Payout Methods

Most sites offer a choice of methods by which members are paid. The minimum "cash-out" level is dictated to some extent by the method used.

Although a very low minimum payout level will be popular with your members, bear in mind that you will need to spend more time on pay runs. On the other hand, don't set the redemption levels too high, or you may find yourself a little strapped for cash should lots of members decide to cash-out at the same time!

The most common payout methods are shown below, along with their advantages and disadvantages:

Paypal

This long-established third-party payment processor allows the site owner to transfer cash from his/her account to the member's account, for free in most cases. You should consider this method as your primary one, as most people can receive cash this way. A minimum payout of $5 is a good average figure.

You will need to open a Business Account with Paypal, so that you can accept online payments via the Advertisement Manager plug-in.

For a small fee, you can pay a number of members all at once, using a facility called Mass Pay. This is a big time saver when it comes to payout runs (more later). STOP PRESS: Paypal now charge people to receive funds, unless they are paid by Mass Pay.

Paypal's biggest disadvantage is the complexity of the fee structure – check the site for the latest details.

e-gold

This unusual payment system relies on the transference of gold ownership between users. The electronic currency is backed at all times by "gold bullion in allocated storage". This method is popular with US GPT sites, and should be considered as an option if you are going to be running your site from that country.

Fees: spending e-gold is free. The method of determining receipt fees is complicated – see the web site for details.

Moneybookers

A UK-based, international online payment system, favored by many UK based advertisers and PTR site members.

At the time of writing, Moneybookers has over 4.8 million account holders, and offers local currency payments in over 30 countries. The list of online retailers who accept payments from them grows longer by the day. Definitely one to watch for the future.

Fees: Send Money 1% (up to €0.50), receive money FREE.

Alert Pay

This company has a good reputation, and has a reasonable fee structure (currently 2.5% + 0.25 per transaction). It is becoming very popular with PTR site owners and members, and it looks as though they could give Paypal a good run for their money in the coming years.

If you are managing a Paid to Read site under your business name, you will need the Business Account. Mass Pay is also available, for sending out payments of a similar amount to many members at one time.

Amazon Gift Certificates

Because Amazon are well respected, and have a large product range, their gift certificates have proven to be popular as a method of payment. Members love them, because they can redeem them for just about anything they want on the Amazon site, and they cost nothing to receive.

You should offer your members certificates in increments, for argument's sake $10, $15, $20 etc. To save time and effort, you can order several certificates of the same value simultaneously via the online order from, which saves you a lot of time when many members cash out all at once.

Check/Cheque

Yuk! This method is rather more popular with members than it is with site owners, simply because issuing them is a time-consuming business (writing them, enclosing a compliments slip, addressing the envelope, purchasing stamps, and posting the darn things).

They are only really practical for a restricted membership site i.e. one that serves a single country only, because your members will be drawing the cash from a bank in your own territory (checks cashed outside your own country may incur prohibitive bank charges).

Because of all these disadvantages, you should ensure that the payment level is reasonably high (say $15 or $20) to make the option worthwhile. In the online age, they are a complete anachronism, but it seems that we are stuck with them unless the online payment processors reduce their fees considerably...

The Redemptions Page

Some members may prefer to redeem their earnings for advertisements rather than cash. You simply set the cost of the ads on the Advertisement Manager page, when you are setting up the paid ad packages, and the options and prices will automatically appear on the members' redemption pages.

Cash Crusader has facilities for separating the various redemption options into groups, to make display of available types easier to read for the members. If you are going to be setting up a large number of options, this facility is vital to keep the page looking neat and uncluttered.

You can also choose to give members with different membership types differing cash-out options: you might for example, want to give Gold, Silver and Bronze affiliates the ability to cash out whenever they want, whatever their account balance.

It is always a good idea to offer discounts on ad redemptions, especially rotating ads, to encourage more members to spend their accrued cash.

You can also offer non-cash items, such as small gifts (pen sets, watches, fluffy pandas), upgraded memberships (Bronze, Silver and Gold accounts for example, which carry a higher referral bonus rate), or anything else you can think of that members might like to receive.

NEXT: Referral Levels