After suffering extreme hyperinflation and undergoing redenomination, Venezuela now uses the bolivar (VES), but in practice the U.S. dollar is widely used, making it a de facto dollarized economy. On top of this, nationwide foreign exchange controls and U.S. sectoral sanctions add structural uncertainty, meaning international payment and settlement channels can be restricted at any time.

The scope of use for global payment services, including PayPal, within Venezuela is limited or fluid, and whether a transaction in which a foreign merchant receives payment from a Venezuelan consumer can even be established cannot be assumed without prior confirmation. At this point in time, new adoption is difficult to recommend, and if consideration is still needed, a sanctions compliance review and consultation with Hecto Financial should come first.

The standard PayPal flow (log into an account and authorize with a linked method) technically applies the same way, but transactions originating from Venezuela may be blocked or restricted at the payment service level under sanctions and risk policies. What needs to be confirmed before the flow diagram is whether this type of transaction can be established at all.

Even when considering integration through Hecto Financial, Venezuelan transactions require a prior review of sanctions and foreign exchange rule compliance, and support may not be available. Before reviewing general support terms (settlement cycle, fees, currency options), please confirm with our sales team whether the transaction structure itself can be established.

• Business registration country

  Confirm contract eligibility as a Korea-registered business

• Sales channels

  Integration method and priority differ depending on your online sales channel mix — owned site, marketplaces, mobile app, etc.

• Product categories

  Check in advance whether your products fall under PayPal's restricted-category merchant policies

• Local regulatory compliance

  Transactions involving Venezuela require confirming compliance with international sanctions in addition to payment and FX regulations (see official sources below)

Even when a payment is established, settlement follows the standard structure: local receipt, conversion, and payout to the Korean merchant in whichever contracted currency — USD, KRW, or JPY. However, because the volatility of the bolivar (VES) and foreign exchange controls can create significant constraints at the receipt and conversion stage, settlement terms need to be defined in the contract in more detail than for a typical country. Refunds are subject to the same constraints.