Will EFTs spell the end of the UPS Club?

Not that it will affect me.

[Vec_One]

Now that we can be paid by Electronic Funds Transfer, I suppose everyone will go for it. When my time comes for a big check, however, I would rather wait for the UPS driver. After all of this work, I want to savor the glory. An EFT is so quick and anti-climatic.

Does anyone else like the old fashioned way, or is everyone going for speed? If everyone changes the method of payment, what will we call the UPS Club - the Five-Figures Club?

[jretzer]

I've decided that there should be a new term for small timers (and big time wannabes) like me. I'm going to found the "Bits and Bytes Club."

My little bit will be sent to me in bytes.

[jomaxx]

In my experience the UPS driver just rings the doorbell and takes off. Significantly less secure than government post IMO. I won't be paying extra for that service, although I may opt for EFT next month.

[sunzfan]

In my brief experience - it has involved me coming home from work to find a ups envelope in plain view on my apartment map - where anyone could take it, thus causing me to cry. I'll take the EFT...

[Vec_One]

Right, before my company switched from UPS to DHL, we called them OOPS because they made so many dumb mistakes.

Still, it's nice to have a check to look at after a long, hard month continually watching your stats. Also, EFTs sometimes get lost temporarily and you can't track them online.

Anyway, I've been hijacked, so I'll stick to snail mail for now. : (

[moltar]

Also, EFTs sometimes get lost temporarily and you can't track them online.

What do you mean "lost temporarily"? Can you please expand?

Is there a charge for EFTs?

[Vec_One]

I can only explain my experience in Canada.

Here, there is normally a service charge to send and receive an EFT. It usually costs $10 to $40 to send an EFT and $10 to $20 to receive one.

EFTs frequently get lost temporarily, usually because of insufficient beneficiary details. They are, however, always possible to trace. They are sometimes a bit of a hassle, but they are always tracked down eventually.

[Vec_One]

Also, the beneficiary cannot trace an EFT. Only the sender (Google) can. If you ever lose an EFT, you'll have to ask Google to trace it. It may take a while but they will always be able to find it.

[ddent]

Don't confuse wire transfers with EFTs... different system, different procedures, fewer problems.

[swa66]

If I look at it, the system they in beta out here in Belgium (and I'd guess in the rest of Europe) is much better than with the US checks.

- no risk of losing that check (no UPS out here, it comes with regular post and that's prone to getting lost without a trace).

- no fee for collecting the US check (for me that was 15 EUR I lost every month)

- direct deposit into my bank account, should get the money a day after it leaves their account

- no risk of losing the money at all (these transfers are reliable, we use them all the time and I personally have never seen a single one go wrong)

All that needs to be seen is what exchange rate google is going to use as now it won't be my bank doing the conversion (or shoul d I wan tto me having a US doallar account and doing it myself); but Google.

I do hope it still money coming from Google, the US company, as otherwise there's potential to be serious VAT trouble down the road (I'd need to charge them VAT if it's not a US company anymore)

And BTW: bank transfers themselves are generally free of charge out here if you know how to get them electronically to your bank (and I'm sure Google can do that).
The funny part is that they seem to be putting up accounts in every country (they didn't want internation bank numbers) wich would mean they have an account in each of these coutries, and which feels a foolish way of doing things, but they'll have their good reason.

[jardin]

I live in a place where regular mail is put in a locked mailbox at the end of our street that you need your own key to open. UPS men around here do what you guys talk about, even with packages that have huge writing "SIGNATURE REQUIRED" they just toss on the front step even if no one is home. Once I was getting a package from the U.S. and I opened the door as the UPS guy was starting to walk away. The package said I owed something like $5 in custom fees and I said something like, "so I do pay for this?", and he comes back and takes it from me, reads it, and says, "I nearly gave you that for free!" I think they go home as soon as they are done handing out all their packages, because I've never seen people is such a hurry as them.

I'm not even close to being in the UPS club, but I think I would be afraid to if I was.

[Zygoot]

Huge difference with my country. I have received lots of packages from UPS, Fedex, DHL, ... in the past (unfortunately never adsense checks :( ) and they always require a signature. If there's nobody at home they leave a message to make a new appointment.

