| Category Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Sales & Marketing |  |
| Costs & Contract |  |
| Complaints & Service | |
| BBB Rating |  |
Overall Rating
Overview
Skrill / Moneybookers Logo
Skrill (skrill.com, moneybookers.com), formerly operating under the name of Moneybookers USA, is an online payment and money transfer service headquartered in New York City and London. Launched in 2008 but originally incorporated in England in 2001, the company offers digital wallet capabilities, international fund transfers and online credit card processing for businesses and consumers in the U.S. and Europe. Additionally, Skrill also allows auction payments via eBay and appears to provide merchant accounts. Skrill/Moneybookers USA is owned by Moneybookers Ltd. in London, England, with a London headquarters at Welken House, 10-11 Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6EH, United Kingdom and a New York headquarters at 61 Broadway, Suite 1603, New York, New York 10006.
Sales & Marketing | B
| Key Points – Sales & Marketing | |
|---|---|
| Uses independent resellers? | No |
| Promotes deceptive rate quotes? | No |
| Discloses all important terms? | No |
Skrill appears to primarily market itself through its website and traditional advertising. There is currently no evidence that the company partners with independent sales agents to market its services, and we are unable to locate any negative Skrill reviews that accuse the company’s sales team of deceptive advertising tactics. One major complaint among merchants has to do with nondisclosure or inadequate explanation of the company’s fraud prevention and fund withholding policies. While this issue is more directly related to Skrill’s contract terms and customer service, it does seem as if Skrill could limit these merchant complaints by clearly describing its policies regarding high-risk business types. As it stands, Skrill’s official advertising materials do not appear to deter unqualified merchants from signing up for the service, which may be the cause of many complaints about sudden cancellation of service and withholding of funds.
Costs & Contract | C-
| Key Points – Costs & Contract Terms | |
|---|---|
| Swiped rate: | Variable |
| Keyed-in rate: | Variable |
| Termination fee: | Variable |
| PCI compliance fee: | Variable |
| Equipment lease: | Variable |
Skrill offers a wide variety of payment options in various currencies, including digital wallets and online payment gateways for European merchants, which makes it difficult to compare the company’s contract terms to industry averages. Additionally, most merchant complaints about Skrill do not disclose specific rates and fees (such as an ETF or PCI Compliance Fee) within the company’s contract, focusing instead on problems with fund withholding and sudden cancellation.
These complaints generally express a lack of understanding about Skrill’s fraud prevention policies ahead of time, trouble resolving these issues in a timely fashion, and, most consistently, excessive identity verification procedures enforced by Skrill. We have seen complaints about this last point posted by both merchants and individual customers of Skrill, who all complain of having to provide photo verification, proof of address, and other sensitive personal information to Skrill in order to verify their identities. This verification process appears to go on for an excessive amount of time in some cases, leaving merchants twisting in the wind without their withheld funds. This procedure, like the establishment of a cash reserve, is a reasonable policy for Skrill to have in place, but it appears that Skrill’s enforcement of it is generally lacking. This mishandling of potential merchant misconduct is an especially egregious issue for a company that openly markets its services to high risk merchant types such as online gambling, Forex, and digital content.
Complaints & Service | C-
| Key Points – Complaints & Service | |
|---|---|
| Total complaints: | 125+ |
| Live customer support? | No |
| Most common complaint: | Fund holds |
We are currently able to locate approximately 125 public Skrill complaints on this and other websites, many of which accuse the company of being a scam or a ripoff. Most of the complaints cite unauthorized and fraudulent charges, poor and unreachable customer service, and deceptive selling practices, almost all of which appear to be linked to sudden account freezes and withheld funds. Many of these complaints have been posted by end users or personal users of the company’s services, but a good portion of them have been written by merchants. In general, merchants are suspicious of lengthy and excessive fund withholding by Skrill, particularly in conjunction with the excessive identity verification process require by the company. In many cases these merchant complaints have received rebuttals from Skrill that confirm that the merchants were in violation of Skrill’s terms of use, but the manner in which Skrill informs these merchants and terminates their service appears to be a major source of frustration at this time.
