Question on receiving payment via WU?

I have a direct client who wished to pay me via Western Union. After making the payment, the client fell ill and was not able to give me the MTCN (code needed to claim the money). When he got better, he sent me the MTCN but it came out unrecognized by the Western Union tracking system. I asked him why this was so and he said that the MTCN expired because I was not able to collect the money within 3 days (since he was sick and was not able to give me the code). So, he called his WU branch up and had the code reactivated but the code is still unrecognized at the moment (it's been less than 12 hours since he asked WU to reactivate it). I have little doubt that this client would pay me (as he has done so several times before) but I don't know if we're missing something in the whole WU process as I rarely receive payments from WU and during those rare times, I never encountered this problem. So, I'm asking if any of you have experience using WU and can give me some advice regarding this matter. Thanks.

Been there once, and vowed never to go there again. I can't offer real advice except to say that I've been in a similar situation and now insist on PayPal as a method of payment. It sounds like you're doing everything right, but WU is such a giant company any number of things could be screwed up on their end. The customer should be able to cancel the first transfer and set up a brand new one that is available instantly--maybe have them try that.

I don't start writing until I've actually received payment; if it can be cancelled on the sender's end, that means it's not "received" on mine until it's in my hand. I've been paid that way a few times but I went and collected the cash before I started writing.

Thanks for the advice guys. We're still waiting for the code to be reactivated.

Hey there EW_Writer,

I used to charge some of my international clients through WU, and one time I ran into a similar situation to the one you related. Have you tried asking the fellas at your WU branch to search for the payment using the information of the sender (customer)? IIRC, they can cross-reference your info with that of the sender, but only if there is a valid MTCN for the transaction.

For what it's worth, after I registered my business as a sole proprietorship at Citibank, I was able to purchase a credit card swiping terminal. It's a lot more convenient than using WU, and the fees are a fraction of what Paypal charges...of course, it also depends a lot more on how much your clients trust you with their cc info.

Hope some of that info helped. Let us know if you learn anything new, and I'll try to follow up. Take care mate.

-ACE

P.S.: I whole-heartedly endorse Freelance's position of taking payment up front. While my particular clientele never screw me over, I've been in situations where I've had to wait unexpectedly long periods before I could finally collect. Any stable business has to be built on controllable/predictable cashflow....just my two cents. tc

Western Union's "Fixed Text" Message Service

In 1935, telegram recipients started looking at the top of their messages to see if it said "FT" or "SC." If the message was headed by "SC," it meant "sender composed"; an "FT," though, meant it was a "fixed text" message -- and you could send one anywhere in the country for a quarter! There were dozens of these coded messages, ranging in subject from congratulations on a new store opening to get well soon. When people seemed reluctant to send telegrams during the holiday season for fear the recipient would be alarmed because these messages usually meant bad news, Western Union introduced a new blank message card with holly and wreaths the next year and business skyrocketed.

When they introduced a Mother's Day card featuring a white-haired crone, though, mothers aged 26 through 45 wrote thousands of nasty letters to Western Union, insisting that women under 80 could be mothers too. The next year's blank featured an old woman, a middle-aged woman and a young women in a page-boy haircut ("They can decide which one they are," a company spokesman suggested).

Over time, Western Union introduced other message types including the Bunnygram, Dollygrams, Kiddiegrams, Storkgrams, Santagrams and even a Cigargram.

Well, I suppose the key words are the same but my original thread had nothing to do with receiving payments by Western Union and it was posted in "off-topics" for general interest. In their infinite wisdom, the mods get to decide what goes where, but guess where I suggest this should go ...

Western Union realized the value of user-contributed content for their FT messages, and paid between $1 and $10 for ideas. One Pittsburgh resident named Bob Post sent the following message on Valentine's Day: "Roses are red, violets are blue, you are sweet via WU, WU, WU." Although unsolicited, Western Union liked it so much they bought it for $10.

(I wonder where this post will end up ...)

