Help From Non USA Amazon Hubbers

1. 89

   Sue Adamsposted 12 years ago

   I live is Spain. I have receive a cheque from Amazon but my bank won't accept it, saying that the cost of returning the cheque to source for approval would cost more than it's worth! Now I have a cheque that is useless. Why does Amazon not use Paypal? How do you guys get to your Amazon earnings? Help!

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   1. 88

      Will Apseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I live in Thailand. My Amazon cheques cost me ten dollars and about ten separate signatures to process. I can't believe Spain is worse than this. Maybe you need another bank.

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   2. 88

      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Sue, I've just moved back from Spain although my Amazon cheques still get sent there!
      
      I've only had 2 so far, as I set the minimum payment to $1000 to avoid excessive bank charges.
      
      Banco Santander take €15 OR .06% of the value of the cheque for cashing it (whichever is the highest), so you have to go pretty high to go above that $15, which is a huge chunk from a $100 cheque.
      
      I cashed the last cheque at a local savings bank (caja) and they also took the same commission.
      
      Try another bank from the one you are with, as you really shouldn't have any bother cashing it.
      
      Be warned, it does take them 28 days to process it! (during which time they claim the interest, but that is how Spanish banks make their money).

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      1. 89

         Sue Adamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Izzy, does that mean I have to open a new account with a new bank just to pay in me Amazon cheques? Unicaja refuse to do it. Why can't HubPages incorporate Amazon in their Paypal payment to us, like they do with Ebay?

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         1. 88

            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            It does look like you might need to open a new bank account, but it'll be worth it to get paid!
            
            I had 4 bank accounts in Spain at one point, but am down to 2 now. They are all rip-off merchants in one way or another. Try to find a bank that is handy to get to, because there is nothing worse than having a cheque sent to you that means an inconvenient trip to somewhere to bank it.
            
            Oh and Spain being Spain (and awkward) two branches of the same bank never seem to actually work together, so if you have an account in one branch, they make it really difficult to use another even if it is in the same town. You can usually withdraw cash, but not pay a cheque in if it isn't your branch, which is downright stupid IMO.
            
            I don't know what has happened about HP Amazon account plans, no doubt something is holding it up. We will get it when the creases are ironed out, I expect.

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            1. 57

               michifusposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               My account is in the south, I am in Barcelona. My local office took the cheques, sent them to my own branch, my branch then had to send them to the US to cash. When they were returned, I went through the same process in reverse. However in transit from my branch to my local one they got lost. 7 weeks.
               
               Add on another 2 months for Amazon to reissue.
               
               To make matters worse, the 6 cheques I had were sitting on my desk, as was my cat. My cat jumped off the desk, propelling my A4 pad across the table and knocking over a glass of red wine. 6 cheques ruined. Reissue required.
               
               I have yet to cash an amazon cheque in over 2 years as an affiliate. Trying the etrade route next.

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   3. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Very good question. Amazon Associates have been asking for years, it never makes any difference. 
      
      Amazon is probably one of the worst affiliate programs in existence.  Not only do they insist on sending old-fashioned paper cheques, they also have the worst cookie (24 hours).  Every other affiliate program has a much longer cookie, anything from 30 days to 90 days. 
      
      They get away with it because of who they are.  They have so many affiliates, they can afford to say, "if you don't like it, go somewhere else". 
      
      You can sign the cheque over to someone else - do you know someone in the States you could send it to?

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   4. 57

      michifusposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I am in Spain and I had the same problem. The charges for cashing international cheques are very high, making it not worth cashing them unless they are for a significant amount (percentage based rates for cashing them means that waiting will not exactly save you money either!). The charges are applied per cheque as well, so don't think about saving them up. That will cost you even more. Also, any cheque not cashed after 6 months will incur a penalty charge - something about them having to complete extra checks against fraud. This is with LaCaixa, but all banks are much of a muchness, and are all pretty useless when it comes to cheques.
      
