number to the existing account coz Thunes tells me the number has already been used by another account (which I deactivated). How do I solve this?
Thanks.
Hi Godia,
You may need to get another number.
It is nice to have the PayPal to M-Pesa transfer official option.However,I have tried connecting my PayPal account to M-Pesa but I received the error “Sorry we can’t link these accounts, the PayPal and M-Pesa accounts you’ve listed don’t belong to the same person”
After some intense Googling,I came across various suggestions on how to solve this issue:
1)Make sure the names used on both accounts i.e M-Pesa and PayPal account match
2)Ensure that you use the same phone number for both M-Pesa and PayPal
3)The email address used should be the same for M-Pesa and PayPal
4)The service is currently only available for PayPal Individual account not the Business account so confirm that you are using a PayPal Individual account.
5)Try using a different browser (preferably a more recent version/recently updated version) to register for the service.
Unfortunately,the above did not solve the problem for me.So I used http://www.paypal-mobilemoney dotcom/ “Contact Us” page to contact them and ask for assistance.I received an automated email acknowledging receipt of my email and not long after an email from customer service reading as below:
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for contacting us.
In regards of your registration problem, kindly help to ensure that both your account details between your M-Pesa & PayPal accounts are absolutely matching.
You can verify and update your account’s details after login to your PayPal account.
Please let us know if you have any further questions.
The support team member who sends it will vary but the message is the same.
Unfortunately the message is not very helpful especially if like me your account details match already.Follow up emails were not answered (more than four days as of writing this and counting). I tried registering again many times today and received the same error.Used the “Contact Us” page again and received the same generic email above from another customer representative.Follow up emails went unanswered as well.
I also engaged Safaricom and they just referred me back to the paypal-mobilemoney website
I also came across several other errors while searching for a solution to my problem, that users trying to link their M-Pesa accounts with PayPal were experiencing.Teething problems??
I’ll continue trying to engage the parties and to solve the issue as I’m still ‘stuck’ using the Equity/Payooneer options.I posted on this popular blog so that if anyone had a similar issue and was able to resolve it,they may share the solution with me as well since it appears it may take a while dealing with the three companies and finding a solution.
So I can’t link my business account….I logged in and it went through where do I check?
Patricia,
If it went through you should be fine.
Hi Mtefu,
Sorry for that. How are things now?
How do you get your money via payoneer?
Hi Theresa,
Clarify your question. Do you mean from PayPal to Payoneer?
Exactly Walter.
That is what I mean.
I am experiencing the same issue, it’s unfortunate that there is a back and forth thing between PayPal and M-PESA. Nobody wants to take responsibility for the problem or fix it. I have checked my account details so many times now as requested and I do not see any discrepancies. I have funds in my account that I need to access but it’s just laying there dormant because I can’t access it. This is very frustrating, Skrill does not have this kind of issue.
This article was if great help, thanks sana Bwana Walter.
Happy to help, Mwanga.
great job walter.nimekuona sai baba
Thanks Issoh.
Walter, I usually find all your works very helpful. It has always saved me. Today I helped a stranded friend who wanted to link Paypal to mpesa after spending hours on some sites. I just recommended her to your site, and wah! she got the solution there. She thanked me much, but I have to thank you most…
Hi Joram,
Thanks for your kind words.
I’m happy your friend got a solution here.
I am very curious to know about the charges that the interoperability between M-PESA and PayPal comes with. Once I know, I will make a forward decision either to link my PayPal account with M-PESA or not. Every time I log in my PayPal account, I get tempted to link with M-PESA but I have not seen any review out there about the charges. How are the charges on withdrawal? Is it cheaper than the PayPal-Equity Bank withdrawal or is it just as expensive as Safaricom always been since time immemorial ?
Hi Steve,
Yes, the charges are cheaper than Equity at the moment. Check the link to the withdrawal site above.
I have just checked and they charge 3% conversion fee on every amount withdrawn. The conversion fee percentage is also constant. This is very way expensive compared to PayPal-Equity charges on withdrawal. So generally, the new PayPal-Mpesa is not cheaper at all. I was giving it a try and I wanted to withdraw $60 and the conversion fee was a whole $1.8. I did not complete the transaction.
Thanks Steve.
