Hello. Im starting a web business where I will have to pay small amounts ($50-$100) to many people (100s) in many countries around the world. The company is based in UK.
I have thought of three ways:
- Paypal
Pros: automatic payment.
Cons: users will have to withdraw the money somehow
- Electronic money transfer
Pros: money directly to users bank
Cons: high transfer fees
- Post a cheque from HSBC (present in many countries)
Pros: they can cash the cheque
Cons: snail mail, can get lost
For now Paypal is a winner.
Do you know any other payment option?
Thanks
Although I'm not dealing with hundreds, I pay writers for groovymag and jsmag (think 10-15 per month) and almost always use paypal. Many writers are overseas (outside the US). Paypal is the defacto - most people have one and are OK. If there's some extra weird fee they have to pay, I'll sometimes split it with them if that's an issue - pay a few bucks more in the payment, basically.
A few want paper checks, but I try to only do that for US-based people - fees are prohibitive, mail is slow and can get lost (all points you made).
For some people, it's been easier (and their request) to send gift certificates to a store of their choice (amazon, etc) rather than dealing with bank/paypal.