Seeking advice on ProzPay and other payment methods from Russia and Poland Thread poster: Elizabeth Morris
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Hello all,
I am a US-based translator struggling to figure out the best payment method to use for my individual clients located in countries such as Russia and (less often) Poland. Most recently a client in Russia was insistent on using PayPal--I had big reservations about this because I had heard fees could be very high and PayPal can be a nightmare to deal with. This immediately proved true when PayPal put a "hold" on the client's payment (~$300) so I will not be able to receive i... See more Hello all,
I am a US-based translator struggling to figure out the best payment method to use for my individual clients located in countries such as Russia and (less often) Poland. Most recently a client in Russia was insistent on using PayPal--I had big reservations about this because I had heard fees could be very high and PayPal can be a nightmare to deal with. This immediately proved true when PayPal put a "hold" on the client's payment (~$300) so I will not be able to receive it for an unknown period of time, possibly weeks. If I knew a better alternative to firmly request of the client, I would have done so; WISE does not have Russian ruble or Polish zloty accounts, for example.
I had considered using ProzPay, but the fees would have added up to almost 9% if the client chose the PayPal or credit card options, and I thought using PayPal directly would probably come in under that % at least. But now that PayPal is holding my money for who knows how long, I'm considering ProzPay in the future and the 5% total fee for a bank transfer isn't looking so bad, assuming this works with Russian banks and there aren't more fees tacked on by the banks at either end (which I'm not sure about). Plus, as I understand it, PayPal is not available to most people in Russia at all (I'm not sure how this particular client has access).
In my searches of the forums I never see anyone who says they actually use ProzPay. When, if ever, do you find it advantageous to use over other methods? What platforms or methods do you use from the US to receive money from Russia, Poland, or other countries, and does the best method vary for you depending on the sum to be received? And which methods do your individual clients prefer? It's not always easy to figure out whether a client cannot use a particular payment method, or whether they simply are not familiar with the method and don't know that it's available to them (or don't want to go to the trouble to find out). Some of my recent clients are younger people who have probably never made a wire transfer, for example; the Russian client who used PayPal seems to have paid me in US dollars (no currency exchange fee) so I have a feeling that this individual probably has access to some other payment options, but doesn't know what they are.
I know this is rather a lot of questions wrapped into one post--thanks in advance for thoughts or advice on any part. ▲ Collapse
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I’ve never used nor received any payments from my clients through ProzPay and I don’t accept PayPal. Most of my non-EU customers have been paying me through Wise (ex-TransferWise) and an UK customer paid me today through Transfermate. In both cases, money goes directly to my bank account, it’s quite quick and, contrary to PayPal, I don’t pay a cent…
| | | | Elizabeth Morris 
United States
Local time: 03:17
Russian to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Teresa Borges wrote:
Most of my non-EU customers have been paying me through Wise (ex-TransferWise) and an UK customer paid me today through Transfermate. In both cases, money goes directly to my bank account, it’s quite quick and, contrary to PayPal, I don’t pay a cent…
Thanks very much for your response, I had not heard of Transfermate before and will look it up. With Wise I have the impression that people in countries using currencies that cannot be added directly to Wise cannot pay to a Wise account (for example, with Wise you can add USD or Euro and convert them to the Russian ruble to pay someone else in rubles, but you cannot add Russian rubles directly to a Wise account). Do you ever run into this issue with clients? Or if I am wrong and anyone using virtually any currency can use Wise, please correct me (it would be good news!).
| | | | AnnaSCHTR
United States
Local time: 02:17
English to Czech
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| Bank transfer | Aug 6, 2021 |
I live in the U.S. and have an account with CapitalOne that offers free incoming transfers from abroad. I am not sure it works for all countries, but I receive money from UK and the Czech Republic with no problems and no fees. I think Ally Bank offers similar service.
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Unfortunately I don’t know. I have no clients in Russia. I have received payments through Wise from Australia, New Zealand, USA and the UK. As I said before money goes directly to my bank account. Some months ago I also used Wise to send money to one of my daughters who is working in Mexico. It was much faster and less expensive than it would be by bank transfer…
| | | | Kristopher Brame
United States
Local time: 03:17
Member (2018)
German to English
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| WISE can handle these currencies | Aug 6, 2021 |
I took a look at my account, and it looks like you can open an account for these currencies.
I tried to attach a screenshot. We'll see if it worked!
