Bitcoin is the biggest and first cryptocurrency to be launched in the world. Over the past ten years, bitcoin has become widely accepted as a reliable payment method all over the world.

So, just like Paypal and the rest, Bitcoin can also be used for online shopping and other online payments.

Whereas there are many myths about bitcoin and its link with fraudulent activities or scam, bitcoin is a uniquely fast and reliable way of making payments both locally and international.

In this article, we shall focus on how to use bitcoin to shop in Ghana or any other part of the world.

First of all, certain shops accept bitcoin as payment methods. These are the only online shops from which you can purchase an item using bitcoin.

How To Know If An E-commerce Store Accepts Bitcoin Payment

As stated in the previous paragraph, the first thing you need to confirm before shopping online with bitcoin is for you to identify sites that accept bitcoin as a payment method.
For you to confirm if a site accepts bitcoin as a payment method, you need to follow the steps below.

1. Visit the e-commerce site.
2. Go to payment methods under the FAQs column or help column
3. Check through the list to see if you’ll find cryptocurrencies.
4. If you see cryptocurrencies, check to see if you’ll find bitcoin or its logo there.

If you do not see anything about bitcoin in the list of payment methods, then know that the site doesn’t accept bitcoin as a payment method.

How To Fund Your Your Bitcoin Account Before Making Purchases

Before anyone can use bitcoin for a transaction, the person must already have a safe bitcoin online wallet.

Just like the banking system, you need an account where you can deposit money before spending on any goods or service.

In the case of bitcoin, there are very few wallets that are reliable but I will recommend blockchain.

So, to create your blockchain wallet, visit blockchain.com and follow the steps below:

1. Click on ‘wallet’ button b. select signup’
2. Fill the form with your email address, preferred password and name, accept terms and conditions and click on continue
3. Click on ‘get started’ to see your account dashboard.
4. Open your email account to confirm your email address.

When you finally complete your account opening process, you need to send some bitcoin to your blockchain wallet.

You can check out this article:

How To Make Your Purchase With Bitcoin

1. Visit the e-commerce site you wish to buy from.
2. Login to your account or create a new account if you’re a new user.
3. Select the items you wish to purchase and add them to your cart.
4. Click on your cart and go to checkout.
5. Fill in your shipping address and other vital information.
6. Select ‘Bitcoin’ as your payment method.
7. Copy the bitcoin address provided.

Sending Your Payment

Open a new tab and do the following:

1. Go to your blockchain account
2. Click on send
3. Select bitcoin from the list of currencies
4. Paste the receiver’s wallet address in the ‘To’ column.
5. Enter the amount you want to send in dollars
6. Write the reasons for the transfer in the ‘description’ box.
7. Select your preferred fee and click on continue.
8. You may be asked to enter a code for verification.

When you’re done with sending your bitcoin, go back to the previous tab and confirm that you’ve sent it.  You may be required to paste the transaction ID.

Conclusion

As indicated in the beginning paragraph of this article, there are some e-commerce sites and businesses that accept bitcoin payments. Some of them include Microsoft, Pornhub, AT&T, Norwegian Air, Shopify, Overstock, Expedia and Newegg among others.

Always remember to have more than enough bitcoin balance before making payments since bitcoin is very volatile and can hence reduce or increase within the next moment. Also, make sure that you buy from trusted websites with bitcoin since bitcoin sent is irreversible.

Again, do not leave your blockchain login details on any site since this could be used to hack your account and steal all your bitcoin. If you have any reservations or additional comments, kindly let us know in the comment box beneath the post.

While Paypal remains arguably the most-used payment methods for international transactions all over the world, its unavailability in some countries, especially in Africa, makes it difficult for people to transact businesses online.

What most people do not know however is that there are other Softwares and platforms that provide users with the opportunity to send money to any part of the world from any part of the world.

In this article, we shall look at three of those platforms that can be used to send and receive money internationally in Ghana.

