For any service provider it is very important that they have in place the right kind of payment machinery to facilitate easy and safe payment towards their services. As a freelance writer I had till now made use of the services of PayPal to receive payment for my overseas assignments. But due to the recent developments at PayPal as a result of which they temporarily suspended their India operations I was left looking for option. It was then that I realised that there might be some others like me who too would be looking for alternative options to receive their payments from abroad. Listed below are some of the major options that you can consider:
1. By cheque: Your client can mail you the cheque for the required amount. Once you get the cheque you can deposit the same in your bank and get the amount credited in your account. The biggest pitfall for this mode of payment is the time duration. The time taken by the cheque to get cleared by your bank is usually very long and if you are in need of funds immediately then surely this method would not work well for you.
2. Wire Transfer: If waiting for your cheque to get credited is not what you would ideally want then the next best option here would be to opt for a wire transfer. You would be required to share your bank information(including your bank account number) with your client who can then make the payment. This method also entitles a fee in order to get the money through.
3. Credit card: If you have in place a merchant account then you can go ahead and ask your clients to pay with a credit card too. Not only is this convenient in today's time but also appeals to most clients. 2Checkout.com is one such website which allows you to open a merchant account and move ahead smoothly.
4. XOOM: This online payment option allows you to send and receive funds from any country to any country in the world. Albeit coming with a small fee to send money this online payment option has recently caught the liking of many. All that you need to do here is to to create an account with xoom and then send your details to your payer. He will then use your details and send across the money either using his credit card or directly from his bank account. The money then reaches the bank partner in your country from where you can have access to the same.
5. Moneybookers: Another good option to have access to your online payments. Working on the lines of PayPal, moneybookers requires you to open an account with it and send/ receive funds. The major drawback here is that owing to legal restrictions the services of this website are not extended to the United States Of America.
6. Western Union: This is another very popular means to have access to your funds from abroad. You can send and receive money from any part of the world using Western Union. The major drawback here is that you need to personally go and collect funds from the Western Union agent near you.
7. Payooner: A relatively new concept, Payooner provides you with a debit card through which you can send money abroad or receive money on it.
These were some of the major options which I had listed out when I was weighing my options. Though I am yet to finalize on one of them but at least I am a little less anxious now knowing that there ARE options available.
Would love to hear from you all too if I have missed out on some other options and as to what is your preferred mode of receiving payments.
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