Paypal Alternatives: Getting Paid As a Freelancer

Saturday, 21 August 2010 17:23

Obviously, one of the most important parts of the job for a freelance designer is getting paid. Unfortunately, the gold standard in internet payments, Paypal, leaves a lot to be desired. Although no one can compete with Paypal’s pervasiveness, there are better options if you are interested in either lower fees or faster cashouts.

The 3% Paypal tax doesn’t seem like much but over time it can certainly add up. I don’t see any reason fees should be this high unless someone is charging a credit card. Even in the early days, Paypal had lower fees for payments made out of your account balance. After searching around for a better way to send money to friends, I ran across Revolution Money. With them, there is no fee for a person-to-person transfer. The company was recently purchased by American Express, so you shouldn’t have to worry that your money isn’t safe. If you have a regular client, try offering them a discount to pay through Revolution Money. After all, once it’s setup, it’s as easy to use as Paypal. Then you can start to pocket that 3% instead of helping Paypal fill its bank vault.

If you need to cash out in a hurry, then MoneyPak (also called Greendot) may be the solution. I think the MoneyPak system was designed for parents to send their kids cash at college. It’s nice because you will have access to your funds right away. There’s no charge backs to worry about as you might with Paypal. You’ll have to purchase a MoneyPak prepaid Visa card, and then have your client purchase a MoneyPak reload card. These can be picked up at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar stores. As soon as you enter the code from the reload card onto your prepaid Visa the funds are ready to use or even withdraw from an ATM. This is the closest thing to sending cash over the internet as I have found. Unfortunately, it is a little expensive at $5 for a reload card, but sometimes this may be the best option if you’re in a jam.

Personally, I think it would be great if the webmaster community made a move towards a system like Revolution Money with no fees. There is a lot of money trading hands between designers, developers, advertisers and publishers. If you want to give it a try go ahead and send me $2. Hah!