However, note that they charge 3% on the exchange rate. Meaning if the exchange rate is 102, you’ll get it at Sh. 98.94 (3% of 102). Lots of people have expressed that Equity’s rate is usually lower than what Safaricom gives. You don’t get any other charge with Safaricom, while Equity has a 1.5% fee (which goes down depending on the amount you withdraw).
At the end of the day, you receive more with Safaricom than with Equity. That’s been proven multiple times at the time of writing this.
As usual, these things change with time so someone can check both quotes and make a decision on which one to choose, just in case any of the above changes.
Oh, so that explains why I always get the quoted amount before withdrawal. Silly me, all this time I was thinking that the service is actually free ? . I expected the 3% charge to be deducted from the transferred amount. But, Steve, it is true what Walter says. You get more value with PayPal to M-Pesa. It’s not only cheaper, it’s also faster (at least that’s been the experience for me since most transactions have taken no more than 2hrs 10min but people say that might differ depending on the amount and time of withdrawal).
Problems arise if the details in PayPal and M-Pesa are not matching. I couldn’t link my M-Pesa account because names aren’t matching with what is on PayPal. Many people are having this problem too. PayPal only asks for first name and surname during signing up, which is what I provided to get my account. On the other hand, M-Pesa can have up to three or four names as they appear on the National ID. So, if names in both accounts are not absolutely matching, it is not possible to link.
Adding a middle name on PayPal can be a hustle because they require you to provide government ID and court issued document showing your legal name like a marriage certificate, divorce certificate etc.
The other alternatives are opening a new PayPal account (they allow applicants to have at least one Personal & one Business/Premier account) or buying a new Safaricom SIM card & registering it with the names as they appear on PayPal. But, that will just complicate things for me.
I’m just disappointed in how the web developers programmed the sign-up API. Since they ask you to enter a confirmation code sent to your phone, that should be enough proof of identity. They are being overly sensitive regarding names. They should have programmed their portal such that linking will go through as long as the names in a PayPal account appear alongside any of the names of an M-Pesa number, even if the latter account has more names.
Thanks for your feedback, Jack.
Yes, this is happening to so many people and is pretty annoying.
I hope something is done about it, soon.
New PayPal to Mpesa withdrawal partnership between Safaricom and PayPal is great but unpredictable. Many users are getting their money refunded after 3 days of waiting and many accounts getting limited.
Having dealt with PayPal for many years, I will try to help make sense of what is happening why many users are all encountering these hurdles.
PayPal transactions are usually monitored by systems, not human beings. They have certain algorithms in place to counter suspicious activity.
A sudden change in the size and/or frequency of transactions or a sudden change in login activity triggers the PayPal security system to:
– block payments (a reason why you get the “We can’t send your payment right now” error);
– place payments on hold (a reason why you may have payments placed under review for 24 hours or on hold for 7 days, 14 days or 21 days);
– cancel payments (a reason why you may experience situations where payments on hold are cancelled or completed payments are reversed); or
– place limitations on a PayPal account (worst case scenario).
Right now, there is heavy activity on Transfer To’s PayPal account and also on very many Kenyan PayPal accounts. Obviously, the PayPal security system has detected this.
In light of this, you can naturally expect service interruption/delay/suspension and massive limitations in the coming days.
Hi James,
Thanks for your feedback.
The service has just been in place for a week now, so there are definitely teething problems. Some are enjoying the service while others are experiencing the challenges you write about.
I still see it as a good step in the right direction. I believe things will normalize in the next few weeks.
I agree that the PayPal bot behaves funny sometimes. I hope the people in charge over at PayPal take note of and mitigate the above concerns.
Thanks once again!
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Hey Esther,
Great stuff right there from ePay!
Hi Walter,
Am an IT graduate from the University of Nairobi but something yummy makes me surprised every time.I don’t know how my fellow school mates made it to create the chura online system.i have the urge to create one of a kind that will be of benefits to Kenyans and even other nations.Where can i begin from.please advise.
Hi Ivan. You just have to be creative, research a lot and use your abilities. Perhaps you can talk to your friends and learn a thing or two about how they created Chura.
Mmm, Kudos Mr. Walter for this platform. It offers great guidance. Looking through comments, I realize there’s isn’t any for this year so far. Could someone help with the updates from the marketplace as far as transferring from PayPal to Mpesa is concerned. I am simply interested in the cheapest rates. I really don’t care much how many hours they take 24rs is just agreeable to me.
