In our fifth episode of Speaking of Translation, we discuss how to use various payment methods to your advantage, keeping the most amount of money possible - rather than losing it to fees and exchange rates. We discuss pros and cons of payment by check, ACH, wire transfer, PayPal and companies that facilitate currency exchange for those of us with international clients.
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Duration: 31:03
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Wikipedia definition of ACH
- PayPal
- MoneyBookers
- www.oanda.com
- bloomberg.com
- www.travelexglobalpay.com
- www.xe.com/fx/
Upcoming Episode: Tune in, in the next few weeks when we will post Episode 6, a discussion on Free and Open Source Software resources for translators. We have already recorded it and would like to get it out to you before the end of October.
Future Topics: We are also interested in what our listeners would like to hear about next on Speaking of Translation. We have been throwing some ideas around such as future episodes about opening bank accounts abroad to assist with processing payments from overseas clients or how to balance home and work life, especially with small children (you may hear Eve’s son Axel once or twice in the background of Episode 5 - the studio is not sound proof!). If you’d like to hear about either of those issues or have your own suggestions, please let us know via comments.
Thanks and happy listening!
Great podcast Corinne and Eve!! I found my way from Corinne’s blog and really enjoyed the discussion.
I had never heard of the ACH payment option before this and although it’s specific to the US, I’m now wondering whether there might be a Canadian equivalent for those of us over here? I’m going to do some research
My only suggestion for your podcasts, in general, might be a written transcript. I found myself trying to scribble down areas for further research, and quickly got a bit behind. Even a summary of the major points covered would be really useful to me. Just a thought.
Thanks again for a great discussion!
Thanks, Ashleigh, for visiting and the feedback! ACH actually does exist in Europe and probably Canada. They may call it something different, but it definitely exists in Europe and I can’t imagine it is not in Canada. Not sure if we could do a transcript, but that is a great idea to provide a summary of the major points and we can try to do that in the future. Thanks again!
The Canadian equivalent of ACH is called EFT (electronic funds transfer). It’s the system companies use to pay their employees by direct deposit. Preauthorized debits and bill payments made through online banking also go through the same system.
Just found your website and am listening to the first podcast now.
Hey why couldn’t I search the iTunes Store for “speaking of translation” to find your podcast? You should add that.
Good stuff though I’m looking forward to listening!
I do Japanese to English translation. Mostly technical, never literary.
Thanks for the positive feedback. Regarding your question, “Hey why couldn’t I search the iTunes Store for “speaking of translation” to find your podcast? You should add that.” you and I both wonder about that…. I submitted it to iTunes earlier this year, but it has never shown up. I did some research on it, and it seems their “submit” system is fickle (and probably overwhelmed). Thanks for the reminder, though; I will try to resubmit it so that when you search in iTunes, it shows up. However, you can still add it to your personal iTunes at any time. In iTunes, just go to ADVAVANCED, then SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST and then add our audio feed’s URL which is: smcpodcasting.libsyn.com/rss. You can also click on our SUBSCRIBE button on this blog for this info. Thanks again!
Great episode, Corinne and Eve! You put so much work and research into these; it really shows. My hat is off to you for taking on this enormous project. Thanks for the thorough overview, and thanks a lot for mentioning the upcoming Entrepreneurial Linguist book — what a nice shout-out. I will link to this episode from our blog, as this is very valuable information that every freelancer should hear! And Corinne: your $150 fee that you had to pay was just awful, but you did the right thing: at least you have part of the money now.
Hi Corrinne and Eve! I enjoyed listening to your podcast, and like others, I had never heard the term ACH before, even though I (probably like most Amercians) am familiar with the “direct deposit” concept. This made me more interested in learning about how we, as freelance translators, can offer ACH payments to our clients. How do you go about it? Can you just say you accept ACH payments? Do only certain banks offer it? Is there a specific process to carry out an ACH payment? If a US-based client is unfamiliar with ACH, and you want to lean the toward paying you that way, what do you tell them?
Any additional information would be much appreciated!
Yes, ACH is indeed direct deposit, if you are the one getting it.
You could suggest this method to your clients. If they already do it with employees, it should be simple to do it for you. I am paid this way by some of my clients, like I mentioned (and I pay some vendors this way, as noted). My clients offered it to me (or told me that was their only payment method). They need to set it up on their end, so you can’t really facilitate it for them except to say that you’d love to receive payment that way. It would depend on the services a bank offers, but I am sure the vast majority do. It is just a “normal” banking produt. However, I personally do my ACH transfers to vendors through Travelex, and not through my bank. For me, it is a better deal and makes one less online interface to deal with. If you want to convince someone to do it, tell them it is faster and safer transfer of the money (does not go through mail) and it will likely save them labor in preparing payment. They will enter the data into an online system instead of entering data for a check, printing it, stuffing it in an envelope, paying to mail it, and mailing it. Good luck and thanks for listening!
