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About Skrill
In some ways, Skrill is unique in its market positioning. It’s not an uncommon payment service for primarily online businesses. Alongside PayPal, it’s interestingly one of the most common transfer services used by online casinos.
At a glance, Skrill seems to offer low rates and several special bonuses. They also have their own credit card, which boasts a low-interest rate. But let’s take a closer look at their offers and see how they compare.
Skrill Exchange Rates and Fees
Skrill offers different rates for American users and all other users. Americans will typically pay less.
Skrill, like most money transfer companies, charges a margin on exchange rates. This “hidden” fee is essentially a markup on the mid-market currency exchange rate. However, they don’t charge the “transaction fees” that most similar companies charge.
Let’s look at all of Skrill’s costs add up.
Exchange Rate
Skrill charges a margin on currency exchange transactions. Their rate includes an exchange rate margin of 3.99%. The company is transparent about it if you read through their website. But they won’t list the portion of your transfer that is taken through this exchange rate margin.
Before you confirm a transaction, you can review all the details. The details will include the amount of money in the other currency, alongside the exchange rate Skrill provides. To find out exactly how much Skrill charges, you can compare the transaction details with the real mid-market rates being applied to the two currencies. A quick Google search will provide the mid-market rate.
Subtract Skrill’s sum of the recipient’s currency from the midmarket rate for the amount of the currency you want to convert. That will show you the difference.
For example, at the time of writing, USD 100 was equal to EUR 84.29. With Skrill’s margin, you would pay EUR 3.36 to Skrill, and the recipient would receive EUR 80.93.
As a flat margin on exchange rates, this is higher than average. The good news is that Skrill seems to rely on this margin for their business model, as they don’t charge any transaction fees.
Transfer Fees
With any Skrill account, deposits, withdrawals, transfers, and receiving are all free. This is good, as most other options come with transfer fees. However, you may end up spending enough through exchange rate margins that it ends up costing you as much as another money transfer service’s fees would.
While there are no transfer fees, we can again use the USD to EUR rate as an example.
If you want to send USD 1,000 to someone in the Eurozone, the mid-market rate would exchange into EUR 842.86. Skrill’s exchange rate margin would take approximately EUR 33.63. This leaves the recipient with EUR 809.23.
With a total cost of 33.63 Euros, the total paid towards Skrill for this transaction ends up being far more comparable to other companies that charge both exchange rate margins and transfer fees.
Additional Costs
If you use other services from Skrill, you may have to pay other fees. As we’re focusing on international money transfers, most of them aren’t applicable.
The one additional fee that you should be aware of is a 1% fee for transactions with Skrill’s global payment methods. These include their Visa and Mastercard cards.
How Do Skrill Transfer Fees Compare to Other Money Transfer Providers?
While they can conceal their costs somewhat by primarily charging exchange rate margins, Skrill's expenses are average in the money transfer industry.
Skrill is most often compared to PayPal, which charges a mix of exchange rate margin and transfer fees.
When you include all their fees, PayPal ends up sending the recipient EUR 805.15. This makes Skrill the slightly cheaper option despite their high exchange margins. You would save EUR 4.08 by choosing Skrill, which isn’t a massive difference, but one worth considering.
Overall, Skrill still falls within the average range for international money transfer expenses.
Skrill Pros and Cons
- Recipients don’t face any expenses. Recipients never pay or even know of any of the fees charged by Skrill.
- Bank services are also offered with a Skrill account. So, you can use your balance to make international transfers at Skrill’s rates. You can always withdraw your Skrill balance at an ATM if that’s more appealing to you at any point. You can also use Skrill cards to pay for services in-store and online.
- You have several options for sending money internationally or inside your country. Skrill-to-Skrill money transfers are fast and make international transfers convenient and easy.
- High margins add to the total cost of each transfer. But these expenses are somewhat hidden, as you wouldn’t know about them unless you read through Skrill’s site or heard about them elsewhere. Because their rates are more hidden than most other money transfer companies' rates, you may at first feel like you’re getting a better deal than you really are.
- Poor customer support complaints are abundant on neutral platforms like TrustPilot and the Better Business Bureau. Online reviews tend to skew negatively because people are keener to leave reviews when they’re angry with a product. However, Skrill is also less well-reviewed by the BBB itself for its handling of customer complaints.
- US customers have fewer options. However, customers outside the US can access the missing features, including cryptocurrency support and instant transfers.
How to Open an Account and Transfer Money With Skrill
Opening an Account
Opening an account with Skrill is easy and should only take a few minutes.
Simply go to the Skrill website and click the purple “Register” button.
You will be prompted to fill out basic information. The first step just requires your full name, email address, and country of residence. That’s all it takes to register.
To use additional services, you will need to provide additional information to apply. Before you’re allowed to transfer money, you will need to:
Confirm your ID and email address
Provide banking/payment information
Transferring Money
To transfer money with Skrill, you just need to log in online or in one of the mobile apps. From there, select the send money option. Then…
Step 1: Add the recipient’s transfer information
Step 2: Create a new transfer and select the recipient from the drop-down menu
Step 3: Fill in all the transfer details
Step 4: Review the transaction details
Step 5: Accept the transaction details and make the payment
Step 6: Track the transfer’s process on your Skrill account
Additional Information
Skrill is not just an international money transfer service. They also offer banking services at fairly low rates. They operate as a digital wallet, which is somewhat like a miniature digital bank. You can also use Skrill to shop, receive payments, and withdraw cash from an ATM.
Customer Service Details for Users of Skrill
Call: +44 (0) 203 318 4608
If you’re a Skrill VIP, email: vip@Skrill.com
Can I Use Skrill for International Bank Transfers?
Yes, Skrill can be used to make international bank transfers. However, they charge a fee of up to 2.99% for a normal international bank transfer.
Other Apps to Send Money Abroad
Summary
Skrill is a reputable international money transfer service that is active in over 120 countries. This makes them a great choice for people looking for a flexible money transfer service. They serve most major countries and currencies. In addition, they offer fair rates that slightly outcompete industry giants like PayPal.
While Skrill offers several payment options, they are a bit less flexible in this regard. But their cards serve as an inexpensive and useful addition for regular users. If you’re looking for this kind of service, try comparing the rates Skrill offers for the transfers you want to make.