Thanks David. The above recommended ones still work today. You can try them out.
And we have now crossed the border to Uganda, offering PayPal/Payoneer to MTN/Airtel chap chap: epayuganda dot com
Now which is the best to withdraw from paypal to mpesa
You can use ePay-Kenya named above or Everluxe http://paypaltompesaservices.com/paypal-to-mpesa-calculator
I have use ePay-Kenya and they’re pretty good.
NB. Maybe you should do one on the fraudsters too. I tried a service called ElBankMoney.com due to their “wonderful rates” and got swindled. When the deal is too good and all that I suppose 🙂
Hi Anthony
Yes, ePay are great.
Sorry to hear what happened with Elbank. I’ll consider doing one on the fraudsters as suggested.
where is this verification code in this paypal stuff? am finding it hard to look in the so called the bank statements. What is that actaully?
Try e-pesa.co.ke they send you money immediately and have very good exchange rates. I was satisfied with their support too as they have multiple live chat support and phone options.
Admin, you can review and rate them here too
Francis
Thanks for letting me know about this.
I will consider reviewing and rating in due time. Good to hear about the service though.
All the best.
Hi Walter,has anyone tried moneylink international….any experiences?I tried to transfer funds from mpesa to paypal using them,the minimum amount stated on their webpage doubled after i sent the quoted amount…and i was asked to send more money before my transfer can be completed.
Hi Dotty,
Sorry I have never heard of them. Sorry for the poor experience with them.
Try StretchGO.com for your paypal to Mpesa services. The services works so fast within minutes. Never will you be told that there is no money. Simply withdraw to Mpesa within minutes.
Thanks for the heads up Brian.
Don’t make the mistake of using Stretchgo. Brian is a crook and I am recording a statement with the police. He recently conned me of $23. I sent the PayPal funds to him on December 11 2014. When the Mpesa failed to arrive within minutes (as promised on his website), I lodger a PayPal complaint. He then promised to sent the Mpesa funds within 5 minutes if I closed the PayPal dispute. After I closed the dispute (PayPal disputes can’t be re-opened once closed) he dissappeared. He has not responded to emails and his phone number is permanently on divert to some other number.
Be warned everyone. Brian Wambua of StretchGo.com is a crook.
Hi Kihara
Those are really strong allegations. Sorry for what you went through.
Have you been able to reach him since?
He completely disappeared! I’m lucky I was only testing out his service with a small transaction. I would have lost much more.
No no no…that’s bad. I know him personally. I’ll try get in touch and see how it goes. I hope he will even be able to come here and reply back to you.
Hi Kihara. I have spoken with Brian. I am emailing you his number. He has said you can call or text him and he’ll sort you out immediately. Thanks.
Walter,
I texted him yesterday and he promised to sort me in 24hours.
Still hasn’t. 48 hours later I’m still waiting to be sorted immediately.
Hi Kihara
So unfortunate. I hope he sorts you out quick. Try at least one more reminder.
Hi Kihara and Walter,
Just seen this one. I am here to reply and make clarifications:
Number 1: We do not work past working hours. So, when you send $$$ to us during non-working hours, be patient we will sort you out the following working day.
Some people may skip reading this from our website leading to a delay. Further, they may lodge a dispute which as per our terms we do not tolerate. This further delays the response rate and delivery time.
To make the system safer, we no longer serve transactions that are sent directly to us. In fact, the only transactions sent directly to use are purchases for our softwares and scripts which do not need any follow-up or any cash sent to the owner.. For Paypal to mpesa, we have to invoice you.
we have implemented a safer method of withdrawing from paypal, you simply text us your preferred amount to withdraw and your details, then we only invoice you if we are ready to complete within your needed deadline.
Once you receive an invoice from us, be sure we can handle that transaction within that moment during the working hours.
To Kihara, sorry for the difficulties you faced. It is hard sorting you when in conflict with our terms but we finally located your transaction and sorted you. I fact, the only Kihara who paid us via paypal had his transaction sent to the paypal account which accepts only software payments.
Hi Walter, thanks for the follow-up. I seem to need a way to ping me when something about our companies is posted on ya blog. That way, we can respond promptly.
Mbarikiwe Nyote.
