Any user of iKobo that is using their service?

Any evaluation for that?

Do they provide good customer service for international customers?

Any dispute issues?

I have not found any integration of modules for oscommerce cart? Any help?

Regards

I have used Ikobo to make overseas payments. The service works well in terms of the payment transfers, but it is a real headache to get limits increased and customer support was non-existent the last time we tried.

They seem like a relatively new business so if they get staffed up enough, I think they could potentially do a good job. I am not aware of many integrations into iKobo as of yet.

any more ikobo users want to post their view?

I really want to hear more before signing up.

Hello,

My experience with this company is not good.
I've signed up as a merchant, and used their single purchase item form to receive a payment. The amount was $158.25 and $154.81 were credited on my account. I've tranfered that amount from my ikobo balance to my ATM balance, so it would be ready for withdraw once I receive my ATM card. Up to then it worked like charm.

The problem is that I've never received my ATM card (34 days up today and counting). When I go to submit a support request, their trouble ticket system does not work. Chat support has been disabled because they were receiving too many requests.

The worst thing is that now when I go to my account, the ATM balance is $12.81 while it should be $154.81. Yes, somebody took $142 from my account, and I'm affraid it was not me, as I don't have my ATM card yet.

Hope my experience helps other people on their decission.

Regards,

Adrian Boismoreau

Will that be possible you enter a wrong address in the first place?
That's the reason why someone used your pin to withdraw the money??

Originally posted by acidbase
Will that be possible you enter a wrong address in the first place?
That's the reason why someone used your pin to withdraw the money??

My mailing address is entered correctly.
The PIN is emailed to you, so there's no possibility for someone else to use your card.

Adrian.

Anyone know if they have an issues with adult content? Paypal certainly does (if they catch you)

Ikobo has the worst customer support known to mankind. We have been using them since summer 2003. They started out bumpy but responsive. Now they are downright horrid with their customer support. It took me three months to get them to stop charging me the old 3.99% rate. I am still waiting on them to commit to the amount of the adjustment due and a date when the same will be credited to my account.

I emailed them in December for an error that prohibits me from adding new items. Guess what I'm still emailing them to fix it. The last time they did'nt even bother to respond.

They also charge you fees for refusing a sale, customer error (duplicate sale) or a chargeback. Thats in addition to the fees that they charged for the transaction to begin with.

They also make insidious changes that prevent you from accessing your money without notice/warning. They allow adult content however, my advice is avoid them like the plague.

I would seek feedback on places like:
gottapay and payingez.com who also accept adult content and forget about Ikobo!

I would agree with kneadingu - locate an adult processor, pay the higher fees. It is not worth it if you are "caught"

Rate it here http://www.bizrate.com/ratings_guide/cust_reviews__mid--32869.html


Net

I have used them to send payments from North America to India without trouble. Granted they are payments under $300, but the money gets there the same day. The withdraw rates are pretty high and the sending rates are high, but if you can't use PayPal, then it is an option.

Can the order be recurred? And How do you send paypal money to Ikobo?

we use ikobo to send out funds to our coders in Romania, and they think its great, they can use the card just like a visa check card, and atm, so its a plus for them

cheaper then sending western union to counties that paypal doesnt support etc

Last Friday I've asked my partner to send me money throw my new Ikobo account.
He wrote me he won't enter his CC data in Ikobo form... :(
He don't trust them. And I cannot get my money. :(
Anymore comments,, skills with Ikobo?

P.S. I don't see Ikobo here in WHT
Anybody have seen them here?

Their system is having plenty of problems and their customer support is the worst I've ever seen. Sometimes I think they're laughing at me.

I won't consider Ikobo a serious choice. I will keep using PayPal and 2CheckOut I've never had any problem in my 5 years of business with them.

Originally posted by skymedia
I won't consider Ikobo a serious choice. I will keep using PayPal and 2CheckOut I've never had any problem in my 5 years of business with them.

My partner used 2CO too.
But I see two problems for me if I'll choose 2CO:
1. It tooks about 2-3 month to get money from cheque
2. Wire transfer costs $36 minimum - too expencive for my 'micropayments'.

I don't see a 'good' choise for me now - only 'bad' and 'very bad' :( :confused:

I used iKobo to send to a friend of mine from Romania a sum of money. I discovered that the iKard they send to the person that receives the money arrived very quickly so he received the money quickly. I used the customer support of iKobo.com and they were very responsive.

Originally posted by sav
My partner used 2CO too.
But I see two problems for me if I'll choose 2CO:
1. It tooks about 2-3 month to get money from cheque
2. Wire transfer costs $36 minimum - too expencive for my 'micropayments'.

I don't see a 'good' choise for me now - only 'bad' and 'very bad' :( :confused:

Wires cost $36.00 *maximum*
A $600.00 wire would cost $18.00

In the very near future the whole wire fee structure is being revamped.