BBB Report | C
| Key Points – BBB Report | |
|---|---|
| Product/service: | 31 |
| Billing/collection: | 12 |
| Advertising/sales: | 7 |
| Guarantee/warranty: | 0 |
| Delivery: | 9 |
Skrill is not an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). As of the review, the company holds a “C” rating with the BBB and has had 59 reviews filed against it in the last 36 months. The bulk of these reviews (31 of them) involved problems with Skrill’s products or services. Twelve stemmed from billing or collections issues, seven from advertising or sales issues, and nine from delivery issues. Of the total complaints, 56 have been successfully resolved. The remaining three were not resolved to the customer’s satisfaction. The company’s complaint volume is the main factor lowering the BBB’s score for Skrill, and in this case, we are inclined to agree with the BBB’s rating.
Bottom Line
Skrill Review
Rated out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Phillip Parker
Reviewed on 2015-01-19
Skrill rates as a substandard merchant services provider according to our criteria. The company’s overall rating suffers from a high complaint volume that appears to be almost exclusively related to its fraud prevention policies. Customers report sudden freezes on account and withheld funds, but more importantly, they also claim to have great difficulty resolving these issues in a timely fashion through Skrill’s customer service department. These claims are supported by Skrill’s track record of not successfully responding to a good portion of its complaints with the BBB.
This review was originally published on 2/20/13 and was last updated on 1/19/15.
Leave your review of Skrill in the comment section below:
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Worst experience ever: Skrill customer service is usually pretty good, but they become entirely unresponsive as soon as you want to pay out larger amounts (5-figure).
I had a minor problem, and sent them 5 e-mails (first: 2 months ago, last: 3 weeks ago), and I got only one answer: a standard reply that wasn’t of any help.
I withdraw my money from them directly to my bank account on 09/02/2015 it’s now 20/02/2015 and I am still haven’t received a dime
beware this company is not reliable at all, I have seen many people complained about these bastards
they seem to be scam, never trade with them
Skrill is having seriuos financial problems and has ceased making withdrawals to many merchant accounts including me. I actually have 1046.06 USD in my skrill account and I ordered to transfer the money to my bank account in the USA and they just said that due to technical issues are unable to carry out the withdrawal, so I have searched on line and found this article that explain why of the delay.
http://leaprate.com/2015/01/skrill-begins-lifting-restrictions-on-forex-broker-merchant-accounts-leaprate-exclusive/
So please do not use skrill until this matter is solved
I tried to use skrill for bitcoin purchases. Was told I needed to actually sign up on their site. ( I somehow went through them to enter an account at Virwox.) I could not set up a password with them with out sending a copy of a document such as drivers license. I not about to do that online.
Skrill UK is a fraud, I have £2,000 in their account and they are retaining my money. I have sent them bills proofing my address and they are still not veryfing my account and not releasing the money. I called 5 times and they always find an excuse. I am going to fill a complaint with FCA ( financial conduct authority) they are FCA regulated, so I assume that FCA will do something about this.
Scam. I transferred money through Skrill and never got the item. When i called costumer service they said they can’t do anything. The guy on the phone was very rude and end up hanging up on me.
Five months ago I transferred 400$ from my odesk account to skrill and I still have no access to that money. it is saying I have to verify my account. I sent them the copy of my driving license and utility bill as a proof of my address but I never get back any answer from them. they are not responding at all. can anyone pls help me how can i get back my money?
I wanted to send money to my wifes cousin in Reunion, a French Island in the Indian Ocean. Officially this place is part of France and so it is part of the European Union as well. She “got” the money (the fees were as decribed in the website, not cheap, but they sounded reasonable according to the fast way to make the transfer) and an e-mail with a link to open an account for Skrill. She opened the account, the money was there.
BUT she did not get any chance to withdraw the money. It was not working with her bank account, the Skrill Card never came and finally (after about six weeks of unsuccesful attempts to get the money) she was forced to send the money back to me. I received it, after reading this page I withdrew everything of my skrill-account with a total loss of 33 EUR. THAT is a bit more than acccording to their webpage – for nothing. THEY did not do what they had told to do so it would be reasonable to repay my costs. THEY did not react to any attempts of making contact. That is not according to European law, so I will try to speak with my lawyer in order to get back what is mine. May be this will cost more than I will get back, but I can afford it and it is simply not my way to let robbers get away with my money.