Thanks a lot Brian for the update and clarifications. I believe all is cleared out now. No worries about pingbacks, I will let you know if anyone says something that needs your attention as usual. Barikiwa sana pia.
Why did you go off? You claim to be working on weekdays, yet you took months to handle simple issue worth $23. Your services MUST BE HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!
Walter,
Following your intervention, I can finally report that after weeks of silence and waiting, Brian finally sent me the funds last night at 8:51pm.
Thank you for your assistance. We need more people like you.
Most welcome Mr. Kihara. I am glad to note that he finally paid you. I appreciate your kind words.
Hello , walter can i send you $$$ from my payapl and in exchange you send me the cash on Mpesa. and what are your exchange rate !
Hi Brigit,
Please text me at 0720754933.
Hae Walter can I change some $ for mpesa now?
Sorry I stopped that business long ago.
Glo-money is working very well and the guy is acting very fast, I like using his service. I have used the service repeatedly. Thank you Justus for being there to assist.
Thanks Alex for letting us know.
Hi,
Can I send you my $$$ and exchange me for 80.6 KSH. I need cash and I can not wait. The bank way, or epay style. Kindly help
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your update.
Yes, you can send the dollars. Please send me an email at walter@freelancerkenya.com we take it up from there.
Thanks
A great article. Thanks Walter for the informative piece.
Can you exchange some dollars? My payoneer card was blocked and am broke
Thanks in advance
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your compliment.
Yes, we can exchange. Sorry about your card being blocked.
Kindly click here to see how it works. If you’re cool with everything, send the cash to walter@freelancerkenya.com on PayPal.
Thanks and cheers!
Really appreciate Walter. A friend bailed me out yesterday, but next time I’ll try your way.
Keep the good work up
Hi Mark,
It’s totally okay.
All the best and thanks for your consideration.
I really want to know the dollar rates that are offered by e-pay before i decide whether or not to withdrawal my money using their services. Could you please help me with information
Hi Sospeter,
Kindly click here to see ePay-Kenya’s dollar rates.
Thanks Walter for the great write. With your permission, let me invite your followers to check out our fb page and see what services we offer.
Visit the page here >> https://www.facebook.com/pp2bankmpesa.
Thanks and keep up the good work you’re doing up there.
~Robert
Hi Robert,
Thanks for your comment. They are free to check out your page although since I have not used the service, they do it at their own risk.
All the best 🙂
I am a fanatic follower of epay-kenya, but their charges are not anything romantic, do the other sites have cheaper rates? Are they reliable? I hope you have done your research well Walter. I also have issues with getting my Payoneer Card shipped. ok. Truth is it was slated to arrive somewhere between the 17th and 25th of this month. I am just afraid it might not.
Hi Patrick,
Yes, there are some that are cheaper. You can contact them and compare the rates.
The Payoneer card should arrive by that date. They are way on point.
Cheers 🙂
Hi Patrick. You may want to check out our new rates at ePay. Am sure you will be happy.
I agree. Your new rates are awesome!
I used E-Pay Kenya today to withdraw money from Paypal to my M-PESA. It took me about 20 minutes from the moment I contacted E-Pay and me receiving my payment on M-PESA. They are also professional in that they track all your correspondence with them via ticke system and so making follow up easy.
That was incredibly fast and I am sure E-PAY will be a great asset to many freelancers in Kenya.
Their charges are reasonable given the convenience.
Yeah,
ePay-Kenya define convenience and reliability.
Thanks for the update Tim.
Cheers 🙂
Glo-money is a rip off, i pray Equity bank goes through with that PP withdrawal stuff.
What happened?
Glo-money is 100% functional. We had delays over the weekend but we are up and running. Kindly feel free to use glo-money wherever your like. Thanks.
Thanks a lot Justus for the clarification.
Recently glo-money and pesa
-gram are non-functional cannot withdraw my money someone help me
Had the same problem with Kenyapesa, they did not respond to my email queries when my cash transfer took more than the 24 hours stated on the site. Anyway, I got the money about 6 hours later than I should have. It would be nice if their support improved.
Hi Juls,
Thanks for your comment.
I also hope they improve their support.
Cheers 🙂
I have used Glo money for 2 years now and I can confirm that they are good, Justus the owner is approachable.
Thanks Mercy for your heads up. I am happy to hear they work out great for you.