Fascinating discussion
Wow, it’s all so complicated!! Almost makes me not want to change my current process of only working with European clients, and only getting paid in euro by “ACH” - never heard that term before; can you tell I don’t do financial translations? 
I will forever be happy that Ireland adopted the Euro; same currency as all my clients
Random fact for you from the only English speaking country that uses the Euro; technically we shouldn’t pluralise it! So it’s 40 Euro (not Euros) etc. Most people outside of Ireland don’t apply that rule of course.
I still have to worry about currency loss, but not in payments, just in withdrawals since I spend in non-euros most of the time, depending on the country of my travels.
As far as banking goes, I recently changed to Rabo Direct, since they are an entirely online based bank. My previous bank (AIB) insisted on posting confirmations for every single payment I got and couldn’t stop them. Rabo Direct is actually a Dutch bank, but their “office” in Ireland means that you can apply there (and in several other countries) without worrying about it being thought of as an “overseas” account, which I imagine is dreadfully bureaucratic to open. As well as being more convenient as a constant traveller (and RD being way more secure than AIB), I changed banks to save a few trees
There was a big discussion in one of our lists in the past on EUR vs EUROS. It seems that some of the finance translators corrected me in saying that we should use an S. Anyway, plural vs. singular of the EUR was a big matter of discussion. Thanks for bring it to our attention again. Interesting info about your banking and travels. Thanks!
I just thought of a funny story about international payments. Years ago when I lived in France my Junior Year Abroad, no merchants wanted to accept my MasterCard because they were not familiar with that credit card (!). I think it was called Eurocharge or Eurocarte in Europe at the time (or something like that, not sure anymore). But, when I’d tell them it was the same thing, no one believed me. I recall some lovely boots I could not purchase…My, how things have changed in 20+ years…
Just got an update of services from my business bank (not the one I pay ACH through) which is interesting. It says: “Some bill payments scheduled through the Online Banking services are sent via the ACH network. The National Automated Clearinghouse Association (NACHA), the organization that oversees the ACH network, ***recently implemented new restrictions on international ACH transactions (or IATs).*** Because IATs are not available through the Online Banking services, Section 4.b.1 provides that you may not use the Bill Pay Service to make any payment using funds that were sent to you from outside the United States if the funds were accompanied by instructions specifying one or more payments to be made with those funds. ”
This was sent to all customers, not just me. But, thought that was interesting.
Thanks, Eve and Corinne! This was a really interesting podcast, especially the information about ACH. I look forward to more on international banking.
Wow - you can just tell I love this subject. Here is another addition! I was at the ATA Conference in NY City last week and in the Exhibit Hall was a company called Payoneer. They were there to sell their services to translation agencies, I think, but it is still interesting to mention. Their site is: http://www.payoneer.com. They facilitate international payments by delivering prepaid Mastercards for their clients (for example, their client is a translation agency that arranges for payment via a pre-paid MasterCard to one of their freelance translators). Seemed like a good idea and they apparently work with people all over the word (clients and payees). I thought it sounded like the fees were kind of steep, but you could negotiate this with whoever owes you money. In any case, adds another possible option to the landscape.
Another comment from me! I saw this link on Twitter and it has great info on HOW to invoice your clients. (Thanks, http://twitter.com/moovgetranslate). Here is the link to the invoicing article: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/05/invoice-like-a-pro/
Hello, it’s me yet again. Sarah Dillon on her blog “There’s Something About Translation…” has just posted some great information about payment methods. Click here: http://www.dillonslattery.com/2009/11/getting-paid-across-borders.html to read what she has to say on the topic.
Thanks so much for a fantastic podcast!
After listening I decided to check out both XE and Travelex. It looks like their rates are fairly similar, but I have to say that XE’s sign-up process is light-years ahead of Travelex.
It would be great to hear from anyone who can compare different aspects of the two services.
Thanks for your feedback. Very interesting about the sign up methods. I signed up with Travelex the old-fashioned way (on the phone with a rep) since I had a personal referral through my husband (!). But, glad to know about that and let’s hope Travelex gets with the times!
I enjoyed your podcast about different methods for sending and receiving payments. Very informative. Just one small detail: your link to Travelex actually only works if you are already a client (you must have a client’s certificate to enter the site). So the link is useless for people who just want information about services that Travelex may be providing.
I just recently started a new blog and I linked to your blog.
Best regards,
Steve Vitek, technical translation since 1987
http://www.patenttranslators.com
I am definitely looking forward to a future podcast on foreign bank accounts.
Joan
I wanted to add that American Express also has a foreign exchange service similar to Travelex and related. I am trying out their service as well. Though they only allow for foreign exchange translations (USD > EUR > USD, for example), and not domestic transfers via ACH.