When a translator and a translation client are located in different countries, the usual issues that have to be resolved with payments (rate, payment terms, etc.) are joined by an additional question, that of the payment method. From the perspective of a U.S.-based translator, here are a few international payment method options and some of the pros and cons that I’ve found:
- Check in U.S. dollars. Some larger agencies have either a branch in the U.S. or an account denominated in dollars. No problem here!
- Wire transfer into the translator’s U.S. account. Pro: Relatively uncomplicated, each party can pay their own fees. Con: Fees for incoming and outgoing fees vary by bank. I have my business account with Washington Mutual and they charge $12 for an incoming foreign wire transfer. Some credit unions don’t charge at all, and I’ve seen fees as high as $50 for incoming foreign transfers.
- PayPal. Pro: Easy to set up, can bill the client in various currencies, various ways for the client to fund the payment. Con: Fees vary dramatically from zero for a domestic eCheck to up to 5% for foreign credit cards. I learned this the hard way when I ended up paying $150 to receive $3,000 from an overseas client. I had been chasing them for the money for a while and didn’t want to reject the payment, but the size of the fee really turned me off using PayPal for large transactions since you sometimes can’t control how the client funds them.
- Overseas bank account. Pro: Easier for the client, can allow the translator to hold the money in a country he/she visits, gives the translator more control over how and when the money is transferred into a U.S. account. Con: Can be difficult to set up if you need a business account and are not a citizen of the non-U.S. country. After lengthy negotiations with two international commercial banks, I decided that this option was simply too complex and costly to be worth pursuing for the amount of European clients I have.
- Depositing foreign currency checks into a U.S. account. Pro: Easy for the client, no fees. Con: Some banks (including the WaMu branch I deal with) absolutely won’t accept foreign currency checks; checks may be sent back to the country of issue for collection before being credited to your account. Some translators I’ve talked to have worked out a relationship with their U.S. banks where they can deposit a foreign currency check and have it credited immediately as long as they have enough money in the account to cover the check.
I’m sure that other people out there have other ideas for international payments, feel free to contribute them!
From my own experience (and from the other side of the Atlantic), I would recomend PayPal for payments bigger than 1.000 € (as the fees to pay dramatically fall dawn after this ammount). For an ammount between 0 and 1000 €, I would choose Wire transfers. Here in Europe (at least in Spain) there is no charge for taking a transfer coming overseas (thought there were rumours about it, government decided they wouldn’t allow it).
Btw: the same applies for eBay 😀
Hello and thanks for your comment! Unfortunately PayPal’s US pricing structure seems to be different. Looking at the “Website Payments Standard” account on their website, the fees don’t start to go down until you reach US $3,000, and then it only goes from 3.9% to 3.5% for international transactions. Sounds like Spain has a better deal!
I use the Post Office in Japan to pay the people I work with.
I can send international remittances either directly to their address or to their bank account, either in cash or directly from my postal account.
Jean-Christophe
Thanks for your comment! I love countries where the post office functions as many other things as well (bank, insurance agency, etc.). It sounds like you have a great system worked out in Japan.
Hi Corinne:
Thanks for this great posting. I just received payment from a client in Europe on my Paypal account and indeed the only fee I was charged was 5 euros! And with the current conversion rate, I say “Yeah for euros and European clients”!
Best,
Marianne
Regarding the Postal Bank in Japan, it has been privatized very recently and legaly separated from the Postal Services proper.
Right now it is not possible to wire money within Japan to other “common” banks but it will be possible from next January I heard.
So, currently, the Postal Bank is more useful for payments to foreign entities than for payments to local ones. But that will change.
Also the fees are significantly lower than when using a normal bank.
I have been saying this on various forums, and will repeat it here. I am not a paid sales person for Travelex, but I think they are one of the best options around for getting money from country to country with little or no fees. And, I have been looking into this for 4 years since I pay large sums of money to overseas vendors.
Travelex is not a bank. They are a currency exchange faciliator. You sent up an account with them and specicy to whom they transfer money on your behalf, within a specific country domestically, or internationally. I also use them in the US for “ACH” payments to vendors – low cost bank transfers (costs me .50 per transaction and nothing to the reciepient).
With Travelex, international transactions have no fees other than the stated exchange rate, which is very competitive (best I have seen anywhere including banks, paypal, etc.)
I will repeat my mantra that there are two things to look for when transfering money internationally: FEES and THE EXCHANGE RATE. The second of these can actually end up being more important if you are the one bearing the exchange rate risk (usually this is the agency or person paying for the services). A decimal point or two in the exchange rate offered can make the difference between hundreds of dollars (or more over time), depending on the amounts you transfer.
I have found Travelex to be very competitive on both accounts (fees and exchange rate).
You can also use Travelex to pay yourself. If you have an account overseas, you can have your international clients pay into this account, and then pay yourself to your USD account when you think it is appropriate for you to do so. Also, with Travelex, you do not need to hold on to foreign money for so long, since there are no fees per international transaction to cut into the overal percentage.
If anyone wants to contact Travelex to benefit from this great service, feel free to email me for info.
Yes, cheap ways of getting paid is important, such as one suggested someone mentioned to recently: http://www.hyperwallet.com in the US. Then there’s Moneybookers.com in Europe and expanding to other parts of the world, and unbelievably inexpensive. In the US I have an account at Bank of America, which I opened using a foreign passport and they are good because they process incoming cheques free of charge.
But together with all this you might want to check out http://translationpayments.com/ to make sure you get paid in the first place. Comments by other translators concerning the payment practices of different companies they have worked for, suggestions from international lawyers how to get paid, and many other useful tips.
Thanks for the post. I hope you have a good day! Im spending much time lately learning how forex works.
What a great way to bring up