How to send money to Russia: WesternUnion, Paypal or Epay?

If you don’t want to have to deal with a lot of hassle and unnecessary expenses when you think about sending money to your family in Russia， then you must avoid using a bank. Banks are notorious for providing quite dismal exchange rates on international wire transfers, not to mention charging high fees on each transaction.

So, what other methods can you choose especially when you just need to send a small amount?

Today, Let’s compare 3 popular money transfer providers to find out which one suits you best.

1. Traditional methods: WesternUnion

Due to the Russia-Ukraine war sanctions, Russia has been unable to use Western Union.

Before the sanction, when Western Union money transfers were available in Russia, the fees were not cheap. Normally, sending below 500$ through Western Union cost 5$. so if you just want to send 100, it still cost 5$. and it is even more expensive to send via debit or credit card. So, to conclude, sending a small amount of money through a western union is not a wise choice. It suits a large amount of demand. For example, to send 3000$ costs 15$ fees.

2. Online payment service: Paypal

PayPal is a payment method already known by virtually anyone, which allows you to buy in many websites, as well as transfer money between users by email. Other similar methods implemented in Russia are WebMoney and Yandex Money.

PayPal, contrary to what many people think, is not an economic method to send money to Russia. PayPal charges a fee of 0.5% (send from a bank account) when it comes to international personal money transactions to Russia, and 3.9% if it’s sent from a credit card, whether debit or credit. and the exchange rate is not competitive. 

Also, if the recipient wants to transfer this money to their Russian bank account, they would have to wait a couple of days to have the money available.

3. Advanced international remittance platform: Epay

Epay dedicated itself to the international payment industry for 9 years. It builds a global remittance network to save money and speed up the transfer time for global remittance users. Epay has over 6000 local remittance agents all over the world at present. 

The payment currency supported by Epay now is EUR, GBP, AUD, HKD, JPY, and SGD. It means you can send all these currencies to Russia, and the receiver receives it by RUB.and the fee and exchange rate are very competitive.

In conclusion, Western Union suits for large amounts of transfer, and Paypal has a weak exchange rate, so it is not recommended. Epay has both a competitive exchange rate and a low fee. You can choose a payment service that suits you best by comparing the exchange rate, fee, transfer time, and the amount to send.