Payoneer has announced that it is helping direct selling industry leaders to pay their international distributors.
Affiliate Payments across International Borders
Affiliate marketing is quickly becoming a major component of present-day eCommerce. Companies like Amazon, Google and Yahoo operate vast international networks of linked merchants powering a dynamic income-producing machine for its participants. Such networks are not, however, limited to industry giants. Hundreds of independent networks like buy.at, Media Whiz, Convert2Media and Media Shakers also help to drive traffic to affiliated merchants. Unfortunately, current online payment systems – particularly in underdeveloped countries – can make it difficult to pay affiliate commissions.
What exactly is affiliate marketing?
Before discussing affiliate payments, it’s a good idea to define the basic meaning of affiliate marketing. According to Wikipedia, “Affiliate Marketing is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts.” More simply, a merchant joins a program that allows other sites to drive traffic to his own. The mechanism that drives customers can be a display or banner add, or simply a link. When a potential customer follows a link to your site and purchases a product, then the referring affiliate (and the network) receives a commission. Because of the prolific nature of small business throughout the world, it is important to note that a large number of referring affiliates are actually individuals.
How do referring affiliates get paid?
How referring affiliates get paid has a lot to do with which country the affiliate is operating from. For all referrals, however, the first step is generally the same. Affiliate networks are responsible for charging the “selling merchant” and paying the referring affiliate, moving the funds, and providing an accurate accounting. Referring affiliates must therefore provide some type of depository account. In the US, a checking (DDA) account is the most common depository account. Depending on the affiliate network, referring affiliates may choose to be paid in an intermediary account like PayPal. Those funds, however, must eventually be “swept” into some type of checking account. Because the US has a relatively well developed banking system, transferring funds within the country is generally efficient. This is accomplished by using the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system, which is also responsible for clearing checks.
Problems surrounding international affiliate payments
Unfortunately, not every country enjoys a sophisticated ACH system. In fact, with the exception of systems in the US, the UK and some EU members, international payment infrastructures are generally lacking. This makes international payments to affiliates a fairly inefficient and cumbersome process. What’s more, affiliate commission payments within many underdeveloped or third-world countries can be difficult if not impossible. In addition to infrastructure issues, there are a number of other issues surrounding international payments to referring affiliates:
Payoneer Online Affiliate Payment Solutions
Payoneer is a simple and powerful affiliate online payment distribution solution. Since 2005 our industry specific solutions have securely delivered millions of payments to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Utilizing the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard®, we enable hundreds of affiliate programs to affordably deliver compensation to their referring partners. We service companies of all sizes, and cater to the following affiliate related industries:
Why is Payoneer ideal for companies paying affiliates?
The payoneer solution is perfect for companies and networks needing to pay affiliate commissions at home and abroad. Our systems provide a comprehensive end-to-end online payment solution that incorporates registration, issuance, funding and reporting. We can even co-brand prepaid cards to your specifications. Extensive fraud controls protect payers and payees alike. Our integrated approach gives companies unparalleled visibility and control over the entire payment process -- from loading cards to stopping payment on fraudulent transactions. And because we leverage the sophisticated MasterCard system, our online payment distribution solutions are faster and more cost effective than traditional funding methods.
Why is Payoneer ideal for referral affiliates?
There are a lot of reasons why referral affiliates will prefer to be paid on their Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard. Simply put, our prepaid card is the most convenient and liquid payment instrument available. No bank account or credit check is required – payees can avoid annoying trips to the bank (if there is one). Referral affiliates have access to their funds as soon as the card has been loaded. They can retrieve hard cash from over one million ATMs worldwide. They can also use their card as an instant capital source, using it to purchase goods and services needed to run their businesses. In addition, affiliates can also be paid for referrals from other networks using the Payoneer solution. Until spent or withdrawn, all funds reside in the US, thereby simplifying tax planning. What’s best is that affiliates receive all these benefits at virtually no cost.
The best available solution:
Perfect for companies, and ideal for referral affiliates, the Payoneer solution represents the fastest and most efficient worldwide payments distribution platform available. Payoneer allows its users to avoid the cost, complexity and delays of traditional banking systems and eliminates the need for intermediate payment providers. Utilizing the prepaid MasterCard card, Payoneer provides companies with a highly functional payment management system, while offering affiliates a compensation option with unmatched liquidity.
