Fast cars, fast internet and fast food… like everything else, we want it fast, and if your affiliate network isn’t delivering fast monthly (or weekly) payouts… they are way behind. While many affiliate networks are just starting to offer payment methods outside of the traditional checks by mail, many others have been sending faster payments through paypal, Direct Deposit and wire transfer for a while now. Like many affiliate networks, big programs like Google Adsense and Yahoo Publisher Network, both offer payments by Direct Deposit. There are several advantages to receiving your earnings by direct deposit or paypal vs. waiting on your monthly check. Here are a few reasons why…
Payment by Direct Deposit / Wire Transfers
- It sounds simple enough… and it is! Provide your affiliate network with your bank account information and instead of receiving a check each month, the company will directly deposit your payment every week or month depending on the programs.
PROS: No waiting for checks and having to deposit them at the bank.
CONS: Some banks charge a fee for direct deposits and wire transfers. However, if you have a contact or a big enough account at the bank, you can usually have these fees waived.
Payment by PayPal
- Even though paypal has been around for years and used by millions, it still isn’t accepted or used by all affiliate networks. Payment through paypal is instant, but as the receiver of money, you will have to lose a percentage to use their service.
PROS: Instant money. From paypal you can send the payment directly to your bank account, or send it to another advertiser or location of choice.
CONS: If you are going to accept large earnings through paypal, you are almost better off waiting for a check looking for an alternative method for payment. Premiere Business paypal accounts are charged around 1.9% to 2.9% + $0.30 USD per transaction.
Direct Deposit and wire transfers may seem like the bets options for affiliates, but it doesn’t come with out a cost. Most affiliate networks will only pay out on a weekly/monthly basis through direct deposit, if you are pushing some nice volume through their network. Here are a few of the networks minimums for wire transfers.
| Market Leverage | Wire Transfers $1,000 Weekly |
| Copeac | Wire Transfers $1,000 Weekly |
| NeverBlue Ads | Wire Transfers $1,000 Weekly |
| RocketProfit | Wire Transfers $10,000 Weekly Wire Transfers $5,000 Monthly |
| Hydra Network | Wire Transfers $20,000 2x Monthly |
| Rextopia | Upon Request / Approval |
What type of experience have you had with affiliate networks and making the change over from CHECKS to Direct Deposits and Wire Transfers?
[This post is covering part one of the "Five Reasons Your Affiliate Program Sucks" series, and is focusing on "Direct Deposit / Wire Transfer & Paypal".]
Great writeup. Many of my affiliate networks are set to pay via direct deposit because of how fast it is. Usually takes a day or two for me to receive payments, but some places like ML pay me by check, only because I'm not pushing enough volume. The fact that they still send a FedEx 2-day check is a bonus
I prefer paypal payment as it is widely accepted and easy to use.
If the affiliate network sends payment via "mass pay" feature of paypal, it costs $1 only to the network, while no fees for the receiver.. This is what TLA and other big network does.
I was just about to say that. EPN pays via paypal, and I'm never charged a fee.
I love direct deposit for my affiliate payouts. Paypal takes too much for what little they offer and god forbid that someone files a complaint on you from eBay. You might find your account frozen and your affiliate payments bounced. Stick with direct deposits.
Hydra will move on that payout threshold if you have a relationship with your AM there.
I didn't realize that Market Leverage did wire transfers. I'm actually not too far away from the $1,000/week mark. Do I just contact my Publisher Manager about this?
Yes. If you have questions about wires or payments from any network, your affiliate manager should be able to hook you up.
Nice post. The only downside to both methods is fees, fees, fees. Gotta hate ‘em.
yeah fees are always the killer
I like direct deposit most as it gets where I need it fast and almost always without problems. But it's actually kind of nice to have various payments come in different methods. The bulk of it for me is direct deposits. But some are checks and others are paypal. Having a paypal debit card makes getting paypal payments almost as convenient as direct deposit as long as the fees don't bother you much. And checks are always a nice way to build up a nice deposit once a month or so and it's still nice to see printed checks for some reason lol.
As mentioned above, Market Leverage makes it a point to get you your checks fast which is a nice extra and helps them stand out.
What you need to write up now, Zac, is about the specific networks that are slow to pay or those that seem to always find ways to deny payments
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And I thought I was the only one having trouble with checks from affiliates!
On second thought I guess everyone must have experienced a"The check's in the mail" situation some time or the other.
I'd love to get my affiliate payouts by direct deposit as it is very fast. you need not get your check deposited in the bank and wait for a long time.
i get most my affiliate payment through direct deposit ,
Zac, I know you are writing for predominantly US and North American readers, but I was wondering if you could tell me how this applies to the international affiliates of these companies.
Do they still wire transfer, or do they require larger cashout amounts to do so?
You didn't mention ACH transfers. They are by far the cheapest.
ACH is a wire payment isn't it?
nop, wire is manual and you have to pay a fee $20-$35, and ACH is 100% automatic and free of charge.
I Live in Indonesia. Try 4 banks before i find the one that accept ML Checks.
not to mention the fees around $30.
(
But still FedEx 2-day check is nice.:)
My bank (in Australia) charges A$10 for each foriegn check deposited. It looks like Paypal is the cheapest option.
Paypal to me sounds like a good option, but I would prefer to get my google adsense via direct transfer. Same as CJ
you know why 
Paypal has always been the best choice for me
i really don't understand that neverblueads doesn't have ACH payment, they should have!!!
Market Leverage pay with wire transfer now, starting for July payment.
we started using http://www.webmasterchecks.com to cut our checks, send wires, direct deposits, paypal, etc to our affiliates, dont know why this seems to be such a problem for most.
A question for the smart people here, if I do a joint venture with a partner and we want to split the earnings (fe. 50/50%),
what is the easiest way to setup a system to split the earnings between me and the partner but also the earnings from other
affiliates I want to share with my JV partner. Does anyone know how I can fix this (which software,…???) For the payments
I want to use Paypal. I can use a classic affiliate system (like Clickbank of affiliate software) but then my partner has no
prove how much sales there were made and I don't want him to look in my paypal account of course. Help me please…!!!