Nice backgrounder on WU. I am not sure why it ended up in the payment thread though. While you did mention some figures in relation to payments, it wasn't, in any way, related to the original discussion. Now I am wondering how the mods decide where and why to move certain discussions. I would have sent this to the Off-Topic discussion instead, or given it its own thread. Oh well, I guess they know what they are doing ... I wonder if EW_writer ever got his WU payment. He did not come back with an update regarding his situation. I used WU before to receive payments when I was an active Ebay seller. I did not encounter his problem during that time. Maybe it was just a case of the wrong transaction at the wrong time. I hope he managed to resolve it somehow. I guess these problems with WU are part of the reasons why Paypal has become the most preferred payment system these days. It seems foolproof.

Paypal is very good (for the buyer); for the seller (a freelance writer or an essay service) they don't offer as much protection against fraudulent charges as they used to. Of course, if we're talking about B2B (business to business) transactions, the fraudulent charges don't typically apply.

I will agree that Paypal seems to have reduced their seller protection coverage over the years. I am thinking that this was caused by the fly by night academic service companies that tended to have frequent fraudulent transactions, along with some fraudulent Ebay sellers. The Ukraine or Kenya based writing companies were probably one the major reasons though.

When I was working with these academic companies, I often received letters telling me to put the order on hold because of Paypal payment issues. I wonder if this was because of the client using a fraudulent Paypal account or because the company was flagged within the Paypal system so they could not get the payment to come through.

@Major is the Paypal situation different for the freelance writers? I've never had the opportunity to use Paypal for a direct work service charge yet so I am interested in learning the ropes. I hope that you will indulge my curiosity. What other payment methods would you suggest a freelancer try out?

For what it's worth, PayPayl is expensive but worth every penny. I agree, their TOS are ambiguous with respect to buyer/seller protections concerning intangible products (e.g., every-*******-thing we do), but they have supported me over the years.

I recommend them highly. Forget that other stuff... PayPal has our back.

@ProfessorVerb As a new freelancer, I would like to make sure that the clients who come my way will get the impression that I am of a reputable character. I know that PayPal, through their seller verification service can offer me that sort of image. Do you really think that I should not go with any other payment service out there aside from PayPal? I have heard about other services through my previous company which seem to be the standard collecting agency for them. Services like PayMaya and Skrill often get mentioned. Have you tried using those services? Can you offer me feedback on those? WU isn't really coming up as a payment method consideration these days, probably because of the difficulty in setting up the payments. Do you think that the clients will trust me if I have only PayPal as a payment method listed for my services? If I were to list at least 2 payment conduits, what would you recommend the second payment channel be? Should I accept direct bank deposits? I would really appreciate your advice regarding the subject if you can. Thanks.

My post was based on my personal experiences only, but I sincerely appreciate your asking my advice. The best I can recommend is set standards and stick by them.

The best and the safest way for a freelancer is to receive money via bank transfer or Western Union. Paypal is the second best option (even though it is not as safe when it comes to fraudulent or 'it-was-my-charge' transactions). It's worth giving some kind of discount in exchange of receiving the money via bank transfer or WU.

This comparison: blog.hubstaff.com/5-ways-pay-outsourced-employees/ of payment methods is worth a look. Despite the cost, I still recommend PayPal (they aren't paying me -- damn).:

Western Union has at least updated its payment receiving system to accommodate the digital banking age. They now allow direct transfers to certain prepaid cards. Some banks also accept Western Union transactions in a manner that gives the writer enough time (in days reference) to access the payment either through a digital bank transfer or, by going to WU and having the transaction completed by crediting the payment to the card. Either way, it is now easier, though not yet highly convenient, to transact using WU. Writers will still have to do most of the work but at least, the money will surely come in.

The advent of same day international bank transfers (for affiliated banks) and the ease of ewallet payment transfers have rendered Western Union obsolete already. Their prices are not competitive anymore and have cause them to be the last payment consideration for most people. I do not even know if there are still people that use WU these days. I do not see any signs advertising their services anymore.

Sometimes, certain new prospective customers just raise way too many red flags for me to trust any type of payment that can fail or be reversed through fraudulent means. Without going into any detail, publicly, about what constitutes a red flag or what those fraudulent means might be, (for obvious reasons), if I have concerns about trusting payments from a new customer, I give them the option of paying via bank wire or Western Union. The work only gets onto my calendar after my bank confirms that the money has posted permanently to my account or after I pick up the cash from Western Union. Occasionally, new customers are so concerned about maintaining their anonymity that they're actually the ones who request to pay by WU.