Wires *in* supported currencies will be a flat $6.00 USD fee. (minimum wire is $300.00)

Originally posted by TomD
Wires cost $36.00 *maximum*
A $600.00 wire would cost $18.00

Oh... I might be wrong , sorry! :(

In the very near future the whole wire fee structure is being revamped.

Wires *in* supported currencies will be a flat $6.00 USD fee.

Good news :)
Please keep us informed ;)

(minimum wire is $300.00)

.. not so good news... :(

Is it absolutely minimum?

Would your like to offer debit ATM CC like Ikobo? ;)
If so - I'm your client! ;)
And a lot of non-US residents too

We have one.

You'd have to write our customer service department to get details on it, I am out of date.

Heard alot of bad things about iKobo lately. Was thinking of using them up until then. Read some of the problems they have here:

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum22/1620.htm

Originally posted by ozgression
Heard alot of bad things about iKobo lately. Was thinking of using them up until then. Read some of the problems they have here:

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum22/1620.htm

Interesting reading, thanks! :D
Now I'm going to try with moneybookers (and keeping in mind mypaysystems)...

Am I wrong?

People have different kinds of opinion, thoughts, and so on.

In my case, Ikobo is doing alright and they reply to every emails I sent. My limit was raised also in no time by only faxing them the required documents....

Hmmm, some have good comments and some have bad comments.

The only way to find out is sign up and try them. The only way to find out.

Originally posted by net
People have different kinds of opinion, thoughts, and so on.

In my case, Ikobo is doing alright and they reply to every emails I sent. My limit was raised also in no time by only faxing them the required documents....

How long you use Ikobo?

Hmmm, some have good comments and some have bad comments.

Hmmm ;)
1. They blocked my account after my 1st payment.
2. They asked me to fax them my private information, but they just won't to said me reason of blocking.

I have bad comment. :D

The only way to find out is sign up and try them. The only way to find out.

It's done :( :angry:

Ikobo does not offer recurring payments.


Originally posted by 2webhost
Can the order be recurred? And How do you send paypal money to Ikobo?

I find many merchants will not take their Ikard in person even though it has a Visa logo. Reason being the I-Kard has no name on it . . . just an account number. It's fine if you're using it online/telephonically.



Originally posted by mentos
I used iKobo to send to a friend of mine from Romania a sum of money. I discovered that the iKard they send to the person that receives the money arrived very quickly so he received the money quickly. I used the customer support of iKobo.com and they were very responsive.

My experience with ikobo:

After I collect some money from my site. Three time i asked my card. But no respond.

What happen next? My account had blocked. My money was gone.

Ikobo is nightmare. Just be carefully.

IKOBO is very bad news

Well... I have seen 2Checkout comments there in forum when we discussed 2CO services, but I still don't see any comments from Ikobo... :(

Have anybody seen Ikobo's stuff messages or comments anywhere? :D

EXPERIENCE WITH IKOBO

First time I used Ikobo, I sent money to Phillippines 3 wks. prior to Christmas. Their website say 3 to 5 business days. My brother did not receive the iKard they promised before Xmas and it took them another 2 weeks after Xmas before he received it. In other words, he had no money for Xmas because of their delays and on top of that, I called them many times and would not even respond back. If you call them, it is very difficult to get a hold of anyone there. Then, their Chat site never ever worked!

The next incident, in order for them to raise the sending limit say to $3,000 you have to send them very very sensitive information such as, passport, drivers license, SS#, Birt Cert., and Utility Bill. This is very scary because that means they know more about you now. PayPal never ask for any of this information – unfortunately, Paypal failed to send the debit card to this sub-contractor that is why we were desperate to use Ikobo right away. So far, I lost $1,000 dollars sending money through UPS to India 2 yrs. ago and now I am surfing the net about them and finding out that their organization could be from Nigeria. I now wish I did not send Ikobo any of our sensitive information especially since they have a very poor service…be careful!

The second incident is one of our sub-contractor is visiting US. We wanted to pay him through Ikobo so that he receives his ikard here while travelling. He of course, doesn't want to open up a bank acct. here because he needs US ss#. All of a sudden, ikobo blocked our acct. for sending for someone here in vegas. The most frustrating of all is I called many times and again I can't get a hold of someone there, as usual their chat room doesn't work. A week later someone finally e-mailed me with a short and cold response... "Why are sending money to someone who lives in the same area?" So, I e-mailed back and explained about the sub-contractor travelling." That was May 25th and it is now June 2nd I still haven't heard from them. So, again, I called them up patiently 3 times as nobody ever answer the phone. Unless, you wait for a long time, their line sounds like they have cut you off. I patiently waited and waited as I was determined to solve this issue. Then, I finally talked to a Daniel and asked me all the security questions. I have told him that he can call our banker to verify who we are. So, then he said he will remove the block on our account. I noticed he did remove the block so, when I tried to send money all of a sudden “ACCOUNT IS BLOCKED!”

I say, if you can find other ways to send money do it. Don’t use IKOBO. If you hear anything good about Ikobo in the internet, believe me I found out they have been posting the bulletin boards all over the internet to say good things about their own organization.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who have their account blocked. I chatted with one of their operator via the online chat. This is what she said.

