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My friend is a paraplegic. He can't go to the bank and wire the money. He used to send money from our partnership via paypal. Now I am banned from paypal. What's the alternative? Google checkout?

I need something that won't limit my account. I'm in Indonesia and my friend is in the US.

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Actually he can go to the bank. Not sure what his problem is but he's one of the most honest person I met. The only one that doesn't need carrot and sticks to act honestly. – Jim Thio Jun 28 '12 at 5:27
He ended up going to the bank and "deposit money" – Jim Thio Jul 15 '12 at 14:30

6 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

Three ideas:

  • Bank Wires can be done via telephone. Your partner should talk to someone at his bank about getting his account authorized to do this.
  • You can setup some sort of business presence in the United States, and then wire money to your Indonesian bank.
  • Get squared away with PayPal so your suspension is lifted.

PayPal is probably the best/cheapest way to transfer small/medium amounts of money overseas.

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Paypal told me to get out. Looks like having too much balance at paypal trigger issues. – Jim Thio Jun 11 '12 at 14:14
@JimThio It's a compliance risk to them. If you're too big for Paypal, you're going to have to move beyond consumer money transfer services or services like Western Union to avoid paying through the nose, or having the same issues that you have with PayPal. – duffbeer703 Jun 12 '12 at 19:09
I see. I learn that now. Now most money goes to bank accounts. I hope they reinstate my account after 180 days. – Jim Thio Jun 13 '12 at 2:29
+1 for Bank Wire. I've usually seen listed fees of like $50 on the outbound side / free on the inbound side, IIRC, so it might be a good choice for larger sums. – fennec Jun 13 '12 at 23:28
I will square things away with paypal after they return my money 180 days from now. It seems that they enjoy earning interests out of $9000 dollar they pretty much close their eyes and ears. The last thing I need is giving them more excuse to claim I am "suspicious". – Jim Thio Jun 28 '12 at 5:21
up vote 11 down vote

Many banks offer online payment.

He can add a payee and just type your name and address in. The bank will mail the check out if they cannot deliver payment electronically.

Edit: Recently I came across this (Citibank Global Transfer), you and your friend should see if your bank offers a similar service. Citibank requires both of you to have an account with them.

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Hmm... I am in Indonesia, and he is in US. Would that work? – Jim Thio Jun 9 '12 at 15:14
TBH never tried to send money out the country through my bank. I would imagine its up to the banks policy – Kirill Fuchs Jun 9 '12 at 15:17
wasn't jim trying to avoid the delay of the check? My online back will electronically transfer funds to pay large vendors, i.e. credit card, phone bills, etc, but individuals get sent a paper check. – JoeTaxpayer Jun 11 '12 at 19:40
@jimthio I updated my answer with something you may find interesting. – Kirill Fuchs Jun 21 '12 at 15:17
up vote 4 down vote

Most bank bill pay services will work for this purpose. Generally you can pay any person or business that has a valid address. As an added Paypal will no longer take ~3% of the money.

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Yea no paypal fee is good. – Jim Thio Jun 9 '12 at 15:20
up vote 2 down vote

Have his bank put the money on a gift card or gift cards and have somebody send them to you in the mail. In fact, if you are going to spend the money online all you need is the numbers and codes from the card to spend the money.

If you have more time have the bank send you a cashiers check or money order.

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2  
This method strikes me as less sure than a transfer because the gift cards probably cannot be cancelled/refunded if stolen or lost in the mail. – Jeremy Jun 11 '12 at 15:25
Based on the number of questions the OP was asking related to paypal and work arounds, I am not sure what the OP's tolerance for risk was. – mhoran_psprep Jun 11 '12 at 20:59
It's also not usually possible to turn gift cards back into cash or bank deposits, so they're only really good for purchases at retail locations. This may be a particular problem for a business. Moreover, many of them charge nontrivial fees as well. – fennec Jul 5 '12 at 21:47
up vote 2 down vote

If wire transfer through your bank does not work then perhaps one of the more popular money transfer services may be what you are looking for such as MoneyGram or Western Union.

Now these rely on a trusted "registered" third party to do the money transfer so you need to make sure that you are working with a legitimate broker. Each money transfer service has a site that allows you to perform the search on registered parties around your area. There are certain fees that are sometimes applied due to the amount being transferred. All of these you will want to do some detailed research on before you make the transfer so that you do not get scammed.

I would suggest doing a lot of research and asking people that you trust to recommend a trusted broker.

I have not personally used the services, but doing a quick search brought many options with different competitive conversion rates as well as fees. Good luck.

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up vote 2 down vote

Not to overkill the theres a few more I can think of right now

  1. ING Direct Orange Checking Savings
  2. Western Union and monygram essentially same options (variable transaction reate)
  3. Dwolla great service for $0.25 per transaction
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