Signing up for Pelikin’s waitlist – A first impression

1 min read

Signing up for Pelikin | Neobanks.com.au

My signing up for Pelikin almost did not happen because it doesn’t look like they want to be a neobank. It’s more of an afterthought to their initial goal of being a prepaid travel card. This means they’ll compete with Xinja in the short term. And if things don’t change, they’ll basically be an Australia Post travel card – with emojis in the app.

Safe and standard landing page

Clean and to-the-point, which is great. The features are almost up-front, with “Split bills in any currency” being a very smart feature.

No fees aka revenue from the spread? Or selling my data?

It’s always a bit of a red flag when a company goes overboard mentioning how they are a free service.

If you are not paying for the product online, you are the product being sold.

Douglas Rushkoff, Media Theorist & Writer
Signing up for Revolut | Neobanks.com.au

In their features section, Pelikin mentions:

  • that they charge no fees,
  • they offer free transfer,
  • get paid in any currency for free, and
  • you can spend money around the world, without any fees.

Two things are at play here: Either Pelikin is a philanthropic organisation that wants Australians to have a convenient global travel experience without the headaches of currency conversions; or they’ve found another way to make money without charging you a direct fee.

They could be selling your data? Scary.

But my hypothesis is that they are making money on the currency conversion spread. That’s when they buy 1 USD for $1.50, sell it to you for $1.75, making $0.25 on that transaction. Perfectly fine, perfectly acceptable and totally the norm.

Hey Pelikin: This is how you can tackle pricing in an honest way.

My question is: If we’re being honest about hating transaction fees, why is there no section on the spread cost? Isn’t that a ‘fee’ that you pay for buying money?

An email waitlist

There’s nothing here to show that they’re going to be better than the travel money cards that have been around for changes.

Despite having a solid landing page, it was the content that made this landing page and its product interesting.

Just an email to sign up. Now to wait and watch.

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