Our system runs a verification process on all of our account holders. This process generates an account rating, this rating is then reviewed by an automated system as it pertains to the use of our money transfer system. At this time, the system identified your account to be blocked. This will sometimes block account that should not be blocked. In order to unblock your account, please submit the form to unblock your account along with a copy of your driver’s license and a utility bill. Once we’ve received this
information, your account will be unblocked.

You must fax int the form and the necessary documents. www.ikobo.com/blocked.html is the link for the Blocked Account form. You can also email the document to us via limits@ikobo.net. Once the documents are recieved it takes 24-48 hours for them to contact you and update you on the status of the account.


As this sounds like a reasonable explanation, I emailed the required document to limits@ikobo.net. After 3 days, I have yet to receive any reply from them. As such, I logged online to speak to the operator and this is what she said.


I'm sorry but your documents are insufficient to unblock your account.


I was getting really pissed off with the sort of service. Afterall, I have emailed them the required document thet have asked for - ID (with photo), Utility bill and the unblock iKobo form. What more do they need? She can't explain and doesn't have a clue either!

I have made several withdraws using the iKobo card without any problem for the past 5 months. I have nothing but praise for them until this happen.

Actually, right after creating my account it was also frozen, but after sending them the documents they required the account was un-frozen and I was able to use it normally. I didn't need to raise my limits in the past, and I don't think I'll need it now because apparently they raised them for everybody from $200 to $500.
I know there is a certain amount of bad reviews in relation to this company, but so far I don't have any major complaints... Who knows what may bring?

I have been using ikobo for past 6 months and i have made more then 10 transactions to Uk from Pakistan. And i must say about ikobo they are best i ever found. Transfer fee is lowest then any other service. And about account security they need to block your account for possible fraud charges which most probably cuz of ip. And if they dont do these security checks soon you will find another site ikobosucks.com with angry customers like paypal who failed to protect there users mostly intl users. Only bad experience i eva had was with epassporte last month seriously there virtual visa works no where other then porno sites :)

Originally posted by alex27
Actually, right after creating my account it was also frozen, but after sending them the documents they required the account was un-frozen and I was able to use it normally. I didn't need to raise my limits in the past, and I don't think I'll need it now because apparently they raised them for everybody from $200 to $500.
I know there is a certain amount of bad reviews in relation to this company, but so far I don't have any major complaints... Who knows what the future may bring?

Originally posted by alex27
... Who knows what may bring?
Was supposed to read: Who knows what the future may bring. I'm sorry for the mistake but I noticed it too late and couldn't edit it anymore.
Anyway, I'm not saying they're the best or anything, I'm sure there are better options but for me it's what I need.
I agree with teknowizer on the account blocking part, I think it's a necessity in today’s fraud-filled world.

P.S. Sorry for the previous post, it was a mistake!

Their fraud prevention measures are admirable. However their customer service, support, communication policies and how they handle your money once received are worrisome to say the least.

Eg: The I-kard is the only way you can access your money. Why not deposit the money directly to your I-Kard?? Why do we have constantly move the money ourselves in seperate transactions of $10.00 or more to the I-Kard??

Why do they decide to change from their previous debit card to the current I-Kard without notifying customers of the change or the fact that they will be unable to access their funds for weeks??

Why have they not notified customers they are no longer able to accept MC, DISCOVER OR AMEX? It's been more than a month now and still no notice from them has been given?

Why do merchants need to find out about these issues from complaining customers?

I agree that Ikobo concept is very good, and its a boon for International Money Transfers, and one of the best in terms
of Speed and Cost Effectiveness.

but ........

Whoever said that Ikobo Support is Good are Exceptions, :eek:

Though i had been using them for the last 6 months for International Money Transfer with no other alternative but Accounts getting blocked are very common things, and you really need to have a lot of patience dealing with this people. The moment you are in need of Support your problem starts.

But recently i had come across similar facility being provided by
Yahoo in association with HSBC Bank.

http://paydirect.yahoo.com/

Even they would send a Debit Card similar to Ikobo, overall it looks like its a bit economical than ikobo for large amounts.
May be i need to give a try at Yahoo/HSBC Pay Direct.


Ratna

The good side of Yahoo paydirect are the generous sending and receiving limits; slightly lower fees for payments funded with a credit card.
As usual, the good is always followed by the bad: charges a fee for all transactions; sends activation info via snail mail; handles only transactions made in the United States.

Yahoo has made several major changes to its online payment service, PayDirect. Among them, PayDirect enlisted HSBC Bank to handle the grunt work of transferring money and introduced fees for every transaction. These fees alone--30 cents plus 2.5 percent of the amount of the payment--make PayDirect less enticing than other companies, which offers a few free services. Worse, PayDirect still makes you wait a week for a snail-mail letter that grants you permission to activate your account, and the service offers no help with payment disputes. Unless you send a lot of money by e-mail--PayDirect's limit is a generous $1,000 per month--there are always other options.