Receiving money with WorldFirst

Receiving accounts allow your business to receive payments from marketplaces and businesses globally by providing them with your account details. You’ll be able to receive funds into your World Account via bank transfer.

You can open receiving accounts and collect funds in the following currencies: USD, CAD, CNH, HKD, SGD, GBP, EUR, AUD, NZD, JPY, AED, CHF, CZK, SAR, MXN, PLN, SEK, ZAR, THB (non-Thailand users only) and MYR (the currencies supported is subject to where you’re registered).

Your currency account is the pooled balance of all your receiving accounts. For example, if you receive 100 GBP into one receiving account and 100 GBP into another, your total GBP currency account balance will be 200 GBP.

You can receive payments from several sources, such as:

• Online marketplaces, such as Amazon, etc
• Payment service providers, such as Stripe, etc
• Your company’s or your own bank account
• Other businesses or individuals’ bank account
• Tax refunds

As a sole proprietor, you can receive payments from approved marketplaces, tax authorities, and your own personal bank account.

If you’re a business, you may receive incoming payments from approved marketplaces & payment services providers, your own personal bank account, other businesses or individuals, tax authorities, and other approved third-party sources that receive payments on behalf of your business.

We may from time to time request additional information from you before we can release a payment to your account to protect your account against fraud. You’ll need to provide supporting documents such as invoices or contracts.

Please contact us if you would like to receive other types or sources of funds, or if you have any questions.

You can top-up your World Account with funds from your own bank account to make FX conversions and payouts to another party abroad. As a UK business, you can also top-up your account in GBP via direct debit. Please note that the bank account must have the same owner as the WorldFirst account. For detailed steps, please follow the ‘How do I top-up my World Account‘ guide.

A payer is a person or company that is authorised to pay money into your Receiving Accounts. The payer can be your own account, your business account, or a third-party. You can add them as payers first to ensure that there are no delays when a payment is made. To do this, follow these simple steps:

In your World Account,

• Click “Collect” on the top navigation
• Select the ‘Payers’ tab and click on “Add a payer”

To protect the safety of your account, WorldFirst needs to perform additional verifications on incoming payments from third-party bank accounts. You’ll need to upload proof of income, such as invoice, purchase order, and contract to complete the verification. For step-by-step guide, please refer to Receive funds from a third-party.

WorldFirst is sometimes required to carry out additional security checks and we may need additional information to protect your account.

You will need to log into your World Account and provide the additional documentation requested. Once submitted and verified, the payment will be cleared into your account within 1 business day. You’ll receive an email confirming that the payment has been received.

In your World Account,

• On the homepage you will see “Payment received” under “To do”
• Click “Verify” and select the payment with the status “Awaiting verification”
• Click “View” under “Actions” and you’ll see the details of the payment you need to verify

Your funds would remain as Unavailable if the information has not been supplied or yet to be assessed by WorldFirst.

You can connect to over 100 global marketplaces and receive your sales income into your local currency accounts for free without the need of an overseas bank account. Please refer to our ‘Receiving Payments‘ guide center for detailed steps to collect funds from major marketplaces.

When a merchant opens a new marketplace storefront or changes the bank account details linked to an existing storefront, marketplaces such as Amazon, Etsy often require proof of account ownership – such as a statement or account opening letter (often referred to as an “Account Verification Letter”).

In your World Account,

• Go to “Collection”
• Click on “Manage accounts” on the top right corner
• You’ll see a list of Receiving Accounts you have opened
• Click on an account of the currency of your choice, and click on “Download proof of account” on the bottom
• Create your account verification letter by selecting your country/region and confirming your registered/trading address. Click “Create”
• Your account verification letter will be available to download. To save a copy for your records, click “Download account verification letter” button
• You can provide this letter to marketplaces such as Amazon