Then along came PayPal …

Basically PayPal lets you send and receive payment over Internet. It bases its service on existing bank and credit card networks, but it is not a bank in itself.

Registering is free; all you need is an email address. Sending money is free - receiving money however, is not. You pay 3.4 % of received amount unless you are receiving dollars; in this case you pay 2.9 % of received amount. Then you have to pay a flat fee for each transaction: 0.35 Euros or 0.30 Dollars. In addition you have to pay a cross boarder fee of 0.5 % - 1.0 % if you receive payment from someone located in another country.

Then you have to pay a small fee when you withdraw your money to your regular bank account. (Unless your bank is located in United States; then you don’t have to pay this fee.) How much this is depends on country you are located in. I for instance live in Switzerland and have to pay 0.50 CHF to withdraw to my account. Banks in countries within EU, except United Kingdom, all charge 1.0 Euro.

Lets have a look at an example. I perform a small translation and charge a minimum fee of 20 Euro. 3.4 % of 20 Euro is 0.68 Euro, plus flat fee of 0.35 Euro. Add cross boarder fee of 1%, which is 0.20 Euro. So, of my 20 Euros PayPal takes 1.20 Euros. In addition comes fee of 0.50 CHF for withdrawing money to my regular bank account.

If agency sent me a check instead of using PayPal, my bank would charge 7.50 CHF (4.80 Euros) for cashing check for me. Each bank has its own fees for cashing checks and receiving wire transfers. But for smaller amounts PayPal is definitely cheapest way of accepting payment. You will have to do a small calculation and see how large amounts you can receive before PayPal fees exceed fees your bank charges.

But is it safe?

Most freelance translators using this way of receiving payment are satisfied with service and have had no problem with PayPal. I have only heard of one-two translators having their accounts frozen by PayPal for no legitimate reason.

Some negative aspects of PayPal

If Your PR Can’t Do This, Bag It!

As a business, non-profit or association manager, why continue a public relations effort that doesn’t deliver key external audience behaviors you need to achieve your department, division or subsidiary objectives?

Time for a change. One that will base your PR effort on a fundamental premise that makes sense. And one that actually leads to outside audience behaviors like these: new proposals for joint ventures or strategic alliances, prospective buyers browsing your services or products, specifying sources or major donors thinking about you, more frequent repeat purchases or a substantial boost in capital donations.

So, you need two things. One, a really personal involvement with public relations people assigned to your department, division or subsidiary. And two, a new foundation for your PR effort.

A foundation like this: People act on their own perception of facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action very people whose behaviors affect organization most, public relations mission is accomplished.

It will give you a blueprint that will help you persuade your key stakeholders to your way of thinking. In turn, that should move them to take actions that lead to your success as a business, non-profit or association manager.

First and foremost, you need to know how members of your most important external audiences perceive you because those perceptions usually lead to behaviors that can hurt you or help you in achieving your objectives.

So, you and your PR team must list those outside audiences whose behaviors affect your unit most. Then put them in priority order. We’ll use #1 on your list as our target in this article.

Now, you can spend some real money on professional survey counsel, or you and your PR team can do it yourself by interacting with your target audience. Use questions like these to identify opinion, perception problems. “What do you know about our organization? Have you had any kind of contact with us? Was it satis- factory? Do you like our products or services?”