Instadebit vs Moneybookers

[Mudcat]

This point was recently made:

instadebit > moneybookers

and it has left me with questions (but I didn't want to hijack the thread). My knowledge of Instadebit is pretty inadequate. Can anyone offer some comparison points?



I'll start with a key dimension to me: availability.

One thing I loved about Neteller was that basically every book I wanted used it. Moneybookers is a notch below but still used widely. Would all the places that use Moneybookers also use Instadebit? Would there be places that use Instadebit but not Moneybookers?



That's just one aspect but any kind of comparison points would be of interest.

[fiveteamer]

I'm an idiot when it comes to these things.

Some books (DSI for one) have instadebit deposit, but no instadebit payout methods.

I had trouble registering my bank account with Moneybookers, and had a bit of money in there. I messed up giving them my bank info, and was charged $60 for having the money sent back to my Moneybookers account.

That pissed me off. So I ended up just putting the money in Matchbook, and losing it at Matchbook.

I believe there were some fees with Moneybookers, I have never been charged a fee with instadebit. And also it was really easy giving them my bank info.

They did do a hard inquiry on my credit report, though.

[HeeeHAWWWW]

No moneybookers fees for debit card deposits in the UK (excluding **** debit), same in a lot of countries but not all. Withdrawing to bank costs a few pounds, near enough nothing. Depositing/withdrawing to books costs nothing, the book pays the fee.

There are exchange rate fees, of 1.75%, and their e/rate is now slightly worse than bank rates too. Adds up to around 2.3%, which is still pretty good (most credit cards/banks are 3%ish, neteller are 2.5%).

[Canuckdave]

I cannot compare the 2 but I do use instadebit as my payment processor. I am with Bet Jamaica and Pinnacle and have no problems with them, basically as easy as Neteller was. Both of the books offer the deposit and withdrawl as options. Bet Jamaica charges no fees on either, as many withdrawls as you want free. Instadebit is fair with xchange rates as well and fairly quick for withdrawls to hit your bank.

[LMAOFISH]

As a happy user of moneybookers, I can honestly say there is nothing I would improve about the service, it is perfect. Everything is instant (except for withdrawls, which take 3-4 business days to hit your bank account from overseas), the fees are pretty much non-existant for sportsbettors and it costs only 0.70USD to send any amount of money to any other moneybookers account. This is extremely convenient for paying/collecting debts and that too is instant.

A++++ once you're VIP (which isn't hard to achieve), customer service emails guarenteed response within 6 hours, great refer-a-friend program and no limits.

[betplom]

If Moneybookers used ach or eft for sending funds to Canadian banks instead of wire-transfers it would be just as good as Neteller.

Instadebit isn't anywhere as widely available as Moneybookers.

Instadebit gets you your money faster (for Canadians), they are integrated into the banking system, I've requested funds from Instadebit at 6AM and had the cash in my bank account in less than 12 hours.

The problems I've had with instadebit have to do with currency conversions. For example, Pinnacle only deals in Canadian Dollars with Instadebit, so if you get a payout from Pinny to your Instadebit wallet for $1500 Canadian, great your balance is now $1500 CAD.
Now you want to deposit to Matchbook, they only deal in US dollars, which means the $1500 in Canadian dollars sitting there WON'T be used, they will "debit" your bank account the US dollar equivalent, and if your weekly limit is $500, you could only fund that in equivalent of USD.
This was a problem for me.

For moving funds, Moneybookers wins hands down.
I based my Moneybookers account in USD, so I'm not paying for currency conversions from USD to CAD and back.
I keep a USD bank account and Moneybookers sends USD to me direct to my USD bank account, I can then decide if I want to transfer and how much into a Canadian dollar bank account at the same bank, online 24/7.
This is convenient.

Limits are higher for Moneybookers deposits, for example Cris may allow a max deposit of $1000 per day/week using Instadebit but allows $10,000 when you use Moneybookers.


There are other reasons I have both pro/con for each.

What it boils down to is how many books you use.
If you ONLY used Pinnacle, Instadebit would be preferred, same with BetJam and Matchbook.

If you have multiple sportsbook accounts as I do, Moneybookers becomes the clear choice.

I would hope Moneybookers improves as time goes on, right now they offer email support and I've waited days for a response, when calling their UK customer support centre I've always received the help I need but their business hours are 9-5 weekdays UK time, not convenient for us in North America.

Instadebit is headquartered in Toronto, and they are much easier to contact via telephone, they offer 24/7 support.

[betplom]

Moneybookers is preferred for moving money between books.

Also useful for moving money from a sportsbook to poker site and vice-versa.

[sofun]

Instadebit and moneybookers does not accepting US citizen,

can someone tell me how safe are the money in those 2 places, will they be shut down by the Canadian government like US did to Neteller last time?

Thanks

[betplom]

Instadebit and moneybookers does not accepting US citizen,

can someone tell me how safe are the money in those 2 places, will they be shut down by the Canadian government like US did to Neteller last time?