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| I've successfully collected payments from Russian companies on upwork | Aug 6, 2021 |
Iirc, they had a payment/escrow type service that lets you use it for non-upwork jobs as well.
They're still a bit greedy though.
| | | | Elizabeth Morris
United States
Local time: 03:17
Russian to English
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TOPIC STARTER | I think these currencies have limited privileges on Wise | Aug 7, 2021 |
Kristopher Brame wrote:
I took a look at my account, and it looks like you can open an account for these currencies.
Thanks very much Kristopher. My understanding of that list however is that you can open a balance in those currencies, but you cannot ADD those currencies directly to the account; they won't give you "account details" for these currencies like they will for USD, Euro etc. You can add USD, Euro, or another currency that comes with "account details" (they'll give you an account number, routing number, etc for only some currencies), turn it into rubles, and pay someone else with it, but you have to start with one of the other currencies to get the money into Wise in the first place. Someone please correct me if this is wrong but it's my understanding based on looking through the site.
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Elizabeth Morris
United States
Local time: 03:17
Russian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Adieu wrote:
Iirc, they had a payment/escrow type service that lets you use it for non-upwork jobs as well.
They're still a bit greedy though.
Thanks for this, how do they compare to other platforms like PayPal? Or what % fee do they usually take out?
| | | | Elizabeth Morris
United States
Local time: 03:17
Russian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | I will look into this | Aug 7, 2021 |
AnnaSCHTR wrote:
I live in the U.S. and have an account with CapitalOne that offers free incoming transfers from abroad. I am not sure it works for all countries, but I receive money from UK and the Czech Republic with no problems and no fees. I think Ally Bank offers similar service.
That sounds very helpful to know about! I wonder why they offer this for free when most banks charge quite a bit for a wire transfer. I will look into getting one of these accounts if possible.
| | | | Elizabeth Morris
United States
Local time: 03:17
Russian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | A question about this | Aug 7, 2021 |
AnnaSCHTR wrote:
I live in the U.S. and have an account with CapitalOne that offers free incoming transfers from abroad. I am not sure it works for all countries, but I receive money from UK and the Czech Republic with no problems and no fees. I think Ally Bank offers similar service.
I looked into these accounts and they look pretty good, I will probably get one. Do you face any resistance from clients to sending bank transfer? Do you have any idea if their banks charge them fees for these?
| | | | AnnaSCHTR
United States
Local time: 02:17
English to Czech
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Elizabeth Morris wrote:
I looked into these accounts and they look pretty good, I will probably get one. Do you face any resistance from clients to sending bank transfer? Do you have any idea if their banks charge them fees for these?
Good point. This is really important to establish in advance. My payers are large companies, so they either absorb the cost or perhaps have some special deals on transfers, as they seem to be the most common B2B form of payment in Europe. They actually insisted on paying through the bank, and they charge me no fee for that.
Why the bank fees vary so wildly it's anybody's guess.
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AnnaSCHTR
United States
Local time: 02:17
English to Czech
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I should probably add that the payers pay me in USD, apparently from their USD accounts, and their is no exchange rate involved. This is another limiting factor.
| | | | Kristopher Brame
United States
Local time: 03:17
Member (2018)
German to English
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| You could be right | Aug 7, 2021 |
Yes, that's entirely possible. I'm not really sure because I've never worked with anyone from those countries. Good luck
[Edited at 2021-08-07 15:57 GMT]
| | | | | ProZ*Pay fees and client conversations | Aug 9, 2021 |
Hi Elizabeth,
Regarding ProZ*Pay, I presume your clients are not business members as the fees would be much lower if the language business is a ProZ.com member or sends payment instructions in bulk.
There are fees involved with receiving money for any business that are charged by PayPal and credit card companies. That often is how they continue to provide the financial service.
Have you discussed options with your client? Some do not wish to open new paym... See more Hi Elizabeth,
Regarding ProZ*Pay, I presume your clients are not business members as the fees would be much lower if the language business is a ProZ.com member or sends payment instructions in bulk.
There are fees involved with receiving money for any business that are charged by PayPal and credit card companies. That often is how they continue to provide the financial service.
Have you discussed options with your client? Some do not wish to open new payment options outside of the ones being used currently.
Be sure to factor in any costs to get access to your money from whatever is used.
Mike, ProZ*Pay ▲ Collapse
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