Having gone through over 10 Naira cards in the past 26 days in a bid to make Facebook ad payments ( due to the $100 limits on Naira Cards)
Here’s what I learned…
Section A: VIRTUAL DOLLAR CARDS ARE A BIG HEADACHE
Virtual dollar cards are a big headache especially if your ad account is set in Naira…
Let me give an example of the payment structure.
** To make a payment, firstly you have to fund your dollar card. this could cost from N525 / 1$ – N540/$
Facebook charges in dollars, so even if your Ad account currency is set in Naira, you still actually pay in dollars
When you pay using virtual dollar cards, you’d think you only need to fund the dollar equivalent of the amount you owe —- but you’d soon realize that you’re heading to a big loss when you pay this way…
Example 1.
If you owe N11,300 on your Ad account and you need to pay, going at the official dollar rate of 411, that’s supposed to be $27.5 that you owe, but remember the dollar rate on these platforms starts at N525.
27.5 X 525 = 14, 437 meaning you’re already paying N3,100 more.
it does not end here, however, because to be actually able to pay off the 11,300 that you owe, you’d need $36.
To calculate that, $36 X 525 = 18,900 which means you just lost 7,600 trying to make a payment (This is the issue)
And if you actually divide 11,300 / 36, you’d get N313 ( I don’t know what mathematical sorcery this is, but does this mean your 1$ is actually worth N313 on these platforms? and you actually paid N525 to fund)
Section B: Naira Visa cards + Naira Ad Accounts
If you’re going for a Naira Ad Account, you want to be able to account for your monthly ad spend, remember, there is a $100 limit on Naira cards.
If you want to spend more than that, you’d need to get more naira cards.
The best cards to use with your Naira are
1. Access Visa Cards
2. Uba Visa Cards,
Visa cards in general with Nigerian banks, Mastercards may not work with your Naira ad account, something about dynamic currency conversion.
If you want to pay N10,000 with these Naira cards, you’d be paying up to N1200 more though, which is still very much better than paying with Virtual dollar cards.
Section C: Virtual Dollar Cards & Dollar Ad Account
In an experiment recently, I made a payment of $9.79 on my dollar ad account and was charged $10.6 on my virtual dollar account with Wallets Africa.
That’s 5,565, in comparison with a Naira card, this payment would have N4600, just 900 difference.
In contrast, if you tried to make a 5000 payment on your Naira Ad account, you’d have needed up to N7600 naira…
To conclude, based on my experience in this past month, and recent discoveries, I would totally recommend a dollar Ad account, less stress, No converting Naira to the dollar before you make a payment and losing money…
