Here’s How to Receive Amazon Payments in Your Local Currency and Eliminate Unnecessary Transfer Fees

A 2017 survey of 1,600 Amazon sellers reported that 17% made more than $500,000 per year and 1% whose Amazon payments totaled more than $10 million.

Of course, there are also plenty of sellers who treat Amazon as one of their many sales channels and happily make much smaller amounts at different online marketplaces through different payment methods.

However, because Amazon is not shy about expanding and worries little over short-term profits, no matter how big or small your business is, competition is always a factor. Therefore, sellers are increasing efforts on several fronts to maximize revenues and profit margins.

For example, sellers are using Fulfillment by Amazon, selling private label items, promoting with Amazon sponsored products, and using inventory and repricing software. Sellers operating on Amazon’s international marketplaces also must think about international payment methods as well as how to maximize their profits with respect to pricing their items, minimizing fees when they get paid, when they make payments to their suppliers and ensuring they get paid in their own currency so that they save on exchange and transfer fees.

AMAZON PAYMENTS TO SELLERS

Amazon payments are made to sellers’ accounts every 14 days by either initiating a payment to your bank account, if you have a positive seller account, or charging your credit card, if your account is negative.

Amazon payments are sent to your bank account or payment service account using an Automated Clearing House (ACH) or electronic funds transfer. After your Amazon payments are initiated, the funds typically take 3-5 business days to arrive in your account.

Sellers may also request to receive their Amazon payments more frequently, up to once every 24 hours, if there is no need to hold the funds. If a seller needs to send a refund for an item, the associated sales fees will be credited back to the Amazon seller account.

For bookkeeping purposes, sellers can export settlement and transaction information using the “Download” buttons in their Amazon Payments account.

GLOBAL SELLERS

Sellers from accepted countries can register and start selling on Amazon.com or Amazon’s international marketplaces. These sellers must provide a U.S. checking account or a bank account located in the U.K. or any country in the eurozone (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain), Australia, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong or Canada.

If you have accounts in these countries, you can receive funds in your local currency by using the optional Amazon Currency Converter Service, a highly effective international payment method. If you are a seller from other countries, you cannot receive funds in your local currency. You will have to open an account in the countries listed above and then have those funds transferred to a local account or choose a payment service that can take care of this for you.

INTERNATIONAL PAYMENT METHODS

B2C and B2B global sellers on Amazon can be faced with various types of fees (transfer, exchange, etc.,), depending on their choice of money service.

Whether paying or receiving international payments, fees will be applied at significantly varied rates. If a foreign seller’s account is settled every 14 days, those fees can add up. If you are a seller from a country outside those that Amazon can pay with local currency, you will be paying the bank that receives your funds every time you withdraw money.

If you use those funds to make global purchases, such as a bank transfer to pay an overseas supplier, even more fees will accrue. Choosing different payment methods, such as an international credit card may not be the best option either, as exchange rate fees and interest rates are often quite high. Then of course there are the taxes and regulations that apply in the countries where you operate.

Therefore, unless you carefully manage these margins, the slice of pie from your sales will be leaving you feeling pretty hungry. Your best option is to choose a less expensive, less complicated and safe payment service that is licensed to operate in multiple countries and with multiple currencies.

USING PAYONEER WITH AMAZON

Payoneer offers innovative solutions designed with international eCommerce sellers in mind. As an Amazon seller, Payoneer gives you the option to receive disbursements of your Amazon sales into your Payoneer account and transfer them directly to your local bank in your local currency.

Sellers can also use their collection account balances to make local payments in that currency at no cost to the seller. Plus, transaction fees on international payments are very competitive – upwards of 70% less than bank fees.

Payoneer is available for use in the following marketplaces:

  • Amazon.com (United States)
  • Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom)
  • Amazon.fr (France)
  • Amazon.de (Germany)
  • Amazon.it (Italy)
  • Amazon.es (Spain)

SETTING UP YOUR PAYONEER ACCOUNT THROUGH AMAZON

To start receiving Amazon Payments in your home currency, apply for a Payoneer account in Seller Central. Here’s how to log in:

  1. Choose Settings > Account Info.
  2. Click Add in the Deposit Method section.
  3. Select your home country.
  4. Click Register for Payoneer to apply for a Payoneer account.

If you already have a Payoneer account, or once you receive a Payoneer account, select your Bank Location Country in the dropdown menu on the Deposit Method page, and enter the collection account details that Payoneer provides.

Payoneer makes managing your global Amazon business simple and more cost-effective. Register today and open a local receiving account in USD, GPB, EUR, AUD, MXN, CAD or JPY and send and receive money as if you had your own local bank account.

Grow your online business with Payoneer’s global payment solutions!

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