Transferwise

Transferwise is a global financial technology (fintech) company which provides people with the opportunity to send money outside their jurisdiction while maintaining the real exchange rate at the time of sending and also with a very minimal cost.

While sending an amount of 1, 000 British pounds, one gets to pay either 3.95 or 6.5 GBP as the charge and a mid-market exchange rate too. Also, Transferwise is trusted by over 6 million customers with over 13 physical offices across the world and over 5 billion euros sent every single month by users.

Click below to read how to register and send money to any part of the world using Transferwise: Transferwise: How To Receive Money From Outside To Ghana

Payoneer

Payoneer is a perfect and even better substitute for Paypal since it provides the options of sending money overseas via bank transfer or to a debit or credit card directly.

Monies sent to prepaid cards via Payoneer can be withdrawn directly from ATM machines which option is mostly not associated with Paypal.

The least amount you can send to anyone using Payoneer is 20 Dollars.

And Payoneer is available in all countries across the globe so you can easily send money to your friends across the world without worrying about how they’ll withdraw the money.

World Remit

This method is applicable to all nations throughout the world. It provides you with the opportunity to send money to over 150 countries in over 90 different currencies.

Their fees are relatively low and vary based on the locations of transfer but largely range from 1.4% and above.

Also, their service is very convenient and swift. Monies sent can be received within a few hours to 2 days upon transfer.

Withdrawal methods are Bank transfer, Cash pickup, Mobile money, Airtime top, up Door-to-door, or WorldRemit Wallet. Note however that your withdrawal methods depend on your recipient country.

Conclusion

There are a thousand other payment methods that can be used in place of Paypal, to send money both locally and internationally.

However, the above listed are the ones we have tried and tested and see to be effective for anyone hoping to send and receive money internationally in Ghana.

If you have any other interesting platforms with more advantages, you can kindly share in the comment box beneath the post. We’d love to learn from you.

We all have been using mobile money in our daily to-do activities, either sending, receiving, withdrawing, paying bills and shopping.

Some subscribers sometimes find it difficult in checking their account balances and due to this they always depend on messages they will receive anytime they transact money to check their account balance as that message comes with your balance left.

This is not the right way as it will be very difficult to keep track of your account balance.

Someone close to you knowing your password can use this to steal your money or make a transaction and then delete the message that comes afterwards, and if you don’t check your actual balance more often, you won’t find out that someone has stolen your money.

This is the reason why you need to check your mobile money balance rather than depending on your transactions messages history to know your balance.

In this article, I am going to take you through how to check MTN mobile money balance via USSD and app, how to check Vodafone cash balance and how to check AirtelTigo money balance.

How To Check MTN Mobile Money Balance Via USSD

1. On your phone dial *170#.
2. Select 6: My Wallet.
3. Enter 1: Check Balance.
4. Type in your PIN  code to check your current balance.

How To Check MTN Mobile Money Balance Via App

1. Install MYMTN app from Google play store.
2. The app will take you to your dashboard if you are connected to the internet using your MTN sim card.
3. To check your mobile money balance select MoMo Service.
4. Enter your MoMo PIN to continue,  the app will send you a code to type in, type in and you will be taken to your mobile money dashboard.
5. On your dashboard select Wallet to see your account balance, on the app you can see all the mini statements of your transactions you have made.

You can also request for account statement, that’s the last 50 transactions which includes the amount spent and total received on the app, you can also change your PIN on the app.

How To Check Vodafone Cash

1. Dial *110#.
2. Select 7: My Account.
3. Select 1: Main Balance.
4. Type in your PIN to know your account balance.

How To Check AirtelTigo Money Balance

1. Dial *110#
2. Select My Account.
3. Select Check Balance
4. Enter your PIN to see your account balance.

Conclusion

Depending on what wallet you use, there are various ways to check your mobile money balance. Follow the steps above and let us know if you have any questions.

The internet today has become the number one place for seeking help from a wide variety of people. With the emergence of mobile money and the increase in the usage of debit cards (Visa and Master), online fundraising is becoming well-known in Ghana.

