Earlier this month, we saw a quick Tweet by our friend Eve Bodeux of Bodeux International. She mentioned TranslatorPay as a new tool for translators to get paid internationally without having to incur significant bank fees (which we are not very fond of). We were intrigued and decided to have a look at the website. We have a long history of doing international bank transfers and PayPal transfers (both receiving and sending), and just like most people, we are quite stunned by the high costs and by the fact that transfers, especially bank transfers, can take so long despite the fact that we live in the 21st century.
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| Let's talk about money. |
First things first: TranslatorPay, an online money transfer system, was created by two high-profile colleagues in the industry: Dr. Paul Sulzberger and Jessica Rather. We have not met either one of them personally, but they have excellent reputations in the industry, which immediately put us at ease. The idea behind TranslatorPay is that translators should be able to get paid the full amount of the translations that they invoice rather than the invoice amount minus some (usually quite opaque) bank fee. Of course, we rather like this idea. The way it works is that the translator registers (for free), uploads his or her banking information (which some might be a bit reluctant to do), persuades the client to pay via TranslatorPay (this might be a bit of a challenge), and there you have it: the translator gets paid the full amount within one to three days. The company lists the following reasons for using their service, and these are very strong and convincing arguments.
This service is very certainly worth exploring. We haven't used it ourselves, but wanted to help spread the word about it. Have you used it, dear colleagues? We'd love to hear your thoughts!
10 comments:
I had the opportunity to use it last week to pay a friend in Australia (I live in New Zealand) who had done some work for me. It was the first time either of us had used it and it went perfectly smoothly. She banks with a credit union, so doesn't have standard bank details, but one of the TranslatorPay team was able to help her get set up. I transferred the money out of my account on the Monday and it was with her on the Wednesday. Unfortunately, it's not possible to transfer from Japan to NZ yet (those pesky Japanese banking regulations and general conservativeness), but it's a great service if you're working with the right countries.
very nice article
thans for this article. it is quite useful
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This is great! I can already see TranslatorPay working smoothly for translators and LSPs everywhere. Can't wait to see them expand the regions you're able to transfer to and from.
Thanks for sharing! Great post.
–Candice
@Koshinokinsho: Many thanks for the report! Very happy to hear that the service worked so well for you.
@Anna Maria Smith: Thanks, Anna Maria!
@Tomasz Kucharski: Many thanks for the invite, Tomasz. We will have a look for sure.
@Candice: Thanks for reading and for commenting. We might just try this service next week when we have to pay a great colleague who's done some work for us. This sure beats PayPal.
I have used TransaltorsPay twice and in both time it worked flawlessly.
It is definitely a better and most cost-effective solution compared to PayPal and bank transfer for the average (i.e. sans any special treatment from the bank)customer.
IT is worth noting that the exchange rate is a bit low (this is how they maker profit, if I understood correctly); it is somewhere inbetween PayPal's and the bank's exchange rates. However, this is usually the only "fee" involved (in some countries and with some banks there might still be some bank fees involved, so I've been told by TransaltorsPay support team) and therefore "bottom line" is mostly in favor of TransaltorsPay for both parties involved in the transaction.
The major challenge remains convincing clients to use this service instead of their usual channels and systems. Raising awareness might be the first right step towards making cross-border transactions more affordable.
@Shai: Many thanks for your thorough comment and for sharing your experiences. How marvelous. We really appreciate it. Yes, as far as we understand it, the site makes money exactly how you described it, and there are no extra fees. We agree that it might be a bit difficult to convince clients to use this service, but we might just have to start and see! We think it's long overdue that these transactions become more affordable indeed.
Hi Judy and Dagy.
I just had my first transaction go through very smoothly and quickly (sending UK to FR) and am about to receive my first payment too (UK to US). Set-up was fast.
The only downside so far is that US-based people can't send yet - can only receive. They say they are working on it as fast as they can.
@Karen: Many thanks for sharing. We are so happy to hear that things went smoothly for you. Yes, it will be nice once US-based folks can send funds as well, and surely that will happen quite quickly. TranslatorPay might just become the new standard in our industry. We would love that. Thanks for commenting!
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