The international economy viewed from Paypal

If you ever wondered why the poor people of the world stay poor, even though they work in rich countries and send money home, look no further than to international finance.  I was surprised to find myself in the same position as a Phillipine maid in Hong Kong or a Bangladeshi construction worker in Dubai, but suddenly I was. And it means you have to pay for the pleasure of sending your money home - twice.
I have received some money from some small jobs I did in Sweden, and if I want to get paid in Swedish kronor and put the money into my Swedish bank account without having to get the lousy Paypal exchange rate and pay lots of fees to the banks handling my money, it was the most convenient way.
Or so I thought. Until they got a notification that I had handled too much money according to EU rules (not a lot I must add). They requested identification.
Well and good, I am a law-abiding citizen of Sweden even though I live in Japan (where I am a law-abiding resident) and promptly provided the requested documents. As well as I could with the webcam on my old Mac, as I was travelling. And again today, when I could scan them.
Paypal promptly got back - and told me I had to close the account since I was not living in Sweden. As Paypal say they allow you to have up to eight bank accounts connected to your Paypal account, I tried to connect it to my Japanese Paypal account. But only the US and Japan appeared on the list. A request to Paypal turned out that they do not allow you to have accounts in other countries than Japan and the US. In Sweden you can only have accounts in Sweden and the US, even though you are legally allowed as to open a bank account in any European Union country.
Now, I could start looking for alternatives if I was irritated enough, which I may be. There are always the banks, although they charge fees which are a bit steep (in Sweden - in Japan they bake it into my loan fees). There is Western Union, Lloyds, and even Brastel - anyone who has a system where you can open an account and put money into it. In Africa, the mobile phone companies have already become banks.
In Japan, you can send your money from the convenience stores. But there are fees, and they do not allow you to take Swedish kronor and put into a Swedish account. There is Google Checkout, although I am not quite sure about how that works if you want to get paid, not just pay. And there are hundreds of foreign exchange services, but I am not sure that they would allow me to put money into my Swedish account either.
There is one additional consideration. There does not appear to be another service which allows me to transfer money using my email address. Or receive it. Of course, Paypal has patents on how to do it and as an American company they are likely to sue the living daylights out of anyone who tried to replicate their service. If you want to allow people to transfer money you would have to find some other, more clever way. And then they say patents discourage innovation.
I will see what alternatives I can find. I will report back later. But it really seems tough to make money if you live in one country and withdraw it in another. Even if you are law-abiding.