The first thing to do is to sign up for an account. Click the banner or text link above. This will take you to the Neteller web site. The initial sign-up page is very simple, just a handful of questions.

When you sign-up make sure you use the email address you use with the online cardrooms. Unlike Paypal where you could have multiple email accounts sending and receiving money, with Neteller you can only have one. So, a secondary step is for you to go to all the online cardrooms you play at and change any email addresses to the one you use with Neteller.

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The next step is to "certify". US customers do this by verifying a bank account. (International users may become certified by faxing a copy of their passport and both sides of a personal credit card.) You give Neteller your checking account information, and they make one tiny deposit and one tiny withdrawal from that bank account (amounts like six cents and four cents). After your bank registers these transactions (two to four days), you enter the amounts on a "Verify Your Bank Account" page. This process allows you to transfer money into and out of Neteller and your checking account with no fees (assuming your bank allows electronic transfers). They say a transfer from your bank account will take two to four business days, but they start counting the days the day after you make your request, and I doubt they ever take two days, so assume a transfer will take one week, including weekends.

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Once you certify, you receive much more generous transaction limits. These limits are flexible. If you want higher ones, contact Neteller support to find out what they require of you.

Needless to say, this simplifies the cashout process immensely. When you cashout, choose to cashout to Neteller. Once your money is on Neteller, you can then transfer it to your bank account (again, taking two to four days) or get a check mailed (free) or Fed Ex (costs $25).

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It is advisable for you to set up a completely new account at your bank that you use exclusively with Neteller. Keep a few dollars in it to keep it active, then whenever you cashout just transfer the money out of this account into your principal checking or savings account. Likewise when you want to deposit money to an online cardroom: deposit the money in your special account, transfer it to Neteller, then transfer it to the cardroom.

While Neteller is free to transfer to the cardrooms (unless a cardroom decides to pass on the fees to you), there are fees for some related transactions. For example, if you use a credit card to deposit to Neteller, you will be charged a 3.9% fee on the deposit. You will also be limited to $400 until you certify your account. Once you have certified your account you will be able to use your Credit Card to fund your Neteller Account for up to $3000 in a rolling thirty-day period. Most credit cards will view Neteller transactions as cash advances.

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Another possible fee comes into play if you wish greater speed than the two to four days needed to move money to and from a bank account. Neteller offers an "InstaCash" transfer -- essentially, immediate bank transfers, but with a cost of 8.9%. I doubt many poker players will want to pay that much juice just to move money a couple days faster. In contrast, Firepay offers a flat $1.50 fee for an immediate transfer.

Neteller does not currently have the option for citizens outside of the U.S. to register their bank accounts for electronic fund transactions. However, you may request Neteller's own account information and make a deposit directly to their corporate bank account! Fax Neteller the deposit slip, your name and the direct phone number to the bank. After they confirm the deposit they will credit your account. International users can also fund accounts using credit cards. Unlike Paypal, Neteller has a page of phone numbers and email addresses to make contacting them easy.

Neteller policy is to withdraw your funds using the same method as they were originally deposited. So if you deposit $20.00 by credit card, then you must withdraw $20.00 back to your credit card. Any subsequent amounts may be withdrawn using other methods.

Remember, while you can instantly transfer money from Neteller to a cardroom, transferring money from your bank to Neteller will take up to four days. So sensibly plan your transfers ahead of time or keep a funds balance on Neteller, and you'll always be in action. Also, as with PayPal, I assume kinks will be ironed out and the buying-in and cashing-out process will become more seamless as the cardrooms better optimize their cashiers for Neteller.