Freelancing provides an avenue for thousands of people to earn a living, whether on a part-time or full-time basis. Freelancers can use their skills to serve small, medium and large firms from all walks of life and countries of the world. Irrespective of the creed or discipline; from blogging, SEOs, Adsense, Affiliate marketing, website/ graphics designing, data processing, spreadsheet, research/ academic writing, etc.
However, as much as freelancing could be fun, one heck of a problem, especially for most freelancers, is the means of payment – well, your services aren’t for free, are they? Or don’t you have bills to pay? The means of payment could be very much of an issue for a lot of freelancers, especially depending on nationality or place of residence.
The choice of payment solutions for freelancers can determine whether one gets access to certain well-paying jobs or not. It also determines how fast one gets access to such funds even after being paid. Also, of critical importance to a freelancer is the amount left after deductions for service charge by the payment solutions providers.
On the side of the business owner, freelancers are employed when the need for a certain skill is not available in your office; only required may be for a one-time contract. Freelancer services could become necessary again when it is cheaper to contract rather than employing and maintaining an in-house staff.
All of these would, therefore, make the need for a means of payment necessary. Such means have to be fast and reliable as one thing an employee detests, is a haven to pay so much as service charge. Another discouragement for an employer is spending so much time going through the payment process.
Hence, this piece centers on examining some of the best payment solutions for freelancers.
Top trusted freelance payment methods
1. Payoneer
Payoneer is a great payment solutions provider that gives you US and also European Bank accounts for checking purposes and a MasterCard approved ATM card. The ATM card allows you to receive payments in well over 200 countries worldwide. Funds can also be transferred from Payoneer to other banks as well. Payoneer service charge per transaction includes a yearly charge and a $3.15 charge when using ATMs.
Payoneer payments are fast, secure, and very reliable. You can do mass cash out to many freelancers from 5 to 200 at once as Payoneer uses Hub staff to automate payments. It also allows you to issue invoices to clients for payments.
Payoneer payments could be done in different currencies to various parts of the world. Payments are made through bank transfers, online wallets, checks or credit cards even to countries where PayPal has restrictions. So this could be a plus for freelancers!
This is a secure and trusted payment gateway for freelancers, and also for business owners. There is an option to send payment online for free without any fees.
Actually, Payoneer is the preferred payment method for many countries including India and others, especially regions where PayPal is not accepted to receive money. The company works with the popular freelance marketplace including:
- UpWork
- Freelancer
- People Per Hour
- Fiverr
- Google Trusted Stores
- Amazon
- Envato and the list go longer.
2. PayPal
Paypal allows you to both send and receive funds from one account to another across the world. It is one of the fastest and reliable means of making payments online and most popular for sales of goods and services on websites.
It allows users to create invoices for clients when linked with Hub staff and then make a mass payout to multiple freelancers. You can also keep track of payments. Charges on PayPal are higher for client invoices than for just receiving funds.
PayPal, as these alternatives, is a great payment method that issues debit/credit cards and can accept other currencies apart from USD and then charge a conversion fee.
For business owners, PayPal payment fees could actually be included as part of tax expenses too, so it’s a plus.
However, PayPal has major challenges in some parts of America, Africa and Asia as certain parts of their services are restricted to users from those countries. So if you are from such regions, you might want to check their website for terms and conditions too. Again, for digital products or intangible goods, PayPal does not provide sellers protection, so it requires threading with care.
3. Skrill
Skrill has been around for quite some time too and offers services similar to that of both Payoneer and PayPal. With a Skrill account, you can both make transfers and receive funds. Payments amongst Skrill users are free, but outside of Skrill attract charges.
With a Skrill account, you do direct bank transactions from/to your bank as well as clients’ across the world. Skrill payments are supported even in more countries than PayPal, including the countries with PayPal restrictions. Transfers on skill are quite fast on Skrill but unfortunately does not have online payment processing features. All in all, it’s another trusted online payment service that you can use for freelance money transfer.
4. 2CheckOut
2checkout is a popularly used payment solutions provider that supports different languages and currencies. It is an internationally acclaimed means of making payments that freelancers and their employers would find very helpful. It has excellent customer service that responds well to customer complaints.
It has a similar service charge as most of the other payment solutions options. Charges on 2checkout range from local to international as well as conversion charges for other currencies.
Payments on 2checkout are quickly processed via wire transfer to the client’s bank account without delays. 2checkout is also linked to PayPal and other major debit and credit card payment companies to make the payment process smoother and faster.
It has a mobile and desktop app for ease of transaction and payroll records.
5. Authorize.net
Authorize.net is quite user-friendly for businesses and freelancers both locally and internationally. It provides opportunities for both small and medium-sized businesses to access the payment gateway at a reasonable rate.
It integrates all major credit/ debit card companies on its platform as well as e-checks. Authorize.net provides easy access to digital payment options such as Visa checks, ApplePay, and PayPal.
Authorize.net also makes it possible to keep payment updates using Quickbooks and run recurrent payments. For safety purposes, it provides users with a free security and fraud prevention tool to synchronize with Quickbook. It is a bit expensive though, due to its setup fee and service charge but definitely worth the spending.
There are other lovely payment sites one can visit just to check out their services such as Stripe, Wepay, Dwolla, Neteller and more.
However, before taking a decision on what the best payment solutions for freelancing would be, it is important to be sure of what your freelancing objectives and activities would be. For instance, are you selling products or services? Do you own a website focused on generating traffic for Google AdSense? Or are you selling your skills as a freelancer to those who need writing, designs or data processing services? All the above would, therefore, serve as a guide when shopping for the best payment solutions provider.
The less techy your payment needs are, the less you would need payment solutions that charge more fees or offer merchant plans for those receiving credit card payments for their website. If all you do is receive payment for freelancing services, then a plan that allows you to receive funds to your local bank account or possibly from an ATM directly would do.
Some companies still prefer the conventional way of doing Bank transfer (Bankers Automated Clearing Services) with its no charges policy. BAC is more popular in the UK, but unlike the US, such is rare. Other options open in Europe and America are wire transfer and the checking system. So, do your checks properly before you take a leap!
