Paysafecard

What Is Paysafecard?

Run by UK payments giant Paysafe Group, Paysafecard is an online payment method that allows users to make purchases over the internet using pre-paid vouchers purchased from sales outlets available in around 40 countries globally.

Understanding Paysafecard

Paysafecard is, in essence, a type of voucher purchased in-store for online use. It's commonly used in the UK, although it's also widely available across the EU/EEA, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, and other countries.

Balance is loaded onto a Paysafecard voucher in any one of around 28 world currencies and can be for online purchases using a 16-digit PIN code. Paysafecard is a widely integrated payment method on many e-commerce stores and is particularly common among the gaming, entertainment, gambling, and online dating industries.

Paysafecard is also an available fund-in method for international money transfers with Skrill, a Paysafe-owned cross-border mobile wallet.

How To Use Paysafecard

Paysafecard and relatively simple to use, requiring users to purchase a physical voucher (resembling a receipt) from any one of around 650 thousand sales outlets worldwide. These include supermarkets, petrol stations, and other types of in-store vendors.

Paysafecard vouchers are available in £10.00, £25.00, £40.00, £50.00, £75.00, and £100.00 (or currency equivalent) denominations, and multiple can be used to foot the bill on a single purchase online. Similarly, if the online purchase is less than the value of the voucher, the remaining balance is still available for future use, meaning that the same voucher can be used to fund multiple purchases. Paysendcard charges a £3.00 (or equivalent) maintenance fee per month after the seventh month for any unused balance remaining in a voucher.

To use a voucher, customers need to select the Paysafecard option at online checkout and enter the 16-digit PIN code associated with the voucher.

On an ordinary Paysafecard voucher, the maximum limit per transaction is £40.00 (or currency equivalent). However, this limit can be raised by using a my paysafecard account, a rechargeable online pre-paid account that allows users to pay for Paysafecard transactions using a username and password rather than a PIN.

Paysafecard Exchange Rates

While Paysafecard offers convenient online payment services, using vouchers to pay in a foreign currency is comparatively expensive.

To convert currencies, Paysafe charges an exchange rate margin (i.e. the difference between the mid-market exchange rate that the commercial exchange rate offered to consumers) that frequently goes as high as 6.00% of the entire transaction value. While the margins between major currencies such as the British pound, Euro, and the US dollar tend to be in the region of 2.50% to 5.00%, these fees are nonetheless very steep and on par with the most expensive currency exchange services analysed on Monito, such as on offer at PayPal and high-street banks.