Paypal not allowed in Bangladesh!

[irtiza104]

as you all know, paypal is not allowed in bangladesh. so we can not make online transactions like the world does. but my question is, what is the alternative to paypal?

[ammark]

Originally Posted by irtiza104
as you all know, paypal is not allowed in bangladesh. so we can not make online transactions like the world does. but my question is, what is the alternative to paypal?

If your counter party accepts credit card, then I think there is an underhand way, which my friend at StanChart told me.

Apparently EBL issues Visa Credit Cards valid only for bangladesh. If you need to do an online transaction, like buying air asia tickets, you contact them - and they will enable your card for international transaction online for a few minutes.

However, dont take my word for it, try to find out for yourself if this really is true.

[Nafi]

Why is paypal not allowed in Bangladesh?

[Sohel]

Because that would further deplete our foreign currency reserves, already under siege by blood-sucking sons of bees with their hudibaji and foreign bank accounts set up in violation Bangladeshi export and indenting laws.

That being said, FM Muhit and others are firm believers in eCommerce and are negotiating with Visa and other companies to make online transactions possible using only Bangladeshi Taka for domestic use only, but foreigners and NRBs can pay in foreign currency as long as the money is coming into Bangladesh. One way traffic of foreign currency, so to speak.

[ammark]

^^

The sad part about this rule is that the hundibaajis are the ones who will pay crores of takas that'll go out as dollars for their Porsche Cayennes, BMW X6 and Merc E55 AMGs. It'll pay for the $3 million diamond studs on "Prince" Moosa bin Shamsher's (the rajakar Nula Shamsher of Faridpur) shoes. But the innocent middle class graduates who want to earn a few hundred dollars by doing some programming and coding at rent-a-coder.com wont be able to earn some dollars.

Or... I cant go on ebay to buy a $40 computer graphics card, instead I'll have to ask someone who'll go abroad to buy the same thing at $130 from the store, or instead I'll pay Tk.9000 for it at IDB bhaban.

Or... I cant pay the Indian supplier of a 2 lac rupees machinery simply by paypal, instead I have to pay for LC commissions and then find out that the corresponding Indian bank wont release the funds to my supplier till they get some more of my money, effectively raising my business costs! (oh, and even though I have the cash, the bank wont give me an LC without ripping me off with an interest bearing loan to pay for the machine on top of the LC).

...and, as in the case of one way currency flow rule, a father needing to send $200 for his son's emergency needs studying abroad cant do so and has to rely on travelers, because Bangladesh Bank's 4 page green form will be rejected since the money is going to pay part of his son's meals and rent for a month instead of going straight to his university fees through the 'Student File'.

These are all real life examples I know of, or have experienced personally. This one way currency rule raises costs, and strangles entrepreneurship if you ask me, and can put families through much torment. The only good thing about it is in keeping out George Soros type speculation on the Taka. But then we have Salman F. Rahman for that.

[Nafi]

^^^ Yes but still the fact you cannot buy from abroad, will stimulate a demand for domestic production and stocking.

[ammark]

Originally Posted by Nafi
^^^ Yes but still the fact you cannot buy from abroad, will stimulate a demand for domestic production and stocking.

But that doesnt happen due to two things

1. Import reliance: In Bangladesh we depend greatly on imports on all sorts of things ~ from rice sugar and onions all the way to machinery to produce things domestically. For things like the Machinery and Graphics card I talked about... they're two ends of the spectrum one for a productive purpose (the machine), the other strictly for personal consumption (the graphics card). Instead of domestic production and stocking, we're just paying more to get the same quantity of productive goods due to transaction costs. This is an unnecessary diversion of valuable money that couldve more efficiently contributed to domestic production.

2. Those who have wealth are nonetheless going on and engaging in conspicuous consumption (i.e unproductive) such as the $3 million diamond studded shoes, BMW X6s, etc instead of investing in things that will create employment or distribute income more equitably among the population at large.

As the article from your overpopulation thread says: "Bangladesh is a one-trick pony" we're only running on garments exports and unable to do anything else because of excessive bureaucracy and the uselessness of the politicians, bureaucrats and the decision making systems. 2 million people join the labour force every year looking for work, while the country only has the ability to provide a million new jobs in a year.

[Farhad]

Funny considering one of its main creators is half Bangladeshi