When a direct deposit for non-US authors will even be available?

Calling all non-US authors to bump up!

We are currently losing 3.07% on payments with Payoneer. If the direct deposit option is made available, we can reduce the forex fees to around 1%.

Udemy has been planning to implement this feature for many years. But when asked about the update, there is no clear answer.

A question to Udemy: Do you have a plan to allow direct deposits for non-US authors?

Non-US authors: I request each of you to ask this question, as this affects all.

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Comments

HofmeyrdeVo128

I'm actually not sure that this will be entirely possible for everyone. In my country we have a central bank(we call it the SARB, or South African Reserve Bank) that handles cross border payments, and they have a very tight grip on this. I have to declare my Payoneer account on a yearly basis with them, and suspect that I'm going to do the same with each and every transaction coming from Udemy as a payment is made.
That said, Payoneer is expensive yes, but were getting very good service from them here. They do what they say, transfers are painless and timely, and I have no plans moving away from them, even if direct deposits become a thing. Compared to PayPal, that took me three months of struggle just to vet my account, I'll choose Payoneer every time.

ba0708

It will never happen. I think it's pretty much an open secret that Udemy has a kickback deal with at least Payoneer. They probably split the profit. The excuse has always been legal complexity, but pretty much every other platform has offered this for years and years. There are many companies out there that handle this, so it's just a bad excuse for ripping off international instructors. Udemy doesn't get enough heat from it, so a few posts per year on a community forum versus the millions they rack in… it actually makes sense from a business perspective, but I do hate Udemy for it. It would be much more respectful to earn money from the revenue share model than taking people hostage through payout fees.

DerekSmith

We've been asking for this for ever. It's possible for non-US citizens to have a US bank account and there is no reason (technical, legal, ethical, …) not to use them for payments.

The only reason that makes sense is that Udemy gets a nice kickback. This has never been denied.

SergeyK

I would love a direct deposit to a bank account feature! Commissions and currency conversion fees pile up to a good amount by the end of the year.

This month I had a technical issue with Payoneer which took more than a month to resolve :(. As a result I went back to PayPal.

I really don't want any third-party company in the middle.

If direct deposit is possible, I would love to use it instead.

KarolyNyisztor

Definitely! We need alternatives to PayPal and Payoneer. It's unfair they get 3%+ of our hard-earned money.
There are better options out there, both in terms of speed and fees.

WowFactorConcept

I am also struggling to get an idea about how should I approach Payoneer from the fiscal perspective in my country, and I think a direct deposit to my already open banking account of my company would work best for me as well. I am based in Romania.