Comments on: Client issue: make sure you’re not paid in oddball funds

By: Angela

Angela — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:52:40 +0000

I think that most of the time this falls under the category of doing your homework. I have written for clients in Hong Kong, US, Spain, UK and Australia. I have accepted all kinds of currency. (Money is money!) But I always make sure in advance what the payment currency will be, and try to have a rough understanding of the average exchange rate.

The advantage of Paypal is that you can keep funds in different currencies until the exchange rate picks up. I wrote a piece for $600 a few months ago, but the exchange rate to British sterling was 1.9 It is now at 1.5, so I made an extra 80 pounds or so by holding off exchanging the funds for a few months.

By: Sandi

Sandi — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:41:34 +0000

I worked for the same client you just described. It cost me 10% of the income I made just to cash the check, because my bank has a fee for foreign transactions in addition to the exchange rate.

I was an unhappy camper, as well.

By: Bobbi C

Bobbi C — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:50:12 +0000

Hi Jen,

I’ve had clients who switched from PayPal to checks because the clients had registered as individuals with PayPal, but PayPal determined that their accounts were being used for business purposes. Paypal then changed my clients’ accounts’ status from “personal” to “business.”

PayPal’s fees for businesses are much higher than for personal accounts, so my clients switched to checks.

Also, I’ve had clients who had insufficient funds to cover their PayPal payments–PayPal then taps into the account’s secondary financial resources (often credit cards), which can really rack up the costs of doing business.

I suppose, in situations like these, the best approach is to be grateful that you’ve been paid (hope there’s sufficent $$$, Canadian or otherwise, in their bank account) and that you’ll no longer have to deal with feigned “terms of endearment.”

Hope you have a good holiday weekend–
Bobbi

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:05:54 +0000

Not all PayPal clients result in a cut. I have many clients who pay through PP and only one ends up loosing me a couple dollars. Also many totally legit clients pay through PayPal including most blog networks. Most of my best gigs pay through them. Although, I’ve seen a switch lately with some clients to Direct Deposit (to my bank) which I like better.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:03:43 +0000

Actually they were paying me in US funds via PayPal, so they know I’m here. This time was the first time this client sent a check. AFTER I’d asked them to put it in PayPal. So, I’m not sure what they’re up to.

By: Krista

Krista — Wed, 20 May 2009 09:23:47 +0000

Thankfully, no. I’m in Canada and get paid in U.S. funds, so it works in my favor.

By: AuroraGG

AuroraGG — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:30:12 +0000

I’m Canadian and get US cheques. Even though I live here, I won’t accept a job that pays in CDN funds (for income tax reasons). I play the exchange game and try to exchange my USD when the Canadian dollar drops. Hold the pay and check the exchange rates once in awhile to try and get the most money you can out of it.

It is very important to know what dollar you are to be paid in. I wonder though, was this a case of the client trying to pay you in “lower funds” or a case of the client being in Canada and you not realizing you were applying to work for a Canadian client? If the company is Canadian, you can’t really expect them to pay in USD.

By: writegirl

writegirl — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:27:31 +0000

Oh man, that is beyond frustrating!

I don’t ever take PayPal payments because 1.) PayPal gets a cut of my pay 2.) I don’t want to run the risk of the payment getting sent to someone else’s email account and 3.) if a client only offers payment via PayPal, they must not be very legit.