Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I live in Denmark, and though it's not difficult to cash the checks, I have to pay approx. US$ 25 per check.
Vivi
Checks are somewhat more popular in the US as they use the completely outdated check system instead of a modern paperless banking system.
No wonder that Paypal is so popular over there ;)
Checks are somewhat more popular in the US as they use the completely outdated check system instead of a modern paperless banking system.
There are quite legitimate concerns about cybersecurity regarding accounts that pay straight into foreign bank accounts. Also Paypal pay you quicker if you have a US bank account (an extremely hard thing for a foreigner to get these days. :P ). Seriously though - consider setting up a US dollar account if you have enough cheques. Then you can pay in all the cheques and transfer to your local currency account when the exchange rate suits you. Of course on small cheques (eg <$100) this might not be worth it.
My bank credits my account with foreign currency cheques the day I pay them in here in the UK. They're HSBC - although I'm not sure what their charges are in mainland Europe.
Yeah the US is so technologically backward - you Europeans should use the European equivelent of Google, so you can get paid in Euros.
:p
well. check (cheque) is not popular in US either. I don't get a check from my regular job as all income goes into my checking account directly. I think google has their reasons to use check.
Just my speculation, Google is US based company. But we adsense users are from all over the world. Every country has its own banking system. Instead of working through all the troubles of understanding each banking system, they just left the job to us ^^
The problem with wire transfers is that they're terribly expensive.
Funny story: Last week I went to my bank to cash 2 latest cheques and withdraw money for the previous 2. Forgot my PIN, so "bank lady" had to fill 3 different sets of forms. Then she told me to go to the register to pay the fee for those 2 cheques. I paid, another lady registered it. Came back. "I'm sorry, I should have told you that you were suppoesed to make 2 separate payments". Went back to register, cancelled the last transfer, made 2 new ones. Went to the lady again. "Sign on those 3 forms and on cheques". I did that. "Oops! Your specimen signature contains surname only, and you wrote your first name as well". 10 more minutes for consulting head manager, couple stamps, we can proceed. I took a look at those forms... "ehm... you mistyped United States". Filling them again. "Please take a look if everything is fine". "This cheque was actually $2 more, but I don't care...". No, they won't process it, let's fill those forms again.
Then we finished, I went back home. Telephone ringing. Lady from the bank. I'm sorry, but it looks like I gave you one cheque back :). I took a look at my backpack - yes, she did :D. So I had to go there again ...
1,5h to cash 2 stupid cheques... but we laughed all the way :)
Another thing... for that half an hour I had both a cheque and a receipt (a proof that I have given it to them)... if I was a ***, I could tell them that she hasn't given me that cheque... extra $8xx certainly wouldn't hurt anyone's wallet...
---
Oh... and the terms (in Poland). Around $5 OR 1% (whichever is higher). I have to wait for 30 days before they validate it. Actually, the first one took longer than that. Don't know about others, because I'm too lazy to check frequently.
greetings,
Mateusz Mucha
[edited by: eelixduppy at 9:26 pm (utc) on Feb. 18, 2009]
So if CJ.com can do it, why can't google? We get our Direct Deposits right on time. Never had an issue. Usually the payout is around the 20th of the month, and DD shows up by the 21st latest (depending on weekend or holidays) and on some accounts that we help they get their checks by the 24th.
Once I wanted to send a $30 check to a friend in Germany, he got it but didn't cash it. I asked why. He said $30 was not enough to cover the fee his bank might charge him. Unbelievable in the US.
This month, I have a cheque due for just over £100 (as luck would have it) - so I've been emailing companies I'm active with and seeing if they can withhold sending payments automatically.
If you are in Europe and charged to change each cheque you pay in - then you will be pleased to know that you can email Google before the 5th of each month and have them withhold payment for the previous month (and any other months prior that have not been paid). You can ask them to withhold a payment for up to 6 months in the future (saves you asking each month).
So if you can wait and want to minimise your charges, then you might want to email Google and get your check put on hold.
Amazon, unfortunately for me, as not as flexible - if you earn over $100 you'll be getting a cheque... I would prefer it if they could put it directly into my bank but they only offer that option to US affiliates.
Just thought I'd share this tidbit of info, I'm not sure how many were aware they could hold their Google payments.
The problem with wire transfers is that they're terribly expensive.
55 pence (about $1US) if you own a business account in the UK. Wonder how much a cheque costs google to process?
Also can't understand why Google can't use their regional centres (one in Dublin which could issue cheques in Euros or UK cheques)
For example, CJ.COM always sends the checks labeled in euro, so I have almost no charge at my bank.
My bank charges an insanly amount of money to cash the dollar check from google.
It is qui astonishing that google has not yet implemented euro currency checks.
You have $****.xx in Google Adsense Account: Would you like to,
* Check
* Your Credit/Debit Card
* Your Bank Account
* Get Cash using Western Union
* Transfer to PayPal Account
* Transfer to Google PayPal Debit Card
* Transfer to Google Adwords Account
* Buy at Google Store
* Contribute to Google Foundation
* Donate to your favorite non-profit Organization (Or)
* Do nothing
And with their spending power, they could really slash the transaction and exchange costs.
I guess I should amend what I said earlier. Direct deposit may save the company money within the US but I can see that wouldn't be the case for other countries.
For the majority of non USA countries it would be fast ,cheap, reputable and reliable, you can use or IBN ( International Banking Number), or SWIFT number.
Maybe the situation is far more complex in regard of Africa , some Asian and South American countries.
They know what we want, but for me is clear that they are not planning to implement this feature in the near future.
It could be optiona: check, wire etc.
All fee extracted from the payment.
Look at this nonsense as an opportunity and open a check cashing service.
Mmm...lemonade.
I wonder if someone could start a company here in the US that received people's checks, cashed them, and paypal'd the money to wherever they are. $25 to cash a check? Insanity.
For example - let's say they pay out USD $20 million per month to Adsense website owners. If they wired the money - it would be gone instantly. If it takes the checks on average 30 days to clear (what with mail system delay, banking delays, etc), then Google picks up 1 month's interest on somebody else's $20M. With current US money market rates at a high of 2.25% (ING Direct, in case you're wondering), that would be...$37,500 per month in extra revenue.
So if they moved to wire or SWIFT, not only would they incur incremental cost for the wires, but they'd lose the almost $40K float per month - half a million dollars a year.
Who knows?
