Moneybookers - with a little improvement they could be great!

[plommer]

My recent post about Neteller got me thinking.

I like moneybookers, they are very good and totally secure.
I liked Neteller even more than moneybookers back when I could use them.
With a little improvement moneybookers could become better than Neteller was.

I use moneybookers as my main form of moving money between books and poker and withdrawing to my bank account.

I know they offer a mastercard to their European customers, the card can be used to get cash or for purchases, this is convenient.

I wish they offered a mastercard or debit card to Canadians, this would be a great feature and very convenient.

The one thing that would make moneybookers great for Canadians would be ach bank transactions.

ACH is what payroll departments, paypal, and Instadebit use to send money to a bank account in Canada, ACH is fast, much faster than the current wire-transfers moneybookers currently use for Candian accounts.
Wires are processed manually by the receiving bank and are prone to human error, ACH is automatic and much more reliable.

If moneybookers added these two features they would surpass Neteller as the best e-wallet for gamblers.

 

[Matty]

Agree with the ACH bit. I had the unpleasant surprise to realize that Moneybookers didn't interact really well with credit unions, which use a single SWIFT code for the entire institution instead of one per branch. My first withdrawal from them was lost for over a week until someone from the non-bank found out that my 3 grand had been sitting in a random account. 2nd time I got paid was by check, which was in USD. Foreign checks are frozen for 21 business days as a general rule and your only recourse is to smooth-talk a banker into releasing it early.

Instadebit is good, but uploading any kind of serious money is a pain. I was on a $200 weekly limit until about 2 years ago (now $500!)

I miss Neteller very much.

 

[Mudcat]

In my mind, Moneybookers is overall better than Neteller was - except for one thing: availability. Basically every sportsbook used Neteller. There are more gaps with Moneybookers. Quite a few more gaps.

I don't know whether that is the fault of Moneybookers or the books. Maybe books purposely don't use them because Moneybookers would be the preferred choice of sharps.

But then again Moneybookers can be bureaucratic and difficult, particularly when you are getting started, and I know some books try to get set up and end up throwing up their hands and saying screw it. An example would be RebateWager.

 

[Dunder]

I have both Neteller and Moneybookers Mastercards, they are a good way of avoiding transaction charges.
If I have to transfer funds from my bank to MB or Neteller they both do that for free.
The only real difference between them from my perspective is terms of currency conversion charges, Neteller's are a little bit less.

In summary both are great.

 

[plommer]

I have both Neteller and Moneybookers Mastercards, they are a good way of avoiding transaction charges.
If I have to transfer funds from my bank to MB or Neteller they both do that for free.
The only real difference between them from my perspective is terms of currency conversion charges, Neteller's are a little bit less.

In summary both are great.

Since Neteller is based in Canada and connected to the banking network here they sent funds using ACH to bank accounts in the USA and Canada, the debit card was awesome, took literally minutes to get funds out of a Neteller account.

I don't know why moneybookers won't offer Mastercards to Canadian residents, I wish they did.

Moneybookers are a bit quirky in a couple of ways.

If you have a Canadian dollar based moneybookers account you can't get a cheque, only a wire to your bank account.
A Canadian with a US dollar based moneybookers account can get a cheque (sent fromCommerzebank in NEW YORK CITY!) or a wire.