Thanks

The Canadian Government had no involvement in the Neteller deal, Neteller directors agreed to stop serving Canadians as part of their plea agreement with the US prosecutors.

Moneybookers is based in the UK, Canada has no jurisdiction there, Instadebit IS based in Toronto Canada, but they are not in violation of any Canadian laws.

I'm glad that my government has more important issues to deal with than closing down a legitimate e-wallet operation.

[sofun]

Hello Betplom,

Thanks for clarifying all the important informations, it seems to me that you are very well known with those 2 places and very impressive answers.

last questions if you can help to answers,

how easy is it to open the account with those 2 places, what requirement is needed in order to open the account,
can the account holder be accessible at any where in the world or they just limited to where it is allow only?

Thanks

[betplom]

Moneybookers is easier to open an account with.

Instadebit does a credit check if you are in Canada and getting your account activated takes a couple of days.

If I had to choose between the two, I'd take Moneybookers.

You can access/use your Moneybookers or Instadebit account anywhere in the world, as long as your address/ID has been verified you're good to go.

[sofun]

Thanks so much Betplom.

[Mudcat]

Moneybookers is easier to open an account with.

Really? I found starting up with Moneybookers to be a bit of a teeth-pulling experience. It's all way in the past now but it was frustrating at the time. Strange business. I'm used to operations that are hustling to get your business. With Moneybookers it was more like I was on my knees begging them to take my business while they resisted as hard as they could.

Anyway I fought through it and am now a VIP with an unlimited account so everything flows well now. It was worth the effort.

Thanks for all the good info.

[betplom]

Really? I found starting up with Moneybookers to be a bit of a teeth-pulling experience. It's all way in the past now but it was frustrating at the time. Strange business. I'm used to operations that are hustling to get your business. With Moneybookers it was more like I was on my knees begging them to take my business while they resisted as hard as they could.

Anyway I fought through it and am now a VIP with an unlimited account so everything flows well now. It was worth the effort.

Thanks for all the good info.

I found the exact opposite, Instadebit cross references the phone number you provide during the signup process, if they don't get a match - they didn't with me caus I only use a cellphone nowadays, I was required to call them directly and provide detailed personal information that had to be verified before they would even open the account.

Moneybooker signup process was much easier, although getting limits increased required similar security procedures.

I like both services but the two main reasons I prefer Moneybookers are because it is more widely accepted and currency conversions are a non-issue.

[fiveteamer]

It's funny, we have conflicting reports.

I had to sit around and wait for MB to send some letter in the mail to validate my address.

[Mudcat]

I had that too. I believe that is standard for everyone. So that chews up some days.

I guess what I am remembering as such a struggle with MB was getting my limits up to reasonable levels. I would ask them to tell me what I could provide in terms of ID and verification. They would say provide such-and-such and your limits will go up some (paltry) amount. I would say, "Gosh, that is a pretty small amount for someone like me. Can we be pro-active here? Tell me everything you could ever possibly want and I'll provide it all at once."

But they would say, "No, let's just do this and we'll raise your limits 6000 Euros per 90 days (or whatever) and we'll just see how things look after that."

So I'd do what they said and use up my new limits in a couple of days and the process would start again. Then again. Then again.

Part of the problem at that time was they were dismal at responding to inquiries. You would send them a question through their messaging center and a week later you'd get a response that didn't even make you feel sure they had read your message.

So you could try to clarify in writing and wait another week or do what I ended up doing: making a lot of long distance phone calls to them at my own expense.

My impression is they have improved somewhat - although I do frequently still hear bitching about their message response quality.


Anyway, I find them great now. In some ways they are better than Neteller was. But they aren't quite an industry standard like Neteller was. Some books I use don't have MB.

[20Four7]

If insta debit would allow me a US$ account I'd be happy. All the books I deal with are n US$ but insta debit is in CND and those conversions add up. I only deal with insta debit in a few poker rooms that don't use moneybookers.

Otherwise Moneybookers is the bomb.

[thespeculator]

instadebit is much easier, just a question to the big players, when taking a deposit from instadebit to your bank account , does it get flagged or do you have to fill out some documents, i know with bank wires over a certain amount you do and moneybookers sends wires
thanks , if anyone has feedback

[sickbets]

moneybookers vip

How does someone become a Moneybookers VIP and what hoops must they jump through? Can someone explain the process and how much time it takes? Thanks!

[fiveteamer]

instadebit is much easier, just a question to the big players, when taking a deposit from instadebit to your bank account , does it get flagged or do you have to fill out some documents, i know with bank wires over a certain amount you do and moneybookers sends wires
thanks , if anyone has feedback

I don't understand that one.

[Stumpage]

How does someone become a Moneybookers VIP and what hoops must they jump through? Can someone explain the process and how much time it takes? Thanks!

Sick, I was granted VIP status in October. Now why that is the case I don't know, but I assume it is because of the massive amounts of transactions I have done at Moneybookers, be it withdrawals or the constant shuffling of funds between books, rarely for less than $2,500.