I just got an e-mail from Skrill. My account will be charged because of inactivity, and I can respond through their support center. And there is no such thing at their site!
this is the worst site ever. DO NOT use.
they have no contact email or better ways of getting in touch withthem
i have had no answers as to why they froze my account.
i have 100$ on it and cannot get it out
Just receive a payment from those scammers. The amount was $82 on my account, and the system tells that the charge is $4 so “transferred $78″ was in the report. But I was wondered received $58. I wrote a help request via help service of skrill, but during TWO WEEKS they didn’t answered me. Finally I got a detail report from my bank, and found that “Sender’s Charges $20″.
So that bandits charged me finally $24 from the payment $82. Avoid that scammers, it is unfair business. My skrill id is 4095361.
I believe Skrill has serious issues.
I had loaded my account just 2 days ago with 200 Swiss Francs.. so I could have some funds for work and get some extensions for my sites. I make 1 single purchase for 26 Swiss Francs, and suddenly the next morning I have only 82 Swiss Francs in my account! Skrill has automated transfers without my authorization. The statement says that I had taken money out from ATM and made purchase at a shop at 1 in the morning. Even though no Swiss shops are open at 1 am. and I never made an ATM transfer!… Now expecting a day of work, I am burdened with going to the banks and the police to sort this out. Writing any mails have been unsuccessful, Skrill will not respond!?
I am never using Skrill again after this!
THES ARE STEALING MONEY FROM IT’S USERS AND JUST CREATING SERIOUS HASSELS!
BEWARE OF SKRILL!!!!!! IT IS THE WORST!!!!
To have money taken out of my account for no reason, and then to have not responded is absolutely criminal în my view!
They are skimming money out of accounts.. and making Prepaid credit Card transfers without prior authorization from the user.
BE CAREFULL!!!
DO NOT KEEP MONEY ON SKRILL WITH A CREDIT CARD!!!!
I have now lost 92 Swiss Francs.. and also have confirmed that these transactions never took place with the bank. I was asleep at the time SKRILL stole my money! and the shops were closed at the time they say I had made a transfer. I also noticed that the same transfers they charge me for are transfers I had made and completed for about 3 weeks!
Now that the account is full again.. it has repeated those transfers from 3 weeks ago, now 2 times over! Yet these new trabnsferws were never made!!!! I really needed that money to work.. and I spent the entire day trying to resolve this issue.. costing me well over the 92 swiss francs that SKRILL has stollen!
Now I have been forced to take the remainding funds out of my account and must cancel my card and skrill account as a result. 92 Francs gone?… a whole days work gone…. and just stress!
FORGET ABOUT SKRILL!!!
IF YOU NEED SECURITY FOR ONLINE PAYMENST.. STICK WITH PAYPAL!!!!!!
I dont even really care about the 92 swiss francs.. it is just that whole day of work lost, and now I cannot trust SKRILL at all. Skimming and scamming money out of people! Ruining their lives as well ;( This company should be banned, boycotted, and sued!
Excuse me. I used to love SKRILL! and would have only positive things to say… BUT now my money has been stollen, and I have written over 5 mails.. with absolutely no response.. and money still gone.. I must give up at SKRILL.
THIS IS CRIMINAL WHAT THEY DO!
BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE!!!!
Cheers, Luke
This company is biggest online payment solution scam ever!. They are stealing thousands of dollars everyday from peoples. They support gambling and also they gamble with their customers account and balances.. They charged me more then actual amount from my card and also showed actual amount in transaction of skrill but in my bank it showed that they charged me more.. WHAT A GREEDY F*** < (SLANG Word! GUESS YOUR SELF SKRILL)
I used the service under the Moneybookers brand many years without any problem.
Never used my account after it became Skrill. Now I wanted to close my account, but I found out that *it is not possible*: the only link provided for doing it crashes every time. No reply from Support via email or Twitter.
This company posted 3 charges to my account, that I never authorized.
