How to pay your users? (alternatives to PayPal) [closed]

Question

I would like to know what best non-paypal options are for paying users of your website (for services rendered for instance).

How are others doing this at the moment?

If you could mention specific services providers that would be most useful. This would have to work internationally, not be limited to one country.

Thank you

Update (in response to comments)

Reason for excluding PayPal: I've had bad experiences with them in the past.

Amounts: Well, i don't mean micropayments of a few cents, but could be anything from 40EUR - 500 EUR.

Currency: I didn't mention this, but I would be paying in Euros.

Answer 1

Is there a reason you couldn't involve more than one payment option?

Many US users would probably prefer to be paid either via paypal or paper check drawn on a US bank. International users won't like checks because the fees associated with them can be upwards of $70 per check in some places. International users are less comfortable with paypal since it has a negative history, and might prefer something like moneybookers.

If you're paying users larger amounts of money, you might look into reloadable prepaid debit cards. Chase, GE, and Citi, and Payoneer (a new entrant) all offer them, and the ones with the visa logo can be used pretty conveniently internationally for both merchandise and atms. This was how Google has paid their Summer of Code students for the past two years (last year was GE, this year it was Citi). The SoC program attracts an extremely wide international audience, so if the payment method works for them, I would seriously consider it.

One other option I haven't seen mentioned yet is Amazon Payments. They don't have a lot of marketshare yet, but their product is awesome, and a great many people have amazon accounts.

It's not entirely clear from the ad copy on this site, but you can use the flexpay API to send money to users as well as collect it.

http://aws.amazon.com/fps/

Amazon's international presence is pretty good, and their reputation is a lot better than paypal.

Answer 2

Within the EU, and more so within the Euro zone, direct money transfer to the recipient's account should, according to the SEPA standard be simple and free of charge (more exactly: banks are not allowed to charge more for international transfers than for domestic ones, but currency conversion costs extra). It's not fully implemented yet, but certainly worth considering unless you live in a country where banks routinely charge fees for money transfers.

Answer 3

If you're looking for hassle-free ways, I second Michael Borgwardt's answer on EU SEPA transfers - at least as an option for recipients who can use it. This is definitely the most interesting option for them. With my bank here in Germany, SEPA transfers started online are even completely free. They also can be automated. Plus, there is - at least in theory, I do not have own experience here - some protection through EU-wide banking regulations if something goes wrong.

Otherwise, I do not know any international payment provider who has the reach and simplicity of Paypal. Sorry - I know they suck in many ways. But remember, not everyone has a credit card, so a payment provider who can add credit to credit cards won't be enough.

Answer 4

Another possibility is plain old credit cards.

This will work for any user that has a MVA (Mastercard,Visa,Amex etc. ) credit or debit card.

If you can persuade then to subcribe to your site for 1 EUR you can then "Refund" any reasonable amout to your payee.

The glitch is they have to pay before you can refund.

Answer 5

I think payoneer.com is offering a great solution for companies.

update: I think moneybookers.com is pretty good too.

Answer 6

Have you considered holding the users money in an interest earning account internal to your business? That way you would constantly have revenue on hand for day-to-day business expenses. Your users would feel motivated to keep their money with you if their account has an interest rate 25% higher than the market standard. The cash on hand also radically increases the growth potential of your business as you can access revenue directly without reliance upon debt. Everybody wins.

Users should then be able to liquidate assets from their accounts at your business by bank to bank finance transfer using account number and routing number. The users could provide that information to you over SSL encryption and authorized verification from their bank. The costs associated with this transfer can be reduced by setting policies the users must agree to before opening an account with your business, such as limiting frequency of transfers and specifying a minimum asset value per transfer.

Answer 7

I used Xoom.com successfully in the past, for both paying and receiving money. You should definitely give it a try!

Answer 8

I don't know what it costs to CREDIT a credit or debit card. If the cost is reasonble it could be a good option.

Answer 9

I have used Direct Credit in the past. It's like a Direct Debit but in reverse. Lots of APIs available for setting these up, just talk to your bank. I think this is only a UK bank thing.

Answer 10

Similar to what paul said above, a prepaid visa/mastercard might be what you are after as they are really one of the only global payment methods, in that line these guys seem to offer a pretty nifty service: iKobo.

In the end the "best approach" from my point of view would be to diversify on a few services to suit the destination country or the need of your users. Have you sought feedback from how they would like it? Else, a diversified approach could potentially reduce shipping, bank or even tax overheads.

Answer 11

This system just went life, its an automated system to pay for or transfer money from one bank account to an other through Sepa. cheap reliable whitout brokers, payservices or whatever. All european banks should be using it by the end of this year ...

https://www.mybankpayments.eu/Consumers-N=ForConsumers-L=EN.aspx

Answer 12

Try authorize.net or eWay

Answer 13

Have you considered the payment method you would like to use?

There are different technologies for different payment types. Some of the types of payment methods you could consider are: Credit Card Bank Transfer Direct Debit and many more. Possibly the easiest method would be to process a bank transfer to your users account by logging into your online banking and initiating the transfer.

Hope this helps.