Here's a summary of what we've been working on in the payments area over the past months. Did you know that Skype supports natively no less than 14 currencies?

Customers wanting to top up their Skype Credit to pay for Skype’s offerings can now take advantage of online payment methods, special vouchers and scratch cards bought from high street stores. As well as giving people more payment options, Skype has made it easier for people on most continents – including Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania – to buy and keep track of their Skype Credit in 14 local currencies, including Euros, US Dollars, Polish Zloty, Brazilian Real, Canadian Dollar, British Pound, New Taiwanese Dollar, Swedish Krona, Danish Krona, Norwegian Krone, Japanese Yen, Hong Kong Dollar, Australian Dollar and Swiss Francs.

Skype customers can choose to pay for Skype Credit via GlobalCollect and FIRSTGATE’s Click&Buy. GlobalCollect enables local offline and online bank transfer payments to be made in 50 countries worldwide. Click&Buy allows online purchases to be made with multiple local payment options in countries across Europe and the Americas.

Along with multiple payment options, Skype customers can now enjoy a simpler and faster way to buy Skype Credit with PayPal. Once customers pre-approve payments with PayPal on their Skype accounts, they can pay in just two clicks, without entering any additional or credit card numbers. With PayPal, Skype customers can fund their payments using their stored PayPal balances, their bank accounts, or any major credit card. PayPal has more than 100 million accounts across 55 markets worldwide, and supports seven currencies.

In addition, Skype customers without a debit or credit card can now purchase Skype Credit with Ukash vouchers bought from high street retailers in more than 50,000 locations across the UK, Republic of Ireland and Spain, with further countries to be added shortly. Skype Scratch cards are currently available in Sweden and Finland at Clas Ohlson and other retail stores, with more countries and retailers to be added soon.