When I called the 800 number, the representative was unprofessional, not able to give an answer, was just lying,
said he cant find my name. There are criminal activities and theft is being conducted by this company.
29, August from my Skrill account were stolen money. I wrote a letter to support in 10 minutes after transactions were made. I didn’t get answer on it. I wrote messages to support for cancelling these transactions each day but haven’t received any answer.
It’s not normall work of serious company
Skrill.com is the on of the worst online service I have ever seen until now.
You can test it your self.
* Create a new account. after signing in , You can’t see any generic way to seek their customer support.
* All users complaints are handled “Contact-Us” page. ( even though we are signed in )
* Not *response* even after complaining 3-4 times.
* Error messages won’t tell you anything about details and personally, I couldn’t find *any* way to find the details of error occurred during transaction.
For my good luck My deposit is only $30 as it was test attempt. Hope it will help you all
I have a complaint too,
I used to be frequent moneybookers user when playing poker online. But haven’t used skrill for the last 2-3 years at all. My skrill account was in Euros.
I received some money – around 120 USD in one casino and needed to withdraw them so I used my skrill.
It took some time to receive it, then skrill applied merchant fees suddenly which took about 12 USD of 120 USD received – I sent the money to my bank account which is in USD. It was on 20 Aug !
Money still not received, support only replyed that they contacted the deparment in charge and will contact me later.
In their terms – bank withdrawal takes 2-5 days, not 7 or 10 !
Im very dissapointed on the fact that once a very good e-purse Moneybookers became Lame and useless considering the below zero service and 10% fees !
RIP Moneybookers
Skrill is totally useless. The quality of service is non-existent. Every time you need support, you must call them to make sure the email your send their so called support reaches its destination point. I have made numerous calls and its taken me over two months time to try and figure out their ‘suspension’ thing. But alas, no explanation and no reason for suspension was given. I regret ever turning to use this company for anything related to finances, as well as sharing my personal information with them. Don’t rely on chance! Learn from our mistakes! Don’t trust these so called ‘bankers’ and most of all don’t trust SKRILL!!!!!
Just yesterday I was on the Skrill website trying to make an account. They wouldn’t let me get past the adding of the bank account or credit card info unless I got verified. Before clicking on the link it says that you have 20 minutes to answer the questions to get verified. So I clicked on the link thinking it was a short questionnaire to verify my existence on the planet. In other words, I thought they would only need a bank account info and SSN. Not so with Skrill. It wasn’t a questionnaire at all. No, it was a demand for me to upload a copy of a driver’s license/passport and utility bill. Well I guess I’m out of luck because I couldn’t upload this info in the short allotted time. The website says that if you can’t get this uploaded within 20 minutes then you don’t get a second chance. I guess I’ll stick with Paypal and maybe try Dwolla.
I wish I had read the reviews about skrill before using them for some overseas web development payments. I first tried to fund my account using credit cards and then debit cards. My Chase credit card was denied for no reason. I called Chase and they told me it was because Skrill didn’t send the correct mailing address associated with the card. I verified with the Skrill backend my address was correct, but the payments still failed. After the Skrill Customer Service agent on the phone asked me to try 3 times that all failed, they froze my account for 24 hours. Skrill Customer service could not unlock my account even though they caused it.
So I tried depositing money via Bank Transfer ACH. I started the deposit 6/29 and the money left my account 7/1. Their website states 3-5 business days. After the money still wasn’t there after 7 business days, they said that was normal and to check the next day. After 2 emails and 5 phone calls to support, the money finally showed up 9 BUSINESS DAYS later. This mistake severely delayed my project and locked up $500 of my cash.
I transferred the money to my developer and closed my account. I’ll stick to Odesk and Paypal from now on.
