Quick question regarding withdrawals in the UK.

Henry J · Jul 6, 2014 08:26:04 AM

Hi, I'm relatively new to odesk and have a question about withdrawal methods in the UK. odesk advises that local bank account withdrawal is the best method, but I find that the time it takes to withdraw can be a little bit inconvenient. Because of this, I wondered if any other methods were faster? I don't mind paying a bit extra if I can get access to the money quicker. My first thought was PayPal, but I didn't want to withdraw without checking the times first. Is there an official guide line on how long certain withdrawal methods will take? Or do they all universally take 3 to 5 working days? Thanks in advance for any help.

Gillian Michele N · Jul 7, 2014 02:28:33 AM

Hi Henry, Welcome. I think the local funds transfer is the cheapest option. The other options appear to carry unpredictable fees. I understand that you don't like waiting too long for your money, but I've been here for over 2 yrs and I think the local transfer is the best option really. This link should help. https://support.odesk.com/entries/23149216-What-fees-and-other-costs-are-associated-with-getting-pai...

Judith P · Jul 7, 2014 04:37:48 AM

Hi Henry and welcome to a fellow UK freelancer! I generally use Paypal to withdraw my funds at a dollar cost, but it appears almost immediately in my Paypal account so I think it is well worth it. I then transfer to bank account which is far quicker. I used to transfer directly to my bank but found it took too long to show up. I hope that helps

Gillian Michele N · Jul 7, 2014 04:40:50 AM

Hi Judith, How are you finding oDesk in general?

Stephen B · Jul 7, 2014 04:56:45 AM

Ditto to Judith (though I'm in Ireland but I presume it's the same). I withdraw funds into Paypal at midnight UCT (currently 1AM BST). It appears literally within two minutes in my Paypal (cost $1 to oDesk). I then transfer from Paypal into my bank account (free)and it usually appears in my bank account the morning of the next day (eg oDesk-Paypal 00.01 Weds. morning, in bank 12.00 Thursday. In nearly two years there has been the occasional few hours delay into the bank account, but apart from that it's worked perfectly (which is pretty good for oDesk

)

Gillian Michele N · Jul 7, 2014 01:08:25 PM

I might try the PayPal option sometime.

Sabine H · Sep 18, 2015 03:10:50 AM

Hi Stephen,

I am in Ireland as well and use PayPal however, I requested the money yesterday and it is not in my payplal Account.

Sabine

David J · Jan 18, 2016 04:27:10 AM

Does this option not incur a 2% fee to Paypal though? Which is not a problem if you factor it in but if your moving large sums of money then it can eat away at your total amount. Depends how much fast payment matters to you.

Nick M · Jul 8, 2014 07:26:14 PM

Heh, well would you look at that. I've always used direct deposit for my withdrawals and to be honest, i'm quite sick and tired of the amount of time it takes to hit my bank; it's frustrating mainly because i have to wait for my funds to 'clear' on oDesk (the payments people have made to me) and THEN have to wait even longer once i make the withdrawal request. Gonna try out the Paypal option, hopefully it's as fast as you suggest. Thanks for the tip

Stephen B · Jul 9, 2014 04:31:21 AM

Glad some of you have been woken up to the Paypal path. One thing just to point out for completeness is that after a few months of regular withdrawals I was contacted by Paypal and asked to undergo an extra verification process involving scans of ID and utility bills etc. I suppose this was because of the new nature of the transactions that were happening. The process was seamless enough and just took a few days as I recall - and never a bother since.