Neteller killing me...

[soooted]

I finally got my Neteller debit card... I figured it'd be nice to have the cash rather than use IGMPAY for all of my poker withdrawals (and shows up on my bank statements).

No problem, I figure, $2 fee to Neteller for withdrawl onto debit card, then another $1.50 fee for withdrawing at an ATM... but I go to withdraww $5k and realize I can only withdraw $1k at a time onto my debit card! LOL... not only does Neteller make the $1.50 per $1k I withdraw at an ATM (assuming the ATM will let me take out $1000 and doesn't have it's own $500 limit per transaction)... but just to xfer the money from my Neteller account to debit card costs $2 PER THOUSAND, not just one time fee for a $5k xfer.

Again, not a major issue... but I'm just curious when will another major third party payment processor step up and get adopted by the major gaming sites? These Neteller fees can't last forever!

[crockpot]

neteller has a really good racket going. if the poker sites weren't willingly covering the transaction fees on neteller transactions, they'd be taking a ton of money from you there too.

[Cyndie]

There has been discussion in the past about a universal bankroll. It was not pleasant. However, there might be some constructive talk if anyone has any banking or legal background for how something could be done to make it so players didn't have to have the equivalent of 5 bankrolls around the net, and sites didn't moan about the fees involved in getting money in and out.

Over the last year, I have learned a lot of reasons why it "can't" be done, and am little closer to seeing how it can be done...The military has a saying, however, "the impossible just takes a little longer"

Perhaps it will take one more shakeout before players and sites see the competition so stiff that eliminating or greatly reducing the nearly 10% transaction costs will be necessary.

For those who don't remember...sites used to charge the 5.75% fee the credit card companies charged and let players "earn" it back...like a mini deposit bonus. Then they realized players were faster to whip out the credit cards when the sites "absorbed" the fees. Costs have gone up since then!

Unfortunately, when the sites did this, it made the huge costs "invisible" to the players.

[Lori]

Again, not a major issue... but I'm just curious when will another major third party payment processor step up and get adopted by the major gaming sites?

Perhaps Central Coin are it.

I hated Neteller when it came in, and certainly CC (I mean, do they consider that their abbr. looks the same as Credit Card?) are going to take a while to get used to.

Basically, any company that operates in "The land of the free" is going to be a non-starter because of that countries hideous laws prohibiting anything that allows people to enjoy themselves.

However, any company that doesn't operate from there is going to get sneered at, as the inhabitants of that land don't trust any government that allows people to do as they please.

Makes for a difficult situation.

Lori

[Cyndie]

Canada does keep coming up as a candidate...Americans kind of trust Canada, they are close enough to watch, and don't seem to have the same dim view of gaming as the US does.

Land of the free? I wish!

[Ro-me-ro]

For your information - coming from an internet banking background also:

Neteller makes $2 on the Neteller debit card and that is it.

The transaction fee is for the merchant bank to cover their costs (and for Maestro).

Each individual cash machine will also have it's own limits on the amount that you can withdraw in any one transaction.


Personally after having used the Neteller debit card myself now - (and I am still having issues with Neteller about this) I have found that the $4.25 international withdrawal charge is infact a lot less than that. I was charged only $2.73 Canadian for each withdrawal that I made, plus the exchange rate applied was pretty much the advertised figure on www.x-rates.com .

All in all a pretty good deal for the Non-US person.

Regards

Ellis

[Cyndie]

You make a valid point that Neteller "only" gets a $2 fee for the transaction...however, perhaps the problem lies in inefficiency rather than overcharging.

[MicroBob]

amusing 'land of the free' observations. why more americans can't seem to figure out how un-free we truly are is beyond me.

heard a radio interview with some guy who wants to give R ratings to any film that includes cigarette smoking because it is such a terrible influence on our poor, impressionable future leaders. his group specifically targeted the film Chicago as glofirying cigarette smoking (Chicago is a terrific film by the way and has the unique distinction of being one that me AND my mom equally enjoyed).
as i listened to the interview i couldn't help but think of the connection with online gaming and this country's over-zealous morality legislation agenda.

indeed, canada or europe would be a more attractive alternative if someone could step up to the plate. many americans (including myself) would feel more comforable with their money in canada, switzerland or england then they would in some teeny caribbean island or costa rica or peru or where-ever.

i've been thinking of getting the neteller card also to limit the number of transactions that go on my bank-account. the fees stink, but i actually consider it a small price to pay...i suspect many of our Zoo-ers from non-US lands get burned worse by foreign currency-exchange rates.
i would be interesteed to hear from any brits, belgians and canadians (or others) on how much it costs to get their money changed over to their currency of choice.

[soooted]

[ QUOTE ]
You make a valid point that Neteller "only" gets a $2 fee for the transaction...however, perhaps the problem lies in inefficiency rather than overcharging.

[/ QUOTE ]

According to the docs sent with my debit card, there is also a $1.50 fee for withdrawing money from an ATM. I would only use no fee ATM's such as Washington Mutual or local credit union so I wouldn't incur an additional fee from the local bank... but according to my docs Neteller makes another $1.50 each ATM withdrawal. It's under "Fees and Charges" on the form that comes with your debit card. It's only $0.75 for a POS purchase.... now just find a local merchant that will let you buy a candy bar and get $500 cash back!

Now if my local no fee ATM only allows $500 to be withdrawn at a time... that's two $1.50 fees.

[Sheriff Fatman]

The exchange rates are nothing compared to the lack of quick, cheap options available for getting payment. The UK sites I've played allow full cash outs to debit cards (i.e not just a reversal of previous deposits). None of the big sites seem willing to consider this as an option, which is a pain. The reasons for this are a mystery to me.