How to Transfer Your PayPal Balance to Your GCash Account

A long time ago, there was no way to convert your PayPal balance into hard currency. Even if you traveled to the U.S., the only way was to transfer it to someone else’s PayPal account, and then can he or she withdraw it using a valid, linked bank account.

Then, PayPal finally started integrating itself with the local banks and the start of trans-Pacific transactions and online purchases was born in the Philippines. Still, there were two things that drove people to the wall: three to five days waiting time with your local bank, and service fees deducted from your amount.

When I ran a couple of call centers starting about 12 years ago, we sometimes got paid through our PayPal account if the foreign client was savvy enough to have one. LOL! Most continued to rely on bank or wire transfers which was expensive. Though we’re talking about high single-digit to low double-digit percentage deductions, we chucked it into “the cost of doing business.”

A month or so ago came the announcement from Mynt, a Globe company that owned and managed the GCash brand, that they had partnered with PayPal – not as an affiliate or third-party vendor but a real partnership unlike others who offered transfers of PayPal balances to their system. The GCash-PayPal partnership simply gave us two major benefits:

1. The ability to transfer your PayPal balance to your GCash account instantaneously – as in, counting seconds, not hours or worse, days;
2. If you transfer your PayPal balance to your GCash account, there is no transfer fee deducted; the transfer service if practically free!

Excited?

Let me show you how to transfer your PayPal balance to your GCash account. Please note you’ve got to have an existing account with both service, and there is money in your PayPal balance.

1. Open your GCash app.

2. When the main dashboard screen appears, tap “Cash-in”.

3. Wait until the “Processing” notification disappears.

4. Tap “PayPal to GCash”.

5. If you haven’t linked your PayPal to your GCash, this message will appear. (I intentionally did this to show you nothing can be done until you’ve linked both accounts together).

6. Go back to the main dashboard screen and tap the “Menu” icon (three horizontal bars) located at the upper-left corner.

7. The menu sidebar slides to the right. Tap the “Link PayPal Account” option.

8. Tap the “Email” field to open your phone’s onscreen keyboard.

9. Type the email address you use in your PayPal account, and tap “Next”.

10. Wait for it. In my case, it took a few seconds as I didn’t realize my phone’s cellular data network was set to 3G, not LTE. (Now, who’s fault was that?)

11. Though peculiar, you have to type your PayPal email address once more. So, tap the “Email address” field to open your phone’s onscreen keyboard, and fill-in the blanks on the two required fields: email address and password.

12. Once you’ve entered your PayPal credentials, tap “Authorize”.

13. Wait for it… again…

14. Success! You have now linked your PayPal account to your GCash wallet.

15. Now go back to the “Cash-in” screen.

16. On the Cash-in screen, tap “PayPal to GCash”.

17. Tap the green, circular plus (“+”) sign.

18. Your PayPal balance should appear. In my case, I have no available funds in U.S. Dollars but have ₱4,742.15 in Philippine Pesos currency. Tap the PHP field.

19. You should go back to the previous screen. Tap the “0.00” amount field to open your phone’s onscreen keyboard.

20. Type the amount you would like to withdraw from your PayPal balance, then tap the check mark. In this example, I typed ₱4,000.00.

21. Tap “Next”.

22. A confirmation screen should appear. Tap “Proceed”.

23. Success! You should receive two or three SMS/text messages to confirm your transaction. Tap “Done”.

24. Tap the “Back” button of your Android phone.

25. Tap (again) the “Back” buttom of your phone.

26. You should be back in the main dashboard of the GCash app, and should see the word “Updating…” to signify GCash checking your new balance.

27. Tada! My old balance of ₱1,349.61 is now ₱5,349.61, because I transferred ₱4,000.00 from my PayPal account and, yes! No deduction! Yipee! So, tap the “Back” button of your phone.

28. The message “Are you sure you want to log out?” appears. Tap “Yes”.

29. The “Signing out…” message appears.

30. You’re back at the sign-in page of the GCash app.

That’s it!

Like I mentioned, two major benefits: (1) instantaneous, and (2) no deductions after the transfer. Your local banks and competing services don’t have these two benefits.

If you would like to know how to register to GCash, simple click this link: http://wp.me/pwNZn-C3.

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