Malaysian publishers are a pitiful lot. (Publishers here refer to website and blog owners who have advertisements on their sites.) If you accept payment via PayPal, you have to find alternative means to withdraw your money. If you accept payment by cheque, its not worth the while if the amount is small.
I’ve heard about the absorbitant bank charges for processing overseas cheques but being “sakai” and never ever been paid a US dollar cheque before, I had to try it out for myself.
And so, for my first ReviewMe post, I chose to receive the payment by cheque. My cheque of USD30 arrived about 2 weeks ago.
I took it to the bank to bank it and ask the bank teller what the charges were like. He told me overseas bank will charge US15 for processing while the local bank charges RM25.
*calculate calculate* I then joked with him on whether I had to end up paying the bank for banking in my cheque to which he gave me a broad smile and said “Tak apa. Ada baki. Ada baki.” Then he told me that the cheque will take about a month to clear and gave me another smile and said “So you will receive your money next year!”
Ouch! What an expensive lesson. You go do your own math to see whats left of my USD30. I asked at another bank and was told that the overseas bank fees will be around USD15-USD20 while the local bank will charge minimum of RM50 for processing. Clearance takes about 6-7 weeks. Now if I had used that bank, I really would have ended up needing to fork out some extra money to pay the bank for that transaction!
So Mr MG is smirking in the background and asking me “You say you work so hard for what? Wasting time only. Got more trouble than earnings.”
Hmmm… just you wait my dear. Just you wait. I’ll show you yet!
Try CIMB Bank (formerly Bumiputra Commerce) next time. My AdSense cheques are all deposited to this bank 🙂 So far, the highest commission they have ever deducted from my cheque, is only RM10.
Thank you sifu. Unfortunately, I don’t have a CIMB bank account….
don’t cash the cheques la… use paypal to buy online.
My purpose of earning some money blogging is not for shopping ler, its for savings.
hahaha… never mind lah.. somemore got some small change what.
Hah! Luckily still got small change hoh?
What’s the fuzz? Just redirect payment to paypal next time. Then use paypal payment to pay to your credit card (better use citibank). If not mistaken, paypay will take 3% from the transfer. It is faster and cheaper for small amount.
OIC! I was wondering whether it would be possible to do that but I couldn’t find any info. How to do it? Can you provide a link please? Is it possible to ask Paypal to credit it to another person’s credit card do you know? Hehe. Sorry so many questions….
Yeah, Bumiputra Commerce (now CIMB) has the lowest fees chargeable. More detailed info by this blogger: http://www.liewcf.com/blog/archives/2005/06/best-malaysia-bank-to-bank-in-adsense-cheque/
Thanks for the link. Ya lah. I should have gone to check his archives for info first before I went to the bank. Hehe.
Thanks for sharing. 5xMom said it was expensive to bank in via chq but I did not know the charges was THAT much!
I knew it was going to be expensive but everything oso must try out from firsthand experience in order to learn yah anot?
I’m not having that problem yet, not approved by reviewme…*Sob*
You’ve been updating your blog regularly so maybe its time to try again but maybe not. Since that post………. I’ve got no more review offers. 🙁
maybe you should have kept your cheque first while checking out from the other bloggers how to go about doing it:) i’m so glad these ‘income’ are not taxable….yet!
I believe in trying things out myself, even it means learning the hard way.
and my cheque isn’t even here yet!
Thats a bit slow eh? But at least now you can learn from my lesson.
Yeap you have to do your homework on bank fees. I heard RHB charge nothing but not sure how true. By the way, can’t you accumulate it and have 1 BIG FAT cheque?
I’m not sure about ReviewMe but yes, some places allow you to name a minimum amount before sending cheques. However, for small timers like me, it’ll probably take a looooong time to accumulate to that amount. Lol!
With all the expert advice above, what can I contribute….NOTHING. Congrats, MG…a little by little…becomes?? LOTS lor, like that also dunno one. :))
But I’m not happy the bank makan so much of my money. *pouts*
Next time give cheque to me, I change for you no nid to wait a month, no processing fee wan, ha ha. Congrats MG now can belanja me when I go home huh? Enuf for KFC ah?
Eh, you got paypal anot? I transfer money to you then you TT to me loh…..
Hahaha, u learnt ur lesson? No worries, dat had made u a wiser person, rite?
Hohoho, I’m sure u’ll have the last laugh! – ur hubby’s smirking.
Yes, I have plans to laugh very loudly in his face soon. Hehehe.
I’m new blogger but had been looking for info on internet biz for the past few mths. Do you know that now you can withdraw paypal money thru this malaysiaPal method?
FREE Download PayPal in Malaysia
I’m sceptical about fantastic claims.
poor thing…somemore waste petrol to bank leh!… sori i dun help, right?! i know nothing about all this… but do learnt from u.
MG, one day if i decided to do PPP, can I call u for advise? sikit sikit pun takapa, lebih baik dari takada.
MG, it’s good that you have this blog. See, we learn from everybody. This is just the first cheque. Next one will come soon. When you get that money, should you rub it on hubby’s face? Wahahahaha Even if no money, see how many good friends you’ve accumulated along the way.
Yes, I’m going to be laughing very loudly soon, I hope. LOL!
[…] My first adsense cheque has finally arrived. It took me 6Â months. Fairly long, but its still money, yes? Hehe. This time, I hope to get more “baki” than the previous ReviewMe cheque. LOL! Hubby is still mocking me about that incident and he glanced at this cheque suspiciously and said “You’re sure its worth all this trouble? Can’t you request to have a cheque only when you reach a bigger minimum amount of say $500?” (Wah! Like that I wait until my neck grow long lah!) […]