I have very bad experience last month. check it
I have made withdrawal on 06/05/2014 with amount of $541 to my Bank Account. Yesterday i can receive $510 dollar but i request from skrill was $541 . can i know that where the remaining $31 goes. the proof of my bank receipt of receiving and my skrill account statement is attached. please find pictures from the links
Skrill Account : [sensitive information redacted]
Bank Receipt : [sensitive information redacted]
Thanks
Skrill is a company which turned from a legal business to pure fraud. I have been registered on moneybookers.com since 2011 and had 2 money transfers for 100-150 usd each in 2011 and 2012, both were processed normally after I have verified my visa card. Recently I got another transfer and when I tried to withdraw it to my verified card, everything seemed to go normally, but then I received the following email with “ticket” number attached :
Dear Andrey Aleksanyants,
We would like to inform you that your account is temporarily suspended for payments following a routine security audit.
In order to lift the restrictions imposed on your account, please comply with the following requests:
1. For what purpose are you using your Skrill account?
2. Provide the following documents:
– A full colour copy of a valid, official identification document; such as your international passport (double page), national identity card or drivers licence (front and back). This is required in order for us to verify your identity.
– A copy of a paper utility bill (Gas Bill/Electricity Bill) or bank statement issued in the last three months clearly displaying your name and address that has been received at the registered postal address detailed on your Skrill account. This is required in order for us to verify your address.
The required documents/information should be sent via email to [email protected].
Please accept our apologies for any possible inconvenience, however Skrill must adhere to strict security standards which are there to protect your account privacy. Please be aware that your account will remain frozen until you comply with this request.
As requested, I have answered that email with scans of documents attached, but neither received any automated confirmation, nor got a human response. After that I tried to submit my request via online help form – again, there was NOTHING in return, like any email they get is automatically moved to trash without opening it. Now I am more than sure that Skrill completely turned to fraud because of the following:
1. There is no ticket system which could be accessed by users to check the status of submitted requests, their online help is just a decoration with nothing inside.
2. After you get your account blocked, there is nothing within your profile which could warn you about that, as well as there is no workaround provided via link or something else. When you try to withdraw any amount from your balance, you get a “birth date” validation which fails on the next step to make you thinking there is a wrong date specified when you have created your account, but in fact, this is just a deceptive behaviour of their fraudulent system! Really, I do not know any legal service provider using any of the trickes I have described, instead, they all have everything necessary for users to add missing data, correct mistakes if any, and the most important, SEE THEIR REQUESTS IN PROCESS!
Moneybookers customer service is lower than 0. I created a case open 35 days ago and called them 10+ times. But still they don’t have any update. they want same file again and again so that they can kill time and hesitated customer. I want to complain about moneybookers to international court. Anyone know where to make complain ?
Money Bookers (now “Skrill.com”) may be one of the worst financial institutions I have ever dealt with. Their “Security Department” never trusted who I said I was, even after providing a color copy of both sides of my driver’s license, and a copy of my electric & gas utility bill with my home address. And I had to provide this TWICE to them, because they lost track of my first submission. What is practically criminal, is that I received a payment from a client that they froze in my account for over three weeks, while we went back and forth with this “Security” issue… with their final determination being to CLOSE my account, with no appeal. They notified me that they had refunded my client his money. Four days later, I check with the client to make sure he got his money back — he hasn’t. No surprise. I hope that the FDIC and/or FTC shuts down this shady operation.
I am part of a company that does mystery shopping and my payment goes to Skrill (no choice unfortunately.) In the past, I was able to get my money transferred to my bank account without much issues. For my recent payment, I have raised multiple tickets in order to resolve whatever issue they think there is (I’m getting a rejection on withdrawal no matter what I used, whether bank transfer, debit card etc). I also called their support team and followed the instructions to the letter such as registering a new email address, changing my password, sending them an email from the new email address etc. Until now, I am still unable to make a withdrawal. I’ve tried to send an email to the person who handled my complaint but nothing, no response at all.
I have used MB since about 2004. In the beginning they were slow in replying to email, but it worked pretty nicely. Problems started when they switched to the Skrill name. They are dilettantes, unreliable and not cooperative when help is needed. A deposit made from my bank a couple of months ago went well. A deposit made in December 2013 did not show up. I contacted them, told them the amount I had transferred, on what date and to which bank. MB did not care. MB asked to which account I had transferred, from which bank, what amount, in what name, what date. They did nothing on their own. I am still waiting.
