How to Buy from Global Online Stores from Nigeria

What motivates you to shop online?

For some it is about great deals, for others it is about conveniency, while for some others, it is a combination of the two.

It is a known fact that shopping from oversea is one way to get things cheaper, plus you have an abundant of options to choose from but given the situation of things, it can be quite frustrating for someone in Nigeria to buy things from oversea online stores such as Aliexpress, Gearbest, Shein etc. And this is not because these stores don’t ship to Nigeria, but rather a means of payment is the problem. Especially for someone who does not have a domiciliary account with easy access to dollar. This makes shopping abroad from Nigeria a pain in the ass.

Although with services like Jumia Global by one of our top online stores Jumia, you can buy products shipped from oversea your options are limited to what are available on Jumia.

Some naira denominated cards can be used to pay for international transactions but due to the situation of the Nigerian currency and some government policies, there is a stiff limit on these cards. For instance, the GT bank naira card is limited to $100 per month on international spending while that of Ecobank is limited to $20.

Update: GT bank limit for international transactions is now $20. Zenith bank naira card also have similar limit.

You will agree that this does not do much good for most people. And some banks have gone further to suspend international spending on their naira denominated cards entirely.

This brings us to the question of how do you pay for goods on these international online stores that ship products to Nigeria?

Enter Barter by Flutterwave…

Barter is an online banking system designed to help you become borderless and it is created by one of the leading payment gateways in Nigeria – Flutterwave.

With the Flutterwave Barter, international transactions becomes a piece of cake because you get a virtual Visa and/or Mastercard dollar card that is accepted worldwide and you can easily fund that from your naira account.

To get started with the Barter, all you have to do is to visit the Flutterwave Barter page, download the mobile app and sign up (available for both iOS and Android) or sign up on the website, create your virtual card, fund your naira wallet and from there fund your virtual dollar card and you are good to go.

It is that simple!

With that there is no limit to your online shopping… and yes, you can create as many dollar cards as you want.

You get the point now?

That is just it.

You can share your thought or ask questions (if you have any) using the comment section below.

Update: Flutterwave has suspended its dollar card service. They didn’t exactly say why nor when the plan to resume service. We will keep you posted if we find any other reasonable means of making payment for oversea shopping from Nigeria. You can also share with us and everyone in the comment section if you know of any other means.