The European side of things are something I’ll never fully understand. They do the hobby completely different over there. Things like emailing, discretion, sexual aspects—it’s all different. And when a place has heavy, detailed laws on providing, you’d expect it to come with a whole different outlook altogether. What I didn’t realize until recently is that even the way money gets transferred is part of that difference.
This came up after
@magicbus22 mentioned it earlier this
year, and now another member brought it up again, making me realize I might’ve slipped a little in my original thread. The info I gave wasn’t bad, but all I really said was, “just go through an agency” to avoid extra work. A few members dropped much better takes than mine. Still, if you can’t go through an agency, what are the other alternatives? Specifically deposits, because those seem to get messy when you’re international—or so I’ve heard.
@matts1812 brought up sending electronic payments. Over here, most of us go straight to our go-tos like CashApp, Zelle, and of course PayPal. But I’ve now heard—not once but twice—about people having issues with PayPal on international provider payments. Probably just a glitch, nothing major, but it’s still worth knowing alternatives. I did some digging with Matt’s situation in mind. I can’t say what’s most popular in Europe, but I’m sure one of the London boyz will set me straight—and I welcome that.
As for PayPal, whatever issues they’re having, it is what it is. I haven’t really heard anything else negative about the app, and it doesn’t go through anything other E-pay apps don’t. That said, when your main app isn’t reliable, you always want a backup.
Wise is one I don’t know well personally. It can be used for local transfers, but it’s especially strong for international ones. Supposedly it’s better than PayPal in almost every way. The only downsides seem to be payment limits and the fact that not every currency exchange is covered. They’re also stricter with TOS—if they feel you’re using it in ways they don’t like (say, repeatedly paying a provider), they’ll shut you down quick.
Revolut comes next. It’s mainly a budgeting app, but it also handles international transfers. A friend of mine uses it constantly when bouncing between London and the States—literally just for transfers. The budgeting feature is a nice extra, but its ease of use is the real selling point. The only catch is their security. They take it very seriously, which sounds good until it locks you out mid-transfer.
Remitly is similar to Wise or Revolut. The main drawback? Its exchange rate can be brutal. PayPal already has some pretty rough rates, so I can only imagine what people using Remitly are dealing with.
Hopefully this helps—or at least gets more people to chime in with what works for them. This has been on my mind since I last saw Angel Windell taking bookings in Japan. I don’t mind sending deposits electronically, but it’s the actual physical money part that still makes me nervous. Still, if we can figure out electronic payments, the physical side shouldn’t be that hard to sort out.
