Freelancers - how do you get paid?

Eric Chadwick

For those of you who work with international clients, how do you typically get paid?

I'm adding a section to the Freelance page on the wiki, about how clients send payments to freelancers.

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Freelance#Payment

I do work for a variety of large and small companies, as well as with individuals. The companies usually use wire transfers. However individuals typically prefer PayPal. I have one client who prefers to pay with personal checks (he's local).

Some past threads about the subject:
Freelancers recommend cash by square?
Questions for those who've done Euro freelancing but reside somewhere else

Thanks for any input!

almighty_gir

I always prefer wire transfers. Paypal has absurd fees and likes to try and do my taxes for me which means i usually end up paying twice.

Since working for Marmoset, i've been paid by personal courier, which is interesting since they're based in the mid-west USA and i'm in the UK.

Swizzle

For international work, I receive wire transfers and usually ask that the sender cover the transfer fees. I make sure to include my bank info (routing number, account number, bank name and address, etc.) on my invoices.

For domestic work, I usually take checks from large clients or PayPal from individuals and small companies. I've never actually had a domestic client that preferred wire transfers.

Lamont

International is mixed. Big/established companies = wire. Small time/individuals = PP.

Local = wire. (wire/bank transfer is really easy to do in Japan)

ambershee

Always wire. Paypal has proven endlessly problematic.

AtticusMars

almighty_gir wrote: »

I always prefer wire transfers. Paypal has absurd fees and likes to try and do my taxes for me which means i usually end up paying twice.

Since working for Marmoset, i've been paid by personal courier, which is interesting since they're based in the mid-west USA and i'm in the UK.

Had to double checked the date on this post, some serious deja vu here

Eric Chadwick

Thanks guys, this is great.

From that other thread, it looked like some people were embracing Bitcoin. But in my research trying to find what the average fee is, it looks like it would be a pain in the ass to use. Has anyone used Bitcoin to get payments, and liked it?

drawntothenorth

I use paypal for small clients, it has built in invoicing and most people have an account so I just include the paypal costs into my fee.

Joao Sapiro

Always wire transfer. Its easy to keep tracking . Also expenses on client , im not paying to get paid...

Tits

I never really understood how paypal works with those but I noticed once I lost some money on the transfer fees and so I now refuse to use it.
Usually always wire transfer if possible.
For local companies they usually wants to pay in check,
I actually got a check from the US now but I feel like my bank will probably charge me some fees to cash down an american check so I will try to stick up with the wire transfert

thomasp

almighty_gir wrote: »

Since working for Marmoset, i've been paid by personal courier, which is interesting since they're based in the mid-west USA and i'm in the UK.

a pony express messenger showing up at your doorstep - with some cherokee arrows still stuck in his hat?

anyway, wire transfer within the EU. paypal would be doable if transaction and currency conversion were factored in. any way to see these in advance before requesting a payment?

Eric Chadwick

thomasp wrote: »

any way to see these in advance before requesting a payment?

Yeah, I found this recently. I made it the Paypal link on the wiki too.
http://paypalfeecalculator.paymentprocessing.cc/

cptSwing

Ah, great find, cheers!

almighty_gir

I even prefer wire transfers domestically as they're instant (within the EU) and insanely trackable. wire transfers from the US to UK usually take a couple of days to go through but i believe that's actually an issue of the US bank rather than wire transfers themselves, i'd rather take the time for that, than go through paypal however.

thomasp

great link eric! thanks for that.

Eric Chadwick

I'm looking into payment methods because I just had some trouble trying to sign up a new client for a small job. It's mentoring, per hour. I've done this before without much trouble.

We were trying to do a small initial payment, but the wire transfer fee would nearly double the first payment, so that's out. Then their EU bank refused to connect to Paypal. So now we're looking for alternatives.

DanglinBob

Payments in excess of 1k are usually wire, less than are usually Paypal. If it is an ongoing and very steady/stable client we set up ACH payment (US clients only). Exceedingly rarely... people send me checks!

Also I technically can take Credit Cards, but I havent actually had anyone request that in over a decade. No joke.

Francois_K

Just started out with my first client , paypal so far and I'm not sure if I want to continue using it.

MagicSugar

Eric Chadwick wrote: »

We were trying to do a small initial payment, but the wire transfer fee would nearly double the first payment, so that's out. Then their EU bank refused to connect to Paypal. So now we're looking for alternatives.

Gumroad?

Whereby the item for sale is a token certificate stating buyer is hiring you for x amount of mentoring time.

If they don't have credit card, bitcoin could work if you both have wallets set up. Check exchange rate versus your preferred currency.

OutOfMyMind

Slightly offtopic but I dont know where to ask...
Can EU citizen freelance for US company without visa? For example via odesk?

Neox

OutOfMyMind wrote: »

Slightly offtopic but I dont know where to ask...
Can EU citizen freelance for US company without visa? For example via odesk?

from the EU, yes

from the states, no

no idea what odesk is but a lot of my clients as a freelancer have been US companies and now as our own studio it remains the same

we wire everything, always. sometimes we worked with check but thats really really rare

Rurouni Strife

PayPal for most clients. Most of my clients are medium/small and PayPal keeps it consistent for me. I would rather take the hit on fees than wait for a check to hopefully show up at a decent time. I do have one client who continues to pay me by check but they are good about it

Larger clients that I've had do wire transfers. With larger clients, I tend to just go with what they prefer.

blankslatejoe

These days I do as many payments out as payments in, between receiving funds from sales and paying contractors. Wire is usually the most straightforward, but not always.