Skrill

For the fiction species, see Taelon#Skrills, living high energy weapons.
Skrill Limited
Private
Industry Online payments
Founded 27 July 2001 (2001-07-27)
Founder Daniel Klein
Benjamin Kullmann
Headquarters 25 Canada Square, London, United Kingdom
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 David Sear CEO
David Clarke CFO
Neil Ward CPO
Roland Schaar SVP Technology
Georg von Brevern SVP Corporate Office
Tom Gregory SVP Operations
Nilesh K. Pandya SVP Emerging Markets
Nick Walker SVP Human Resources
Udo Müller CEO and SVP paysafecard
Products Payment gateway
Digital wallet
Prepaid card
PSP
Revenue Increase $331 million (2014)[1]
Number of employees
 700+ (2014)
Parent Paysafe Group
Website www.skrill.com

Skrill (formerly Moneybookers) is an e-commerce business that allows payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet, with a focus on low-cost international money transfers. It is owned and operated by Skrill Limited, a UK-based company registered as a Money Service Business with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and licensed to operate within the European Union.[2][3][4]

History

The moneybookers.com domain was first registered on 17 June 2001.[5] On 27 July 2001, a company named Moneybookers Limited was incorporated in the United Kingdom.[6] The moneybookers.com website along with the online payment system was launched on 1 April 2002.[7] Almost 2 million new users registered with Moneybookers in the initial 1.5 years of operation.

In March 2007, Moneybookers was bought by Investcorp Technology Partners for €105 million[8] and as of 9 March 2009, it was put up for sale by its owners for an estimated £365 million.[9]

In 2008, Moneybookers claimed to operate in 200 countries of the world and handle over 6 million accounts.[10]

In February 2010, The Sunday Times ranked Moneybookers as the fastest growing private equity backed firm in the United Kingdom based on profits.[11] In 2011, the company's customer base reached 25 million, including 120,000 merchant accounts,[12] its payment gateway being integrated by a number of global online brands such as Facebook, Skype and eBay.[13][14]

In August 2013, CVC Capital Partners acquired Skrill for €600 million.[15]

As of 2014, Skrill has been approved by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) as the only sanctioned digital wallet for New Jersey internet gambling.[16]

In March 2015, Optimal Payments, the parent company of the Skrill's rival Neteller, announced its official proposal for acquisition of Skrill Group for €1.1 billion. The deal is to be finalized in the third quarter of 2015 according to the parties.[17]

In April 2015, Skrill Group announced that it had completed acquisition of Ukash, its UK-based competitor.[18]

Rebranding

In September 2011, Moneybookers announced that they would rebrand their service as Skrill.[19] The rebranding of the product was completed in 2013.[20]

Skrill allows for sending and receiving payments in 41 currencies, supporting major credit and debit cards.[21] Restrictions include countries on US and/or EU economic sanctions list. Since 2008, US-based customers could not receive money from non-US Skrill accounts, and non-US customers could not upload funds or send payments using US payment cards or bank accounts. As of September 2013, United States was not included on the list of supported countries.[22] As of March 2015, United States is included in the list.[23]

Skrill accounts can be held in any of major currencies but once the first transaction is made it is not possible to change the account's currency.[24]

Individual customers can open an account with Skrill through registering their email address and certain personal data on the company's website. Completing an optional identity verification process allows sending/receiving higher-value payments. Accounts are identified by one or more email addresses associated with them; consequently, payments from a Skrill account (other than withdrawals to own bank account or a payment card) are processed by "sending" money to an email address. An email address once assigned to a Skrill account can only be altered or removed with help of Skrill support, and there is a limit of four email addresses per account. An "inactivity fee" is charged on accounts that have not been used for more than 12 months.[23]

