Updates to Payment Methods for non-US based freelancers

[Ma Verónica B]

Hi Garnor,

Payoneer has higher fees than Skrill, also asks for USD 40 for deliver the card overseas. Ordinary mail does not work for them, although it works smoothly for Skrill, unbelievable!
I asked for it, 4 times over a three years period, it never arrived till now.

Paypal asks for USD 10 per withdraw in my country plus 7 days delay and pays 0.98 on regard the lowest conversion from the day before.

Bank transfer applies more fees, taxes and the conversion rates are awful.

The Srill service is the best option for many freelancers located overseas.

[Valeria K]

Thank you for your feedback, Ma Verónica

While we like to offer as many payment options as possible for our users, Skrill was not able to offer all of our community the service and support they needed. We also considered the overall withdrawal costs to freelancers and had to make a decision to discontinue Skrill as a payment method on Upwork.

[Christopher R]

As Skrill is clearly what these workers want, it is frankly offensive for Upwork to be telling us that "Skrill was not able to offer all of our community the service and support they needed".

Frankly I don't believe that any more than the similarly feeble justification of the recent doubling of the PayPal withdrawal fee.

I have worked on this site for 9 years and its interest in us, the people who do all the work and make all Upwork's money for it, has never been lower.

Your answer is as complacent and arrogant as it is unacceptable, although sadly it is not surprising these days.

On the available evidence, I don't believe that Upwork cares about its freelancers at all, which is regrettable.

[Ilya S]

Who will be the sender if I use the new payment method in local currency for Russia? WIll it be some local bank?

[Garnor M]

Hi Ilya,

If you're using Direct to Local Bank, you're getting the payment withdrawn directly from Upwork to your local bank. So, you select which local bank will work best.

[Ilya S]

Hey Garnor, that's all clear.

I wanted to know the technical details - who is the sender of the money in this case, what Russian bank? It's not possible to send money directly to Russian bank account from overseas, that's why I wonder if Upwork has some local Russian account which it uses to send money to Russians.

[Vladimir G]

Hi IIya,

Please note that we use a third party payment processor for all payment transfers but can't disclose further details due to privacy concern.

[Imran S]

Hi Garner

Can I make local bank transfer in USD instead of my local currency (Pak Rupees) because I find upwork conversion rates pretty odd.

I would really appreciate if you guys keep skrill as a withdrawal option. I have been using it for the last five years and its hassle free.

Thanks for your help.

[Vladimir G]

Hi Imran,

Please check the details and set up Wire Transfer as your payment method if you'd like to receive your funds in USD.

[Dmitriy B]

Hi, can I transfer payments to my dollar account in russian bank or this will cause double exchange and "direct to local bank transfer" is available to the rubles currency only?