ePassporte a viable, but slow e-wallet option

Signing up for a new ePassporte account and gaining access to deposited funds takes approximately three weeks, according to a Casino City test.

A Casino City reporter began the sign-up process on January 17, the day NETeller officially stopped accepting U.S. player transactions. Deposited money became available for use exactly 21 days later.

The two longest delays involved banking transactions. It took eight days for ePassporte's micro-deposits to arrive and 13 days for money to be uploaded into the account.

The delays were due to a flood of new account sign-ups in the weeks following NETeller's withdrawal from the U.S. market, according to an ePassporte customer service representative.

New customers can expect to wait a similar amount time and customers who have already gone through the initial sign up process may have a difficult time checking the status of their new account.

"Due to unusually high call and email volumes, you may experience extended hold times when calling us or there may be a delay receiving a response to your email inquiry," the ePassporte's Web site says. "We apologize for the inconvenience. We are exerting all efforts so that we may attend to your phone calls and emails as soon as possible. Your calls and emails will be answered in the order they are received."

In addition to volume delays, there are also "standard" delays in processing deposits. The average wait time for a deposit to load from a verified bank account is seven business days, according to the site.

There are also fees for loading and withdrawing money.

For every $100 loaded into ePassporte, the e-wallet takes $5 or a portion thereof for lesser deposits. Withdrawing money from ePassporte to a bank account carries a $2 fee.

If a player upgrades to the Visa Electron, a type of ATM card tied to a personal ePassporte account, he/she can expect to pay $2 per ATM transaction. There is a $35 activation fee for the card.

Once the funds had reached ePassporte, they were immediately transferred to UltimateBet.com. The transaction went smoothly and the money was instantly available with no additional fees.

The Casino City Test Timeline

Jan. 17: Sign up for new account.
Jan. 25 : Micro-deposits arrive.
Jan. 25: Micro-deposits verified with ePassporte.
Jan. 25: Deposit request made.
Jan. 26.: Money taken from reporter's bank account.
Jan. 26-Feb. 5: No money in ePassporte account. The customer support line was always busy. v Feb. 6: After days of trying to get through to the ePassporte customer line to find out where the money is, reporter calls the business line instead, gets transferred to a customer service representative who tells him to be patient because they've been inundated with requests and are processing them as quickly as they can.
Feb. 7: The money finally appears in the account.
Feb. 8: The reporter successfully transferred $40 into Ultimatebet.com's poker room.