Service

The privately owned Better Business Bureau currently has Skrill with a "B" rating as a result of 58 complaints among Skrill's 30+ million customers during the 12 months leading up to May 2015. However, abrupt account freezes and withheld funds are an area of concern for customers where Skrill accounts are linked to credit card companies and banks as Skrill has entered into contracts favorable to these financial institutions when disputes arise.[25] Many customer reviews are favorable, for example in a 2011 survey by the online seller news blog eCommerce Bytes, Skrill received the second highest ranking out of all payment services.[26] Customers can purchase a Skrill-branded prepaid card, linked to the account, in one of the four currencies: USD, EUR, PLN, and GBP.[27]

High-turnover customers are offered premium membership called "Skrill VIP" that includes additional features, such as a security token, multi-currency accounts and the ability to earn loyalty points.[28]

For businesses, Skrill offers a payment gateway, escrow payments as well as web SMS and fax sending services. Unlike some of its competitors, Skrill does not usually get involved in merchandise disputes, and the availability of credit card chargebacks may be limited.

WikiLeaks controversy

In August 2010, Skrill blocked the account operated by WikiLeaks as a donation collection account, citing the organisation's addition to Australian blacklists and American watchlists.[29] This decision came under fire by free speech activists worldwide as complicit with out-of-court pressure applied on WikiLeaks by the government of the United States, as WikiLeaks had not been directly charged with any crime.

Sponsorship

In July 2013, Skrill became the sponsor of the Conference football league in the 2013/14 season. The initial three-year deal saw the league's three divisions known as the Skrill Premier, Skrill South and Skrill North.[30][31] However, the deal was ended after less than one year.[32]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Proposed acquisition by Optimal Payments of Skrill to create a leading global player in online payment and digital wallets services" (PDF). Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Skrill Holdings Limited: Private Company Information". Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Skrill - TotallyGaming.com". Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "Skrill (Moneybookers) - Crunchbase". Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Moneybookers.com whois record". InterNIC. 24 January 2003. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "Company information for SKRILL LIMITED (04260907) incorporated 27-07-2001". Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "Moneybookers Ltd. Launch Electronic Money Transfer Website" (Press release). 4 January 2002. Archived from the original on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Investcorp Technology Partners Undertakes Buyout of Moneybookers Limited for EUR105 Million" (Press release). 28 March 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "Investcorp to sell Moneybookers". Telegraph.co.uk. 9 March 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "Results for the year ended 31 December 2008" (Press release). 9 March 2009. Archived from the original on 25 July 2009.
  11. ↑ "Buyout Track 100" (PDF). The Sunday Times. 7 February 2010.
  12. ↑ "Skrill's customer base has reached 25 mln in 2011". 19 March 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Stafford, Philip (8 March 2009). "Moneybookers up for sale". Financial Times. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "eBay, Moneybookers & Paymate – Amazon launch FPS". Tamebay. 6 February 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Williams, Christopher (19 August 2013). "CVC buys PayPal rival Skrill for £500m". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  16. ↑ "US Online Poker, New Jersey, and Skrill USA : What's in Store for 2015?". CardsChat. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Neteller Acquires Skrill". 25 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "Skrill Group completes Ukash acquisition" (Press release). Finextra. 1 April 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  19. ↑ "Skrill is the Future of Moneybookers" (Press release). 28 September 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  20. ↑ "Our company - Skrill". Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  21. ↑ "Proposed Acquisition by Optimal Payments of Skrill to Create Leading Global Player in Online Payment and Digital Wallet Services" (Press release). 23 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "Money transfers - Country list - Web Archive". Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  23. 1 2 "Fees - Skrill". Skrill.com. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  24. ↑ "Online Casinos that Accept Skrill / Moneybookers". Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  25. ↑ "Skrill Business Reviews by Better Business Bureau". Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  26. ↑ "Sellers Choice Online Payment Ratings: Skrill - Moneybookers". 6 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  27. ↑ "Skrill MasterCard". Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  28. ↑ "Skrill VIP". Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  29. ↑ Leigh, David; Evans, Rob (14 October 2010). "WikiLeaks says funding has been blocked after government blacklisting". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  30. ↑ "Football Conference secures new sponsor". 26 July 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  31. ↑ "The Football Conference have announced a new League sponsor". 26 July 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  32. ↑ "Football Conference agree to end Skrill sponsorship deal". 3 February 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2015.

External links

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