AdSense Payment Nightmare

[Tropical Island]

I'm posting this here in hopes that someone in Google AdSense might understand the problem. I have written to support however the people at that level don't have the background to understand or correct the problem. Heck, they think Google mails me my cheque & I can't convince them otherwise.

Venezuela is a country with extremely rigid exchange controls.
They also have a postal system that doesn't function.
When I enrolled in AdSense in 2005 Google recognized the security problems with the post office here & sent our cheques by courier which has worked, more or less.

This month my cheque arrived yesterday, almost 1 month after it was sent by AdSense. They send it to a firm in NY who then send it to a firm in Caracas who then turn it over to a local courier for delivery to my door.

Due to security problems with the previous Caracas company they had to change the local people in Venezuela & everything got screwed up.

Once this cheque arrives I have to resend it by courier to my US$ account in Miami. Are you adding up all the costs here?

AdSense rep I'm offering 2 solutions to this problem at a fraction of the cost per cheque to Google. You'll save them thousands of $$ per year.

Solution #1:
Most (all?) Venezuelan AdSense clients has a US$ account outside Venezuela - most in Miami but some in Panama & other countries.

Please allow electronic transfers into US or other accounts for Venezuelan clients. This, for me, is the most logical solution. Companies like PayPal allow this with no additional problems.

Solution #2:
Allow us to credit our AdSense earnings directly into our AdWords accounts.

We end up having to pay our AdWords charges in US$ & it would be so much easier just to have the money already in the account.

If anyone from Google would like to contact me direct please use the WW mail.

[netmeg]

Unfortunately we don't seem to have a rep anymore (or at least they very rarely check in) You'll probably have better luck on the Google Help Forum.

[Tropical Island]

It's possible that someone checks the posts. They always have in the past. The problem with the lower echelons is that they don't have the power to make a simple change.

The rule is that if you don't have a US tax number they won't deposit to a US account. If you live outside the USA & are not a US citizen you don't have a tax number.

What I've never figured out is that PayPal allows you to direct deposit to a US account if you live outside the country.

I can't understand why Google has a problem with this.

It's so frustrating & expensive for all involved.

[viggen]

If you live outside the USA & are not a US citizen you don't have a tax number.

I am not a US citizen and i live outside the US, but I have a Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). I am share holder of an american based company, pay every three months tax out of my share and have to submit annually my tax form, I am not sure what is involved to set that up, as my partner did all the paper work, but its defenitely possible...

cheers
viggen

[Tropical Island]

As you point out you have a business relationship in the USA & need a tax number.

I have no business or earnings in the USA so a tax number is not relevant.

I don't want to have to start declaring US taxes each year when it's completely unnecessary.

I don't have to do that for PayPal.

[incrediBILL]

Sounds like an even better and simpler option would be for Google to deposit directly to Paypal but that'll never happen.

[Tropical Island]

Bill, that would certainly be another solution.

The rule I referred to above has been in force for at least the time I've been with AdSense & I've been beating my head against a wall to get someone to make an exception for Venezuela (or other countries that might have a similar problem).

In order to have an idea of the depth of the problem you would really have to live here. There is no free access to hard currency. We who live here, of course, all work around the restrictions but it's time consuming & costly & totally unnecessary from Google's point of view.

They know we live outside the country. They mail our cheques here & if they want further proof we could provide copies of phone bills, electric bills, etc. to prove it. Make us do this every year or so. We can scan the documents & email them to them.

It's not rocket science & they are not the IRS police.

[Tropical Island]

I've already posted this to the AdSense board & will await an answer although from past experience they will just parrot the no US deposits rule.

[explorador]

Tropical, have you tried WU? Wester Union? I had similar problems, including stolen cheques that the post office never solved, neither G. I reported the problem to G and they said have opened an investigation with the bank, told me to wait 6 months... waste of time, nothing happened even I kept contacting them.

aaaanyway I now use Wester Union payment and have no problem so far, but I don't see you mentioning it as an option.

I was also considering opening a bank account on another country and opening a new AS account, something that will take time and I think I'll need to stay for a while on that country to get everything working. At the end WU solved my problem and saved me from spending money on traveling and staying elsewhere for a while. But I'm still hoping they open transfers to my country too.

Another thing, thes new G Wallet might be a solution in the future. G offers some kind of virtual credit card, I wonder if in the future would be as useful as the payoneer credit card that allows you to deposit money and use it all around the word as an international card.

[Tropical Island]

Explorador,

The WU option doesn't work here because of the exchange controls.

They would have to pay us in local currency at the official exchange rate (about half the real rate) & we wouldn't have the $$ to pay our AdWords.

Nice thinking though :-)

[incrediBILL]

What about registering a company in FL and changing your account to be Miami based?

[Tropical Island]

Too costly for the amount of my cheques.

Wouldn't it just be easier for Google to accommodate us?
There must be a few hundred clients here from the amount of AdSense I see on local sites so it's not just me we're talking about. It's everyone in Venezuela.

[netmeg]

It might not be, actually. They'll never deposit directly to Paypal (that whole Google Checkout thing) and as a percentage of overall publishers, it might be too small to make it onto their radar.

[Tropical Island]

Netmeg just allowing us to receive an electronic deposit in a US account would solve the problem.

It's just a matter of someone in authority making the decision.

[netmeg]

But there may be accounting and/or tax ramifications for *them*. I don't know for sure that there aren't - do you?

[Tropical Island]

Well if PayPal allows me to deposit to my Miami account I can't understand why AdSense can't.

I firmly believe that they made this rule so as not to have to be constantly checking the tax status of non residents.
In this case they have the proof that we are outside the US and there is a real problem getting printed cheques to us.

By the way I thank them for that. They could just as easily tell us that it's not their problem & insist on mailing them.

50% of the cheques would disappear & even if they did arrive it would take up to 3 months to arrive.

[Leosghost]

The USA is not the only country in which you can ( as a non resident ) register a business, open a bank account ( and depending on the company's turnover and how it arranges its accounts will not incur heavy taxes) and to which Google will pay adsense electronically..and the bank accounts will allow you to pay your adwords via credit card...ie; from the same account.

[Tropical Island]

Leosghost, we are a small posada (B&B) in a country where income is quite low.

Any additional costs would be impossible. That's one of the reasons we are trying to resolve this issue with AdSense.

[explorador]

Is it hard for you to get out of the country? Ask WU if you can pick up your payment while traveling to another country, all they ask from you is to identify yourself with some X documents (they have a policy about it). If that works perhaps you could hold your payments and treat yourself once in a while, while you also pick up your payment.

There is a sign at one of the local banks I visit stating the valid IDs they accept if you live here, and the IDs they recognize as valid from any centroamerican fellow.

Other than that, I can only think of a suggestion of a business friend, to deposit the money on his account and receive pure cash, of course even as his my friend that's a no no for me.