Paypal and other online payment in Japan

Hai,

I will be studying in Japan next October. Currently, I'm an online freelance worker and I plan to continue to earn some money while I study in Japan. The online payment mainly will be given in USD and I want to use Paypal to receive it. Paypal would need a credit card to verify it and I will be using Japan Post bank because MEXT scholarship will deposit into it. Can Japan Post bank issued a credit card or is there anything else that I need to do to get my Paypal account verified in Japan? I've read that the Post Bank ATM is available for master card / visa /etc card. Is that true? I have an idea to get my Payoneer card so that I can deposit my payment there and I can withdraw it in Japan. Is there anyone who ever done this? Please share it with me. Thank you for your attention.

Receiving foreign payments in Paypal Japan is expensive. If you have a way of receiving money outside of Japan (including just using your foreign paypal account and then transfering it to your foreign bank account) it might be cheaper.

Post Bank ATMs (as well as Seven Eleven ATMs) accept foreign bank and credit cards so you can withdraw money from there, it'll typically be a set fee + a percentage foreign transaction fee but I've rarely seen bank/credit cards charge more than the Paypal foreign fees. Also if you can get your hands on a China UnionPay bank/credit card then you'll find its accepted just about everywhere and you'll be able to use most major ATMs with minimal fees.

If your coming on MEXT Scholarship and opening a Japan Post bank, beware they may issue you a non-resident bank account for the first 6 months, this pretty much disables your bank account for any use other than receiving money transfers and using ATMs to withdraw and deposit money. Personally I'm on the MEXT Scholarship and I opened a second bank account at another company because of this. I also do online freelance work and my method of withdrawing payment is as follows:

1. All my payments/paypal etc... goes to my home country
2. I withdraw it from an ATM here using a foreign debit card (I have a complicated middle step where I transfer all my money first to Hong Kong, but thats a bit complicated but it saves money for me the way I do it)

So, what you reccomend is this,

I have bank account in Indonesia and Indonesia Paypal. So, I just withdraw my payment to my Indonesian Paypal, withdraw it to my Indonesian bank account, and use debit card from Indonesian bank in Japanese ATM to get the cash in yen, right?

So, what you recommend is this,

I have a bank account in Indonesia and Indonesia Paypal. So, I just withdraw my payment to my Indonesian Paypal, withdraw it to my Indonesian bank account, and use a debit card from Indonesian bank in Japanese ATM to get the cash in yen, right?

Yup, make sure your indonesian bank card is part of one of the international bank card networks. You can check your bank card symbols against those suported by Japan Post here: International ATM Service-JAPAN POST BANK

You probably also want to see what the fees are for international withdrawals. I have no idea what they are like in Indonesia but as long as its under 3% it should be ok.

Thanks, I will check with my bank. Btw, is the Jjapan really that expensive? In Indonesia it's free to withdraw if the amount is greater than limit and if below the limit, it's not very expensive. The exchange rate fee is not that expensive too. Does Japan has some policy for it?

Aren't the withdrawal rates determined by Paypal? This is the rate that I found on Paypal's site, Send Money, Pay Online or Set Up a Merchant Account - PayPal

If you are withdrawing more than 50,000 yen it seems to be free, otherwise the charge is only 250 yen. The rate seems reasonable though.

Btw, how can we verifying Paypal in Japan? I don't have credit card and I heard credit card is very rare in Japan and a bit difficult to get. Is there any other way to verivying Paypal account only using bank account?

Hi,
Paypal abort my account along with my deposit except I can show my credit card where I cant have it. So, I used Western union and I gave up all of my saving on paypal.

I know this is an old thread, but I sit with the same question. Well, kinda. I want to freelance and do some online affiliate marketing work while here in Japan. I dont have a paypal account setup in my home country and long story short, cant get one. I know Payoneer can send you a prepaid mastercard on which you can receive payments, however, you also need to sign up with a bank. has anyone ever done this in Japan? More specifically with Japan Post Bank?