Quite recently, the Pakistan freelancing industry outranked the entire Asian continent to become the fastest-growing freelance market in Asia, just coming shortly behind the United States, United Kingdom, and Brazil, making it 4th on the list with over one million active freelancers working in various specialized fields.

The number of small merchants, home sellers and freelancers, is ever increasing in Pakistan due to either surging trends of working from home after the pandemic or the rising unemployment. Yet to all these individuals and businesses offering services to international clients and businesses, one question remains unanswered: how to receive International payments in Pakistan?

The Common Problems with Receiving International Payments in Pakistan

While there are plenty of viable options for receiving international payment in Pakistan, most of them are known, adapted and currently used by the majority like Bank Transfer, Wire Transfer, PayOrder, Payoneer, Western Union, local banks and some less known platforms like Payment Gateway in Pakistan Keenu Wallet, FonePay, GoLootLo are used to receive digital payments in Pakistan.

There is no doubt about the usability of these platforms since they have become too mainstream. But a regular user or a freelancer who uses these platforms to receive money will unarguably agree that these are not the best money transfer option to Pakistan. That’s because there are certain problems when it comes to receiving international payments in Pakistan, some of which are addressed below.

• Considering a Pakistani resident, individual freelancer or merchant fetching money from abroad through a third-party source like Western Union will have to complete the receive money form, then give the form to the agent with a government-issued photo ID along with a unique tracking number. The follow-up review and signing process make the process lengthy, which is quite obsolete in the presence of other fast online means.
• Merchants, home businesses, freelancers are deprived of getting payment gateways to access due to the unusual regulatory requirements and complex banking, which is in most cases inconvenient in the aspect of time wasted, lack of knowledge and guidance, and unnecessary ado.
• A freelancer agency utilizing the ‘Direct Contract’ feature of Upwork may look like a bold approach; however, the processing fees and taxes will have a handful proportion of his total income. Initially, the processing fee for Upwork will be 3% of the freelancer’s invoice, i.e. $3 for every $100, followed by another $0.99 per transfer to the local bank (in case the user has set it up). Otherwise, to Payoneer, which depending on the country, the platform adds a currency conversion charge of 2% to 2.75% for every international transaction followed by withdrawing from JazzCash, which charges 1.75% through JazzCash Agent.
• The majority of freelancers in Pakistan are under 30 years of age; most of them are university students. The payment gateways for young individuals are unavailable and contain lengthy procedures and documentation, which make these young lads go for direct contracts or bank transfers, which often face transaction issues. For example, a common problem with JazzCash is usually, the transaction fails, and it’s not until the helpline is approached that it’s refunded.
• The payment gateways, i.e. local banks of Pakistan, do not have a smooth integration and have limitations in receiving payments from abroad. They face the challenge to accept payments from their International clients to pay them against their services.
• The exchange rates are comparatively low when using third-party means, which comes quite as a surprise when transferring a large sum of money.
• Lastly, the freelancers are increasing at a tremendous rate, but to their compensation, there is still a user-centric payment accepting mechanism to be developed.

What is Front Pay?

There was a need for change! A simpler approach was needed to receive payments in Pakistan that will save the time and energy of the receiver in Pakistan and the International sender. But promptness was not the only concern; there had to be comparatively less complex requirements and ease of transferring money locally and internationally.

Front Pay was introduced by a team of like-minded developers, making things simpler for merchants, home sellers and freelancers. FrontPay is a Fintech Platform in Pakistan targeting home-based businesses to accept payments online without following complex banking requirements.

How Does FrontPay Work?

FrontPay offers an oddly quick and straightforward way to accept payments from customers, an indigenous approach in Pakistan. Now any small business, merchant, freelance agency or even a freelancer can easily make their accounts and create Instant Payment links by email, WhatsApp and accept payments from their clients locally and internationally. FrontPay users also can generate invoices, making it a fast, reliable and diverse platform to send and receive international payments in Pakistan.

How to Receive International Payments in Pakistan through FrontPay?

FrontPay is a single platform for all your payment needs in Pakistan. We offer state of an art Online Payment Solutions in Pakistan like Merchant Portal, A Merchant App and a user App for day-to-day transactions. To start, you will need to open the ‘online portal’ or ‘merchant app’ (which can be downloaded from Google Playstore/Apple Store).

Here are easy to follow steps to request and receive international payments in Pakistan:

• Download FrontPay Merchant App from Google Playstore.
• Signup as a Merchant from within the App or submit your KYC online by providing your details.
• Once on the portal or the merchant app, head on to the ‘Check Out’ page, from where you can fill out the necessary information to suit your needs.
• Create a payment link in the dashboard or API by entering the amount you’re requesting. It will create a unique payment link for your client/sender.
• After creating the payment link, you’ll get the option to copy, share the payment link over email, WhatsApp or Social Media Chat with your sender/customer.
• The customer/sender will open the link and fill out the online payment method to pay you the requested amount.
• After the customer has paid the requested amount, you’ll receive a notification that the payment was successful. Afterward, you can either withdraw the amount through a local bank or JazzCash, EasyPaisa, transfer it to Mobile Wallet to pay for utilities, etc.

Why FrontPay?

FrontPay App is not limited to facilitating small merchants, home sellers, and freelancers to receive international payments in Pakistan but is also highly compatible with B2B and B2C as an online payment system for their needs.

For the first time, any payment gateway came with the exclusivity of smooth integration compared to other banks, which kept the individuals engaged for days or even weeks for documentation and processing. With FrontPay, anyone can manage transactions and payments through the Merchant App and Merchant Web Portal. There was a lack of user-friendly payment accepting channels in Pakistan, to which FrontPay solved payment receiving issues with ease. Now FrontPay users can set up in minutes for free and request payment via QR code, NFC, and also instant payment link backed up by a detailed reporting and complete accounts management system.

Furthermore, another option of Mobile Wallet can be used for B2B and B2C, along with the facility to pay utility bills, education fees/charges, send Instant cash in Pakistan, and much more, making FrontPay one of the best money transfer gateway in Pakistan.

Conclusion

FrontPay was introduced to compensate for the discrepancies and problems regarding receiving international payments in Pakistan. FrontPay is a new user-friendly payment gateway through which freelancers, merchants, or small businesses can easily and quickly receive money in Pakistan. Download FrontPay Merchant App to promote your business today.