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Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Paypal Mass Pay alternatives

Paypal Mass Pay is one of the most used tools for global payments. It's often used for paying freelancers, making customer refunds or managing payroll.

It comes with some drawbacks however. If the beneficiary is not based in the US, it is an expensive option. Both the sender, and the beneficiary pays hefty fees.

There are a number of alternatives, but since platforms such as Hubstaff and Timedoctor tend to provide a limited number of payment options, switching can be hard.

If you have used the Paypal Mass Pay file upload in the past, you could use this simple file converter. It lets you continue using the same file format, while picking the payment provider that suits your need the best.

Get your regular Paypal Mass Pay file and follow the instructions on the page to use your mass pay file with the provider of your choice (only TransferWise supported at the moment).

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Can't access Paypal mass pay? Here's the solution.

Are you also getting the message "We're sorry, but your PayPal account isn't currently eligible to send mass payments."? Lots of businesses rely on Paypal's mass pay tool to pay freelancers around the world. But Paypal has become increasingly restrictive on giving access.

Luckily, there's a great alternative. TransferWise offers global payments straight to bank accounts. Plus, if the freelancer is outside of the US, both you and your freelancer stand to save loads by switching to TransferWise.

I've put together a tool for you to convert your Paypal mass pay file to one that works on TransferWise. Just go here and make the switch today.


Friday, September 30, 2016

Bank average cost per international transaction

McKinsey's latest Global Payments Report, which is always an interesting read. I felt that they really missed an opportunity to visualise the challenge faced by banks trying to bring down the cost of international transfers.

Here is their chart. Notice the distorted y-axis.

Here is the same data, with the y-axis to scale. 



Monday, September 26, 2016

How to pay affiliates in Pakistan

Are you running a global affiliates network? Paying affiliates in Pakistan can be expensive if you don't chose a specialised payments company. Banks usually charge £9-£25 for an international payment and up to 4% in conversion fees. Add to that unpredictable receiving and intermediary bank fees, and it's clear you can't run your affiliate network using SWIFT payments.

The two most popular choices for payouts to Pakistan Paypal and Payoneer. Paypal's mass payments tool lets you send money to an email address, making it very easy to get set up. The cost is typically 2% (max $30), plus a 2.5% exchange rate mark-up, but for many businesses it's the easiest way to get started and most of the cost is born by the payee. However, Paypal doesn't yet support withdrawals to local bank accounts in Pakistan, making it an unpopular choice among affiliates (list of supported currencies here).

Payoneer allows you to use GBP, EUR or USD for making mass payouts. For your affiliate to receive funds, they need a Payoneer prepaid debit card, which they can use to spend their Payoneer balance. The pay-out fee is $5.95, plus a conversion fee of up to 3.5%. they can also receive the funds to an local bank account in India and roughly the same cost.

If you are making a lot of payments, these costs quickly add up. Another solution is TransferWise, and we are currently trialling a mass payments solution with a limited number of customers. With TransferWise, the pay-out fee is £0, and the conversion fee is only 1% and there is no exchange rate mark-up or receiving fees. You can apply for access to the beta program herehttps://transferwise.com/u/erikj.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

How to pay affiliates in India

Paying affiliates in India can be expensive if you don't chose a specialised payments company. Banks usually charge £9-£25 for an international payment and up to 4% in conversion fees. Add to that unpredictable receiving and intermediary bank fees, and it's clear you can't run your affiliate network using SWIFT payments.

The two most popular choices are Paypal and Payoneer. Paypal's mass payments tool lets you send money to an email address, making it very easy to get set up. The cost is typically 2% (max $30), plus a 2.5% exchange rate mark-up, but for many businesses it's the easiest way to get started and most of the cost is born by the payee. However, Paypal doesn't support India, so we're left with Payoneer.

Payoneer allows you to use GBP, EUR or USD for making mass payouts. For your payee to receive funds, they need a Payoneer prepaid debit card, which they can use to spend their Payoneer balance. The pay-out fee is $5.95, plus a conversion fee of up to 3.5%. they can also receive the funds to an local bank account in India and roughly the same cost.

If you are making a lot of payments, these costs quickly add up. Another solution is TransferWise, and we are currently trialling a mass payments solution with a limited number of customers. With TransferWise, the fee is 0.7% and there is no exchange rate mark-up or receiving fees. You can apply for access to the beta program herehttps://transferwise.com/u/erikj.

Thursday, August 04, 2016

How much does international business payments cost?

With the help of a research agency, TransferWise called up the high-street banks in the UK to see what sending £2000 to Germany, the US and India would cost for businesses. Turns out, it’s a lot, but they won’t tell you if you don’t ask.

Exposed: the hidden cost of transfering £2,000 to euros

The up-front fees charged by banks varies between £9 and £25. Santander is the most expensive, and Natwest is the cheapest. But that's not all, the banks all added a mark-up to the exchange rate. The worst one is again Santander, who added on 3.47% in the exchange rate.

It doesn’t end here however. We also investigated how much the recipient pays on the other end. Commerzbank in Germany took £14 and Bank of America took £24. Only in India were there no receiving fees.

Sending bank fees for £2000 to EUR


Name of bank
% exchange rate mark-up
International transfer fee
Exchange rate mark-up in £
Total sending fees
Barclays
2.02
£25.00
£40.39
£65.39
HSBC
2.07
£9.00
£41.45
£50.45
Lloyds
2.45
£15.00
£48.99
£63.99
Natwest
1.73
£12.00
£34.66
£46.66
RBS
2.29
£12.00
£45.72
£57.72
Santander
3.47
£25.00
£69.36
£94.36
Read the research here.
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