Canadian Players: Unite (eh)

[halcyon1234]

Okay, if you haven't heard the news yet, go check out the Announcement Section.

Basically, Neteller is pussing out, and as of April 9th, won't transfer to or from online gambling sites for Canadian players. This is bad, but fortunately, not as bad as in the US: Though we've lost Neteller as a payment method, but we haven't been legally banned from transferring money to a gambling site. As such, there should be other options available to us.

The question is, what are they? Let's discuss:

EFT transfers to/from a bank account directly
Credit Cards to deposit (but not withdraw, can't do that in North America)
Click2Pay
Citadel
myCitadel
eWalletXpress
Moneybookers
Others?

Has anyone had any experience with any of the above? Good, bad, indifferent? What service fees or exchange fees can we expect? Are there any that should be avoided at all cost? Are there any that weren't included on the list above?

- Halcyon

 

[bluewhale]

EFT transfers to/from a bank account directly
Credit Cards to deposit (but not withdraw, can't do that in North America)
Click2Pay
Citadel
myCitadel
eWalletXpress
Moneybookers
Others?

credit card and bank transfer are absolute last resorts... currency conversion at every deposit/withdraw is not a promising prospect.

moneybookers seems to be really good (i use it). there is a 1.9% fee for credit card deposits... but this is not much considering you would likely only upload a few hundred dollars (and then build that money up).

halycon, plz edit ur comment and add ecocard and payspark to the list.

 

[halcyon1234]

Hrm, can't seem to find the edit button anywhere. Odd.

In any case:

EFT transfers to/from a bank account directly
Credit Cards to deposit (but not withdraw, can't do that in North America)
Click2Pay (I'm testing it out now. Easy sign up. Waiting to test withdrawls)
Citadel
myCitadel
eWalletXpress
Moneybookers (Small initial deposit fee, seems to be working)
Others?

 

[bluewhale]

one more thing to add... i think click2pay is pretty much useless also. apparently you can only make the account in ur home currency... i.e. CAD:cry:

 

[halcyon1234]

one more thing to add... i think click2pay is pretty much useless also. apparently you can only make the account in ur home currency... i.e. CAD:cry:

It just means some currency conversion-- which usually translates into 0.5% lost per transaction when they use "favorable" rates. My Neteller was set to CAD, but it would still be debited/credited USD (converted to CAD).

 

[bluewhale]

It just means some currency conversion-- which usually translates into 0.5% lost per transaction when they use "favorable" rates. My Neteller was set to CAD, but it would still be debited/credited USD (converted to CAD).

so what rate do they use??
cause i know a LOT of bonuses become completely useless when you use neteller to deposit and have to convert both ways. they take out a hell of a lot more than 0.5%.
any site that forces me to convert at every transaction automatically goes to the bottom of my list, i don't think this is something that should be considered lightly, its a big problem. if you're dealing with 40% sticky bonuses, it often throws away you're entire advantage.

 

[halcyon1234]

so what rate do they use??
cause i know a LOT of bonuses become completely useless when you use neteller to deposit and have to convert both ways. they take out a hell of a lot more than 0.5%.
any site that forces me to convert at every transaction automatically goes to the bottom of my list, i don't think this is something that should be considered lightly, its a big problem. if you're dealing with 40% sticky bonuses, it often throws away you're entire advantage.

When I talked to the NT customer service (and did some checking on my own deposits/withdrawals), they said they don't skim on the conversion. It is just what the daily rate is at the moment.

When I looked it over, it seems to check out. There were times I lose a bit on conversion ($100USD became the equiv of $99.96)-- and times when I gained on conversion ($100USD became the equiv of $100.04). So in the end, the variance balances out. The only people who I can see being really effected by this are those who switched a large sum from CAD to USD just over a year ago, and held it online until just recently. The CAD has jumped something crazy, like 15 cents, over the past year or so.

Of course, the opposite will be true. If someone bought a lot of USD now, in a year or so when/if the CAD goes back down, they'll make a killing-- something like 15 cents on the dollar.

 

[bluewhale]

so as things seem to be going, i'd say ecocard and moneybookers are at the top of my list.

 

[halcyon1234]

so as things seem to be going, i'd say ecocard and moneybookers are at the top of my list.

So far so good. One hitch I've hit with Moneybookers is that they need to confirm your credit card before you can deposit with them. They do this be WITHDRAWING a random amount from 1.01 - 2.99 euros (as opposed to everyone else in the world's technique of depositing 0.01 - 0.99). You then have to tell them how many EXACTLY they withdrew. Except that on my statement, the amount will show up in CDN. So either I have to re-convert it and hope I have it right, or find some other way.

Click2Pay will do direct deposit/withdraw, but only after you've used their service for a while. You can deposit with a printable bank-transfer form (though I'm not sure how much a bank charges for a transfer).

Bluewhale, did you have the euro/cdn problem when initially funding your Moneybookers?

 

[bluewhale]

this is actually not a problem. i opened in US dollars. ur statement willl show the amnt withdrawn in US dollars (and in euro in ur case). you just need to wait about a week for the euro amnt to show up (the canadian amnt shows up the next day, but the euro/us amount takes longer to show up). if all else fails, call ur credit card co. and they'll help you.

So far so good. One hitch I've hit with Moneybookers is that they need to confirm your credit card before you can deposit with them. They do this be WITHDRAWING a random amount from 1.01 - 2.99 euros (as opposed to everyone else in the world's technique of depositing 0.01 - 0.99). You then have to tell them how many EXACTLY they withdrew. Except that on my statement, the amount will show up in CDN. So either I have to re-convert it and hope I have it right, or find some other way.

Click2Pay will do direct deposit/withdraw, but only after you've used their service for a while. You can deposit with a printable bank-transfer form (though I'm not sure how much a bank charges for a transfer).

Bluewhale, did you have the euro/cdn problem when initially funding your Moneybookers?

 

[halcyon1234]

Follow up to the Moneybooker's verification:

Today the mail arrived, and boy was there a lot of it. Two points of interest came in the mail:

1) My credit card statement which showed the euro debit
2) Moneybooker's address verification PIN

The first thing I did was enter the address verification PIN. I then went to verify my credit card-- only to find out that by verifying the address, the card is automatically verified. Note that this is an undocumented feature-- one that cost me 1.80 euros. :flame:

So if you are going to open a MB account, just have them verify you by address. While you are waiting for the mail, add on your credit card, but DON'T request the verification debit. When the mail PIN arrives, you should be able to verify without getting dinged for $2-$3.

 

[bluewhale]

u shldn't lose any money.... the 2-3 euro shld be in your moneybookers account, enjoy. but thanks for the tip, that might actually be EXTREMELY useful for me.

Follow up to the Moneybooker's verification:

Today the mail arrived, and boy was there a lot of it. Two points of interest came in the mail:

1) My credit card statement which showed the euro debit
2) Moneybooker's address verification PIN

The first thing I did was enter the address verification PIN. I then went to verify my credit card-- only to find out that by verifying the address, the card is automatically verified. Note that this is an undocumented feature-- one that cost me 1.80 euros. :flame:

So if you are going to open a MB account, just have them verify you by address. While you are waiting for the mail, add on your credit card, but DON'T request the verification debit. When the mail PIN arrives, you should be able to verify without getting dinged for $2-$3.

 

[picasso]

I use Moneybookers, seems to be very secure, so far...

 

[picasso]

The small amount in euros that is deducted from your credit card is used to verify if you are the owner of the said card; then the amount is credited to your account. There is no cost to the customer for verification.