Big Money Wine – How Side Hustlers Can Get Paid Online from The Caribbean

How does a person get paid online? So, let’s say you set up your online side hustle, and you get your first client. BAM, you charge them a lil small change to make a logo. They decide that they love your work, so they hit you a little lagniappe of $20, so now you have $120US coming to you. You happy like pappy until you realize…wait, you are not sure how you’re getting this money into the country.  What sorts of payment methods exist for online work in Trinidad and Tobago, for example?  Well, there are at least two that we’ve found to work for a few locals (me included) who operate as online freelancers.

Payment Methods
1.         PayPal
While it’s not the best option that online workers have, it is reliable for companies based in the US to send money. Unfortunately, PayPal doesn’t work with many cards for withdrawal. Experience has taught us that JMMB’s Visa Debit Card is the only option that works to withdraw PayPal funds to T&T.  There have been reports of others, but those are yet unconfirmed.

2.         Payoneer
A less-known system of payment is Payoneer. Payoneer functions like a bank account in that you can receive money from a company directly to a Payoneer account registered to your name. Payoneer even offers a card you can apply for once you’ve crossed $100 in income in the account. Aside from that, you can also transfer money from Payoneer into T&T directly to a local bank account (although you can’t transfer money out of T&T to Payoneer.) Payoneer works internally, as well, giving clients the option to pay you through the internal system if they can.

Which Is Better?
Payoneer’s system allows for flexibility since you can use the card anywhere in the world to withdraw local currency there. However, it’s more challenging to get clients to pay into the system, and Payoneer doesn’t allow for bank transfers from individuals, only from business accounts. PayPal is recognized worldwide, making it a safer option for many clients. Requiring a bank account to receive payments is the only catch.

So how do you start getting these jobs anyway? The next article will cover a favourite of ours: landing online writing and editing jobs.