HOAX! I have used Skrill for one year, for very small sums first, but this summer I lost my normal credit card and had to use Skrill to purchase goods for my business. I transferred 1000€ from my own account but the money didn’t arrive for a couple of weeks. When I called, the explanation was something like I am a business owner (so?) and my own bank account was not verified. It took another week and several requests before I received the noney. The account statement shows that the transfer was made on 24.6., but I received the money around 10.7.
Another problem: I instructed a money refund from my electricity company to Skrill account. They made the transfer but Skrill is still holding the money because “they did not use the reference number”. I heard that third party payments are not allowed, but Skrill will make an exeption THIS TIME, as long as I get the electricity company to give more payment details, to the payment that Skrill already found!
Third, and biggest problem: Skrill is holding more than 600 € of my supplier’s money at the moment. I made the purchase on the Internet 10 days ago. I received the goods, but the seller is still missing their money! The sum is reserved from my account, though. That’s clear that I will not be able to buy more merchandise if Skrill won’t transfer the money.
It makes me think just like Michael, that they are waiting for nice larger sums that they can suspend for some made-up reasons and lend it, invest it or something, without permission, for free.
I had bad experiences with Skrill, they just said the money I transferred didn’t arrive at their account. I am going to close the account with them, thank god it was just a small amount of money. Don’t use them!!!!
A Excelant company to deal with.
I paid for good via SKRILLfrom a company based in Hong Kong, (Simply Electronics), unfortunatly the goods never arrived even after many phone calls and Emails, I requesting a full refund from Simply Electronics but it fell on deaf ears for well over 30 days.
I contacted SKRILL just ONCE with my complaint about Simply Electronics none delivery of the goods and 5 days later I was informed by SKRILL that I would be given a full refund within 7 working days. What a result. If only Simply Electronics could be as slick as SKRILL then they would not have as many complaints agains them.
Simply Electronics need to take a leaf out of SKRILL’s book on customer service, which is excellent.
Thank you SKRILL if ever I have need your services again I now know that I can use them with complete confidence.
Chris Humphreys
UK
I used Skrill 2 years. I did not break any rules, but they stole 150 euro from my account and closed it without any explanation. Just because they have so decided.
I myself am not a vender but rather an End User. And I have to say that Skrill uses unreasonable account verification methods that are also unreliable. To verify your credit/debit card with them it sends a text to your phone with a verification code. At first his sound OK but let us take a better look at this. The text in question is actually comes from an automated system in Great Britain which required your phone to have International texting on your plan to be able to accept it. Also as with most automated texting systems there are unsupported carriers. SMS messaging also has known problems with “dropped” texts on top of the other issues. Their customer service response is a robotic monkey of an employee reading from a script, yes a script, giving the same exact speech and options every time I call. The options that their customer service offers: Activate the proper services on my phone or find one that has those services, OR give them my direct bank account information and permission to take from my personal account so they can pull payments directly. Why do I have to meet these unreasonable demands just to get some service? I can only imagine that the venders using this service are not getting the max amount of paying customers as they can.
I have had a moneybookers/skrill account for 1 year and so far cannot complain. I have read about larger amounts being withheld etc but then every user needs to take care and follow the steps provided to ensure that their accounts can receive the larger amounts. Verifying the address is great step to get an increased account limit.
Hi Philip,
In order to authenticate your testimonial, please reply to this comment with your business name and location. Thanks!
WARNING! Do NOT deposit too much money on your Skrill account! Skrill is following strange business tactics. They have been a ver very excellent alternative to paypal for our onlineshop for nearly 3 years. But then last xmas when our turnaround was pretty hefty suddenly when our account hit the the sum of 5700 eur they suddenly froze it for audit. and all they say is to be patient whilst they are doing their audit. we’ve been trying to call and email them but they were not able to give us a reasonable explanation for freezing our money. now it is more than 3 months ago and they are still sitting on our 5700 eur.
It feels like they are waiting for a nice ammount of money and then suddenly freeze it in order to play around with it somewhere else. we are just talkin to our lawyers and will try to involve police and interpol as we are located in germany. in my opinion it’s impossible that a so called bank can freeze money for such a long time without giving a good reason. we are not selling any drugs or medicals, we just deal ordinary electronics.