      I tried to cash two, it took 7 weeks before they were returned to my Spanish bank because my bank didn't get me to sign the back of them. The bank then lost both cheques.
      
      Aha I thought. Ill take my payment as a voucher. I bought a camera on Amazon.com with my earnings; however I was charged an incredible 22% import tax, which I had to pay before receiving my camera.
      
      As for what to do, get in touch with Amazon.com affiliate customer service and get them to cancel the cheque and recredit your account. Then set your payment threshold higher. Wait until your funds are high enough to justify the cheque amount.
      
      Alternatively, you could open a US dollar account in Spain which will save on exchange rates, but you will still have to pay the same extortionate amounts to cash cheques.
      
      Finally, you could open a US (non resident) trading bank account with a company such as etrade. Pay it in through there, and then do an international transfer, or use the card they give you to draw it out from the cashpoint. There will also be charges for that too, but it will not be as much. if its only for 250 US dollars though, that will probably not be enough to justify the charges, plus there is a minimum amount you have to pay in to open the account in the first place.
      
      You will be waiting for a long time before Amazon pays through Paypal. Why should they do that when they can keep hold of affiliates money for longer?

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   5. 59

      srk4youposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Sue,
      There is a feature from Payoneer called "US Payment Service" that allows Payoneer cardholders to receive money from US companies including Amazon. Basically, it is a virtual US bank account and accepts ACH transfers or bank transfers. I have been getting payments from allowed companies (like PayPal and Amazon) for 2 months now and I am thrilled with their excellent service.
      
      I cannot post my hub URL, but if you see my hub about "Payoneer Partners", you can read more about their US Payment service. The fee is 1% of the money received plus ATM charges. You will get money within 3-4 days.

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      1. 89

         Sue Adamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you srk4you,
         I read your Hub. Very useful. I am looking into Payoneer as a possibility for cashing my Amazon cheques.

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2. 83

   Rik Ravadoposted 12 years ago

   Sue
   
   Yes Amazon sucks if you are outside the USA. I'm in the UK and took my first payment in gift vouchers with Amazon.com.  The problem with this is a) limited goods you can order overseas and b)the delivery costs.  Don't know why they can't do PayPal or a bank transfer.  I've now done the same as Izzy and set my threshold for a cheque at a very high level. 
   
   This is one reason why I was hoping the HubPages will bring in their own Amazon program. Whatever happend to that, by the way?  Any staff prepared to answer?

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   1. 89

      Sue Adamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I have emailed Amazon about Paypal today. Will let you know what they say. Yes, HP please help us, non US authors, to claim our due Amazon money. I'm owed over $250 now and can't get to it!

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3. 89

   Sue Adamsposted 12 years ago

   Thanks Marisa, I have a twin sister in Boston. Maybe I'll do that and raise the pay-out threshold as well.

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4. 89

   Sue Adamsposted 12 years ago

   Thanks everyone for sharing your Amazon experiences. Here is the original message I wrote to them with their reply:
   
   ---- Original message: ----
   
   Topic:
   Payment
   
   
   Comments:
   I live in Spain. For the second time running, my bank doesn't accept my Amazon cheques, saying that it would cost more to return the cheque to source for verification and issue payment than the cheque is worth.
   I have so far received two cheques neither of which I have been able to pay into my bank. Those two cheques amount to a painstakingly earned total income of $234.54 but I have not seen a penny of it in my bank.
   Please can you transfer the amount of $234.54 into my Paypal account forthwith. My Paypal email address is xxx@xxxxx.com
   ______________________
   
   REPLY:
   
   Amazon.com Customer Service cust.service03@amazon.com
   00:42 (10 hours ago)
   
   to me
   Hello Sue,
   
   I'm so sorry you are having difficulty cashing your Associates check payments.  At this time we don't currently offer payment via PayPal. I've passed your feedback along to the appropriate department for consideration. This kind of information is invaluable to us, as it helps us continue to improve our program.
   