At the time I had already completed all security checks, and my 90 day $$ limit was around $48,000. The VIP status and the unlimited funds transfer status were not one in the same. Once I found out I was a VIP, I emailed Moneybookers and asked them to grant me unlimited $$ status, which they did in a day or so.

Anyway, so I'm led to believe that there is some $$ threshold that one must cross in terms of how much money you move around, at which point VIP status becomes automatic.

Hope this helps.....

[Mudcat]

How does someone become a Moneybookers VIP and what hoops must they jump through? Can someone explain the process and how much time it takes? Thanks!

You become a VIP by sending the ID and doing the verifications they ask for - and by moving around a lot of money.

There is a Postal Verification where they mail you a code number and you enter it on the site when you receive it.

They request photo ID and a copy of a recent utility bill.

Registering a bank account and taking a withdrawal to that account - and then sending them proof is a step they accept.

You can register a credit card (but you don't have to).

Those are the steps I remember off the top of my head. But really, they want to see that you are moving a lot of money around so you just have to do business and work with them. The time frame depends on how much money you move around. If you keep using up your existing limits and pestering them for more, that wears them down.

My understanding is they have become quicker to make people VIP's and give them unlimited accounts than when I started up.

[fiveteamer]

Does moneybookers send out cheques??

I only ask because I can't use MB with my bank.

[Stumpage]

Does moneybookers send out cheques??

I only ask because I can't use MB with my bank.

They do fiveteamer.....Takes about 8 business days to get to your mailbox.....

[thespeculator]

fiveteamer, what i was asking is, say you withdraw 10k through moneybookers to your bank account , and also you withdraw 10k through instadebit, are you required to fill out the fintrac forms, at BMO they have this , they say if you receive a bankwire for 10k you need to fill out a tranaction report, it doesn't mean they won't allow it , you just have to fill out

[xKMACKx]

I heard if you use a **** to fund your Moneybookers account it gets rejected by the bank. Any experiences?

[Mudcat]

My experience is that no, that doesn't happen. I have funded my MB account with **** at least a couple times with no problem.

There was a thread about this recently and the consensus was that Scotiabank is the one bank that basically sucks ass as far as this goes.

I just found the thread and it was one you started KMACK.

here

[xKMACKx]

Yeah. Than I read this on another forum from somebody and it made me second guess... "Problem I had with most of those types of places (Netteller, moneybookes, etc) is when you make a CC deposit to them they ask if it's for betting or not. If you say yes, your CC company will decline it, and if you say no you can deposit.. but when you try and fund your offshore account it will deny the transfer, because it remembers what you deposited the funds for..

If anyone knows a way around all of this, I'd be happy to hear about it.. but as it stands now, I'm using partybets.com and funding with vanilla master cards. You have to use 100$ cards, as the minimum deposit is 50USD".

Well in any case the people on SBR sound knowledgeable about this issue and i'll take your guys word. Maybe this person was using Scotia.

[thespeculator]

i used vanillamastercard back in november and it worked fine, and i said it was for gaming , and it went through, maybe they have changed it now but it worked on four different cards, the problem with vanillamastercard is moneybookers only allow 5 credit cards and you can't add a new one until one expires

[wangpoker]

Moneybookers has improved a lot. You always expect a wire in 3 business days and 8-10 business days for a check. NO hassle!

I have USD moneybookers account so money will be back to my USD bank account! I get the best value in the local exchange store (Toronto).

If you have a problem, you will be in trouble because MB doesn't have fast and good customer support as neteller years ago.

[Beason5209]

Can someone please explain to me how moneybookers works. I am very new to online sports betting and am a little nervous. I was thinking of using instadebit but I really didn't like the idea of giving a social insurance number and have credit cheques and all that jazz.

I have signed up for Pinnacle and unfortunately my credit card is being blocked from transferring money to all these sites..not sure why. So anyway, I am ready to use moneybookers and have made an account.

What is the wait if I use a credit card to put money in a moneybookers account? What happens after I give my credit card info? It is transferred into a moneybookers account and then what? How do I then transfer itno the pinnacle account. I am pretty confused how the entire process works.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Peep]

Use your credit card to fund Moneybookers. Send money to a sportsbook from moneybookers.

Then you want to get your bank account verified at moneybookers.

[Beason5209]

Use your credit card to fund Moneybookers. Send money to a sportsbook from moneybookers.

Then you want to get your bank account verified at moneybookers.

For some reason My **** won't allow me to transfer any money to these accounts. Any idea why this may be?

[Peep]

I would call up ****, find out. Seems Scotia **** is the hardest, but just tell them it is YOUR MONEY, you want to put it into moneybookers.

[betplom]

It's funny, we have conflicting reports.

I had to sit around and wait for MB to send some letter in the mail to validate my address.

You can still use moneybookers even when you are waiting for validation, Instadebit is not available to you before they complete their verification process.

I've ordered a check from moneybookers on a Sunday and Thursday it was at my house via regular mail, sent from Commerz bank of Germany via their New York office.