

Ask HN: How to pay freelancers abroad? - GruppeC956

We oftentimes work with foreign freelancers on design projects. Usually we pay them via PayPal, but that has become very costly.<p>We have considered setting up foreign bank accounts for our company, but that is 1. a pain in the neck and 2. generates hefty fees once again (we somehow would have to &quot;fuel&quot; these accounts, but both the US bank and the foreign bank charge significant fees for international wire transfers).<p>Any suggestions? Thanks guys!
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bks
I don't want to state the obvious but just use a site like odesk or elance and
have your freelancers join your team. Not only do you get protection for the
work that gets done and a tremendous amount of reporting / accountability
tools but they get the protection that if they do the work, they'll get paid.

It really cuts down the hassles and and questions that prevent most people
from outsourcing and if you think about the 10% fee on oDesk you'll calculate
it to be a minor surcharge on excellent productivity and accountability tools.

To give you an example, before India changed their payment rules about 4 years
ago my vendors would tack on a 4% surcharge to paypal payments...and then
India prevented payments over $500 so I switched to wire transfers that ended
up costing me $40 per wire and about an hour per month per vendor to
coordinate and verify.

I manage eleven outsourcers in six countries and I am the cheapest person that
I know...and I still find a huge amount of value and protection by using these
sites.

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BWStearns
I used Western Union a lot when I was working with a remote team. Depending on
the country (and level of corruption) though that can give them trouble with
their local 'friendly' government employees. At that point I started sending
it through a third country.

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GruppeC956
Thanks!

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yanivf
I warmly recommend Payoneer.com, this is how we've been doing it for the last
few months and its working great. There are a few fees but they are minor in
comparison to PayPal and banks...

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GruppeC956
Thanks a lot!

Just checked them out, and it looks exactly like what we need, but the sign-up
unfortunately site reads "Currently we can support applications only from
companies paying at least $5,000 Per Month." While we will process more than
this in January, it will only be a couple of hundred in February and March,
and it's my understanding that they would want us to sign up for a plan.

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embro
How does xoom.com compares with Paypal?

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GruppeC956
Will definitely check it out. Thanks!

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AjJi
why not a wire transfer to their bank account?

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GruppeC956
Because that is way more expensive than PayPal (the sending and receiving bank
charge you).

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jolan
coinvoice.com

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GruppeC956
Thanks, will check this out, too.

