

Ask HN: What are the options for sending money out to users? - rosstamicah

Other than Paypal, it seems that options to send payments out to users are very limited. There are tons of companies and tools that exist to take money in, but sending money out seems limited. There is ACH via Amazon Payments which requires the user to enter their bank account on your site, and there is Dwolla which is far from a household name.<p>So, what other options are there for sending money out to users?  What are most startups using to solve this?
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mchannon
This subject has been gnawing at me as well for the past month; mind sharing
more information about what your application is? My startup revolves around
the best option or options as well.

Check-by-mail is being considered as an option (there are a few providers that
automate the process).

There's also the technical possibility of using unlinked credits by a credit
card processing gateway (user submits credit card # but instead of getting
charged the money goes on their card), though so far they (gateway providers)
have been very uncooperative about permitting large amounts of the behavior.

Some banks will allow direct ACH's but usually charge a fee per transaction
that might make it prohibitive. I wouldn't be surprised if some banks charged
less than others.

In any case, my startup is nearing launch and I'd relish the opportunity to
meet people trying to solve similar problems.

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dgunn
WePay has a marketplace model that I've used. It allowed me to collect money
and send money. Each user must have a WePay account but you can create one for
them using the api. Pretty seamless overall.

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prehnra
It depends I think how much money, how often and in exchange for what. If you
are paying out big amounts in exchange for "labor" (e.g. paying freelancers
who do work for other users), checks, ACH, and wire are the only serious
solutions unfortunately. For smaller amounts and gift/bonus type payments, you
might be able to use electronic gift cards (e.g. Amazon)-- if I recall, you
only need an email address and possibly name to send a "gift card" this way.

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jamesjguthrie
If you don't want to use PayPal (why not? everyone uses it) keep it
traditional - bank transfers and cheques.

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MaysonL
Prepaid debit cards?