[esllou]

yeah, I live in Italy and it's the same deal. They are pretty damn conscienscous (sp?) and would never leave a package on a doorstep.

che bravi...i postini italiani!

[Jenstar]

I am sure there will be those in the UPS club who choose not to receive payments via EFT. Since UPS is done for security reasons, as well as being expedited, I would guess that those who elect to not receive EFT would still receive checks via UPS if they are five figures or more.

[bakedjake]

Here, there is normally a service charge to send and receive an EFT.

The ones in the east don't, I know that for a fact: Canada Trust, Scotiabank, The Bank of Montreal, or CIBC.

[4crests]

I wish they would just deposit the money into my AdWords account. I just spend it all there anyways.

[ddent]

What I would like to see is US dollar EFTs in Canada. I know for a fact it is possible, our merchant account folks do it.

[bd4rr]

Cannot agree more with ddent.

[MikeNoLastName]

Funny you should ask.
Just got an e-mail from GAd that begins (paraphrased):

"Recently, your AdSense payments were mailed to you via courier (UPS or FedEx). Because of recent 'improvements' we will be mailing your March payment via our new express delivery option in order to provide you with the additional security you are accustomed to for your checks.
Your March payment will therefore be mailed via DHL."

Which is odd, since although We topped the limit in Jan we did NOT in Feb, but will in Mar. Maybe they lowered the bar.

It also mentions there will be NO TRACKING codes for the new check shipping method!

So it looks like it will now have to be called the 'DHL club'.

They also will be CHARGING $25 a month starting April, so it's definitely EFT for me. (BTW if you DO regularly get UPS/DHL checks make SURE you go in and change this on your account, as ours defaulted to it.)

BTW Vec_one: The UPS club on the west coast USA is not all it's cracked up to be. It appears they ship the checks en-mass (by carton, crate or courier?) from Florida on the same day as the rest of the mailed checks, to someplace in central California where they arrive about the same time everyone else has already gotten theirs in the mail, THEN from THERE, in a day or two they turn around and UPS them individually to you. In our case our local UPS SUX! and they even delivered our last one to the wrong address anyway, so it could be an extra week after everyone else gets theirs before you get a UPS check.

[plumsauce]

@bakedjake
@ddent

what's the magic phrase when speaking to bank personnel to find out about these services? EFT? as opposed to wire transfer? or is this another way of saying direct debit?

[plumsauce]

@mikenolastname

seems like its a new profit center for them.

a pro ebayer told me that they go out and get discounted rates on their shipping and then charge posted rates going out the door. this difference forms a significant part of their margin.

[jomaxx]

If you're talking about Google here, I don't think "significant" is the best description. Whatever profit they can make on a $30 S&H charge, when couriering primarily high-value checks (cutoff in the past has been $10,000), is going to be fairly microscopic.

IMO the charge is probably to encourage everybody to switch to ETF.

[mrfragger]

At the Vegas conference I spoke with the Google gal and she said hardly anyone at all express interest in direct deposit. Oh well...I was ticked because I was begging for it. It looks like 10 or more people must've have expressed interest in it from the initial 3 or so...or should I say that's how she made it sound.

[plumsauce]

@jomaxx

no, in the original post i said that in the context of an ebayer. still, the quoted charge is significantly higher than the rate that they could obtain. in the context of the department concerned, it could be a significant cost abatement contribution for *their* budget center.

what i am pointing out is that they are rendering a service at higher than actual cost if we look only at shipping. if you then add that there is a cost to cutting a cheque manually, that still seems pretty chintzy to me. imho, of course.

[ddent]

plumsauce: There are many terms to identify this particular type of payment when speaking to your bank. It is the opposite of a pre authorized payment AKA direct debit, done via what could be referred to as EFT or ACH. Sometimes it is given the name direct deposit. Just clarify to them that you are NOT talking about a wire transfer and things should be swell.

FWIW banks tend to be fond of EFT/ACH payments. Much less overhead for them to deal with them.