5 Ways to Get Paid When Working Online ~ Your Freelance Guy

When I introduced freelancing to my friends, the first thing they ask is: "Where to get work?"; "How do I get paid?" So, here is a quick guide on how you can start working and get paid when you start your freelancing career.

Where to get work?

oDesk is my only source of freelance work and I have never explored other freelance sites due to the fact that using oDesk gets me all that I need. The advantage of using oDesk as your first and probably the only source for work is that you get to register for free, no other fees are required, only the client's fee and withdrawal fee is what will be charged, and there are a lot of clients waiting for freelancers.

How to get paid?

What most people think when working online is to have a credit card for you to get paid. Well, that was before. Credit cards need not to be a necessity nowadays because we now have a ton of options to send or receive money online.

Local Funds Transfer (LFT)
oDesk has a unique way in transferring your money to your bank account, it is called Local Funds Transfer. It directly sends your money right from your bank account without the need to use a payment processor. The processing takes about a week.

PayPal
Paypal is a payment processor that can process payments online. It solves higher remittance fees for money transfers and to those not comfortable in sharing credit card details to unknown clients. When clients ask for your PayPal you will just need to send your registered PayPal address so they can send money.

Skrill (was MoneyBrookers)
Skrill (MoneyBrookers) also a payment processor similar to PayPal, but unlike PayPal, Skrill is a bit expensive for us in terms of their processing fees.

Payoneer Debit Card
In oDesk, you can get your own Payoneer Debit Card for free, just inform them that you want a Payoneer Debit Card. I have one that I use mainly for showing off and prove that working online really pays :). Apart from that, since I find the fees to expensive and processing time is similar to PayPal and LFT, I have no use for it. However, it does have its advantage like you don't need a bank account or a credit/debit card to get your money since it is a debit card.

Wire Transfer
Those who have SWIFT codes can benefit from Wire Transfer, although you may find it too expensive to use.

Any other options other than the bank?

Except for Payoneer Debit Card, you need a bank or a debit card to transfer the money to you. For beginners, signing up for banks or debit card accounts can be a bit expensive. So here are some fast and cheap ways to get your own debit card.

SmartMoney
SmartMoney is an electronic wallet offered to Smart subscribers. If you are a Smart user, you can get your own SmartMoney card for as low as P100.

UnionBank EON
UnionBank EON is a debit card made for online shopping and online payments like PayPal. You can get your own PayPal-ready EON account for only P350.