NGOs, business, individuals and even political parties have now come to embrace crowdfunding as their number one method of seeking help from the public. Gone were the days when people rely on family and loved ones to seek help, today, anyone who is in need of help can utilize some of the fundraising websites to crowdfunded their intended project.

If you have a project or an idea that you are planning of putting into action but due to financial constraint or funding issues, then the only option you may have is to seek help from the public through a method known as crowdfunding. Most of the well know crowdfunding websites accept visa master card or PayPal as their method of payment, a manifestation of the high level of financial technology in Ghana.

But as people began to get much interested in crowdfunding, there necessitated the integration of our number one popular method of payment (mobile money payment).

The goal of this article is not to tell you the history of crowdfunding and how it works but rather to show you some of the best crowdfunding websites in Ghana that you can use to seek help for your next or incoming project. Below are some of the best crowdfunding space in Ghana.

Here are crowdfunding platforms in Ghana:

Payputt

Payputt is a crowdfunded website that has help Individuals, social and economic groups, charity organizations and media houses in Ghana to raise funds for all manner of causes they are on. It uses the best security methods to ensure that your project contributor’s data and donations are safe.

When using this website for running your fundraising project, each of the contributor is given the chance to check campaigns and know how much is raised and the amount each donor has contributed.

Payputt has all the mobile network payments in Ghana integrated with their campaign and this means a contributor does not need an internet connection before he or she can contribute.

Funding Africa

Another fundraising platform that helps individuals to easily source funds from the general public without complication is Funding Africa.

It helps individuals, organizations or business ventures Raise money online for anything they care about. This crowdfunding site can be used for personal or social projects, ideas, and causes. they offer local and international donation options and free support for all fundraisers.

The site also has the option for your contributors to make a donation using mobile money payments if they wish to do so. Check out the funding Africa website for more information and see the various campaigns run by them.

GoGetFunding

GoGetFunding is a crowdfunding website that lets you raise money for anything that matters to you. From personal causes to events projects and more. GoGetFunding helped people from all over the world raise millions of dollars online.

Recognized by Forbes as one of the top global crowdfunding websites, their campaigns have been featured in a vast number of leading press publications in the world.

See the list of their latest campaigns and all that you need to start your own cause from the platform’s official website.

Gofundme

GoFundMe is a platform that helps individuals to easily share their story via email, text, and social media to solicit support from the general public for a cause.

GoFundMe is trusted by many around the world for its simple and reliable fundraising platform. You can personalize and share your GoFundMe link in just a few minutes. Harness the power of social media to spread your story and get more support.

GoFundMe has an app that you can easily launch and manage your campaign whenever and where you find yourself. Visit the homepage for more info.

Mightycause

Mightycause is another online fundraising platform that enabled institution such as nonprofits, churches and businesses to crowdfunded the causes they believe in. Individuals, families, classrooms, sports teams, companies, and initiatives of all shapes and sizes make a difference by using Mightycause for raising funds for their cause.

Organizations like Giving Tuesday, run their fundraising projects on Mightycause year after year. Get full information about this crowdfunded platform from their website.

Myaidfund.Com

This crowdfunding platform is built and managed by a Ghanaian based, startup technology firm. It can be used for both online and offline fundraising. The platform gives Individuals, organizations, political parties, friends, family, colleagues, donors, the chance to contribute to a cause via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp etc.

Contribution can be done using Visa/Mastercard, PayPal or mobile money. Even though the site has now paused its operation for some reasons known to them, a chat from the developer shows that they are organizing things to bounce back with more improved service.

Conclusion

Crowdfunding has been in operation for some time now but in our part of the world it seems is now that people are beginning to take advantage of this method of soliciting help from the general public. Because of the earlier low patronage of the fundraising sites, there are still a few of these platform in Ghana.

The above are some of the best ones that we think are worth knowing. If you have any you would want to share with us, kindly list them below.