PingPong Payments: Review, Fees and Features
If you have been exploring platforms to receive payments from international clients in India recently, you might have come across PingPong Payments. It's a global money transfer service company founded in 2015 in New York with the global headquarters situated in Hangzhou, China.
Should you pick PingPong Payments to receive cross-border payments? We will help you answer this question by analyzing its features, its costs, and our expert opinion about it. At the end, we will also highlight how Skydo can be a better alternative for PingPong Payments.
What Is PingPong Payments?
PingPong Payment's global presence has made it a popular platform for e-commerce sellers and business owners to receive payments from foreign clients effortlessly. We have identified a few key points about PingPong payments that you must know while evaluating the platform.
Virtual Bank Accounts
If you are unaware of virtual accounts, we recommend reading our virtual bank account blog to get complete details. In short, it's a digital account linked to your bank account and has an 18-digit bank account number that you share with your clients to accept payments. With PingPong payments, you can create virtual accounts in 15 different currencies. You also have the choice to receive payments in the same currency and then convert them into 25+ currencies.
Focus on E-Commerce
PingPong Payments is mostly sought after by e-commerce sellers because it integrates with major marketplaces and e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, and Rakuten. That means if you're selling goods online on different platforms, you can manage payments of all these apps in a single place.
Solutions for International Trade
Even if you're not an e-commerce seller but pursuing some form of international trade, PingPong Payments could still be a good choice. For example, you can use it for making international payments to your suppliers in 195 countries using SWIFT transfer.
A Compliant Platform
PinPong Payments complies with international regulations like Anti Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), and Payment Service Directive (PSD2). It also holds 60 financial payment licenses in major economies like China, Hong Kong, Europe, and the US.
PingPong Fees to Receive International Payments in India
While PingPong Payments positions itself as a low-cost solution, the final costs can vary depending on the transaction amount and exchange rates. Here’s a quick breakdown to help you understand the fee structure better.
PingPong charges a 1% transaction fee on each payment you receive. While this may seem low at first glance, it can add up for higher-value transactions. For example, on a payment of USD 10,000, the transaction fee would be USD 100 (approximately INR 8,500, assuming an exchange rate of 1 USD = INR 85).
Additionally, PingPong does not publicly disclose the exact exchange rate applied during currency conversion. In general, platforms may include a markup on the mid-market rate, which is often around 1% to 2%. For instance, if the current mid-market rate is INR 85 per USD and a 2% markup is applied, the effective rate would be around INR 83.3. This means that for a USD 10,000 payment, you would receive approximately INR 8,33,000 instead of INR 8,50,000.
The same fee structure typically applies for Amazon Global Selling users receiving payments through PingPong.
We’ve summarized these examples into an illustration below to give you a clearer picture of what to expect when receiving US dollar payments via PingPong.
Things to Note about PingPong Payments
Integration with Multiple Marketplaces
PingPong Payments’ easy integration with global selling platforms like Amazon, Shopify, and Etsy makes it convenient to expand business across borders without worrying about payment management.
Free VAT and Global Tax Payments
The integrated tax management solution helps you pay VAT, GST, and other applicable taxes in 12 countries. This helps you make payments within the protocols and avoid penalties.
Free FIRA on Every Transaction
A Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (FIRA) is an essential document as it proves you have received an international payment in India. Banks charge a fee for issuing FIRA every time, but platforms like PingPong Payments provide it for free within the PingPong dashboard.
Unavailability of Local Customer Support
Like many other international payments platform, PingPong Payments doesn't have an India based support team, which can make resolution of queries a challenge for Indian customers..
PingPong Payments Review: The Good, Bad and Ugly
We dug into the reviews of PingPong Payments on Trustpilot, a software review website to bring out the good, bad, and ugly sides of it:
Customer Support
PingPong Payments receives brownie points in this area. We found two reviews on the website that highlight the professional and helpful nature of the customer support team. One reviewer even goes to the extent of mentioning the names of the customer service executives who helped her resolve the issue.
User Feedback on Refunds
Users on review platforms have reported challenges in getting balance refunds after closing their PingPong accounts. According to their feedback, the process often involved filling out multiple documents and repeated follow-ups, with no clear communication on timelines.
User Feedback on Payment Holds:
Some users also mentioned experiences where their payments or receivables were temporarily blocked. In one instance, a user described the difficulty of navigating the situation when access to their funds was restricted.
Please note: These insights are based on user reviews gathered from public platforms and do not reflect Skydo’s opinions.
Skydo: A Viable PingPong Alternative to Receive International Payments in India
PingPong payments have built a strong reputation globally, however, its high fees and low transparency make it an expensive choice for freelancers and exporters. In addition to that, the reviews about restricting refunds and blocking transactions are worrisome.
Skydo is a more affordable and transparent alternative to PingPong Payments. The fee structure is simple and there are no hidden charges. For receiving a payment of under USD 2,000 you pay a fee of USD 19. For amounts between USD 2,001 to USD 10,000, the fee is USD 29 and for USD 10,000+ the fee is 0.3% of the amount. Moreover, there are no markups on the exchange rate, so the conversion is done based on the live forex rate.
Skydo also offers other benefits like a highly secure platform, no additional fees for FIRA, and a responsive local customer support team. With our support team based in India and working during Indian business hours, it’s always easy to get on a call or chat with them in case you get stuck. This is a huge perk if you’re just starting as an exporter or a freelancer. Having a trusted team by your side helps you to scale faster.
If you're open to looking at platforms beyond PingPong payments that are more supportive and cost-effective for your business, Skydo could be the right choice.
What Is Pingpong Payments?
PingPong Payments is a global payment platform that helps e-commerce sellers, exporters, and freelancers receive payments from international clients. It offers virtual bank accounts to accept payments in 15 different countries, thereby helping business owners to expand their businesses effortlessly.
Is PingPong a Chinese Company?
Is PingPong Payments Safe?
Is PingPong a Bank Account?