   Unfortunately, we are also not able to void the checks and have the funds added back to your account.  I would recommend raising the check threshold for future checks payments that are sent to you.
   
   You have the ability to enter your own minimum thresholds for payments by check. The threshold you entered can always be viewed by going to:
   
   
   You can change the threshold by simply clicking the radio button next to check and then changing the amount in the text box. The threshold you enter must be above $100.
   
   More information is available at:
   
   http://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/ … elp/t3/a11
   
   I hope this helps.
   
   Did I solve your problem?
   
   
   Best regards,
   
   Barbara B.
   Amazon.com Associates Program
   ___________________
   
   Basically, they are a bunch of very polite thieves as far as I am concerned.
   
   I am going to email HP Staff with a link to this forum thread asking HubPages to incorporate Amazon into their payout programme like they do with Ebay.
   Please keep posting your concerns to support this cause.
   
   Thanks again,
   SUE

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   1. 57

      michifusposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      They cannot cancel the cheques? That's terrible. Ask them if they can combine the checks and reissue as one cheque to save on costs. They did that with me. That should help to keep the cost down

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   2. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You said it!  Basically what they're doing is forcing international affiliates to accept gift vouchers as payment, which means they get the money back.
      
      If you've got your own websites, you can avoid this problem by signing up for Amazon through Skimlinks instead of direct.  Skimlinks takes a cut of your commission, but they pay by Paypal- plus you get instant access to hundreds of other affiliate programs.
      
      Unfortunately that doesn't solve the problem of using Amazon capsules on HubPages.  Your only choice is not to use them, until (if) HP gets its own Amazon program up and running.

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      1. 89

         Sue Adamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you Marisa for the tip. I'll check out Skimlinks for my other sites. You are so helpful.

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      2. 57

         michifusposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You are a hive of useful Information as always. Have you used Skimlinks? Has it worked for you?

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         1. 86

            Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I have tested out Skimlinks but have only used them for a few links so far.  I've been waiting for HubPages to introduce its Amazon scheme, then I'll switch all the Amazon links on my own sites over to Skimlinks (because it will take me too long to reach payout with just my sites).
            
            The system works well and I'm really impressed with the range of affiliates you can join - and you don't have to apply for any of them individually, once your site is accepted for Skimlinks, you have access to the lot.

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            1. 57

               michifusposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               

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            2. 86

               Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               For completeness, I should point out that many people say you're better off cashing the cheques.  The reason is that Paypal's exchange rates are terrible - so in the end, you'll wind up worse off than if you'd paid the cheque processing fee.  Deduct Skimlinks' commission off the top, and you'll be earning noticeably less.
               
               However, for me, the simplicity is worth the extra cost. The process of banking the cheque in Australia is tedious with lots of paperwork.  I set my payout figure high (to make the fee and time involved less painful), which means I have money sitting in my account at Amazon for months (whereas Skimlinks pays monthly and the threshold is only $10).  And of course, when Amazon do finally send me a $1,000 cheque, I worry about it getting lost - I've known that happen to plenty of people, and it's a nightmare getting it reissued.
               
               Oh, and on your own Wordpress or Blogger blog, you don't even have to worry about using affiliate links any more - once you've got Skimlinks set up, you just link to the product and Skimlinks adds the code, similar to Amazon capsules on HubPages.

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5. 57

   michifusposted 12 years ago

   Since Amazon seem to be even more difficult now, I have just been to the bank to pay in my cheque, rather than try to get a payment reissued and set up a US account. I was charged 15.88 euros as a processing fee with laCaixa.
   
   I think it really does depend on the branch, the bank and the staff. I have inquired in different branches of the same bank and have got a different reply every time.

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6. 27

   564626posted 12 years ago

   Try some other bank, sometime bankers don't know about Forex etc. I got my cheque cleared in 40 days from India with $5-10 charges.

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