Make Money While Cruising - List

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

I do know some, both legal and illegal, who accept PayPal payments.

But, how you get paid is not the issue. You would still be working illegally...and thus still potentially fall a foul of the immigration authorities.

And regardless of how you might be paid you are just as likely to attract the notice of the locals who you will be competing against and will be the ones to report you to the authorities.

[Sea Frog]

Originally Posted by Normanby

I was just looking at my PayPal and an ad popped up for the credit card reader thingy. It got me pondering:
Could one 'work' discretely in a country without the appropriate visa, and instead of getting legit wages (and thus falling foul of the immigration authorities) but instead ping one's customer's credit card and have the money in one's home bank account?
Anyone doing it this way?

Nope, you can't do that. You need a merchant account to process real cards belonging to other people, and it is obvious that you won't get one unless you are a legitimate business. But you can get payments by PayPal - however, you won't be able to charge their cards yourself, they (customers) will need to make payment from their paypal account. That would be the easiest way to get paid.

[Normanby]

Interesting.
I do have a merchant account, here in Oz. It says it's multi-currency, but maybe it won't work on foreign cards. Maybe I'll call up an overseas friend and ask if I can ping their card for a dollar, see if it works.
I'll be teaching, English mostly. That ought to help with getting a working visa, but often the wheels of bureaucracy move very slowly. I just wondered if with PayPal I could take shorter-term teaching or tutoring work.
I wouldn't think teaching English would be taking work from locals.

Anyhoo, sounds like no one on CF is doing it that way. Or if they are they're not talking about it, which is probably wise.
i might be the pioneer.


Matt
Compass 28

[Sea Frog]

EDIT. I googled got the reader, it may indeed work, if you have Business or Premier PP accounts. International cards are accepted too. I would give it a try

[tbodine88]

Originally Posted by Normanby

I was just looking at my PayPal and an ad popped up for the credit card reader thingy. It got me pondering:
Could one 'work' discretely in a country without the appropriate visa, and instead of getting legit wages (and thus falling foul of the immigration authorities) but instead ping one's customer's credit card and have the money in one's home bank account?
Anyone doing it this way?

The problem with working with out a permit in another country is often the locals will report you to immigration, just to get you thrown out so they can get the work, regardless of how you get paid.

[hellosailor]

Norman, you don't need a merchant account to use Square or PayPal's card readers. There's no magic there and they encourage personal users for personal transactions.

But all they are, are credit card transaction terminals that plus into a cell phone instead of a landline circuit. Again, no magic there.

Of course since that transaction is going over the cellular data network, and there are tower records, carrier records, and internet routing records all being kept "forever" on those calls, it would also document your illegal transaction forever, if some local tax authority wanted to prove you were working illegally.

Better to take cash if you're trying to stay off the radar.

And, PS, none of the swipe readers works with "all" phones on any OS. You'd need to make sure your phone works with the reader you want.

[Scot McPherson]

Originally Posted by Sea Frog

Nope, you can't do that. You need a merchant account to process real cards belonging to other people, and it is obvious that you won't get one unless you are a legitimate business. But you can get payments by PayPal - however, you won't be able to charge their cards yourself, they (customers) will need to make payment from their paypal account. That would be the easiest way to get paid.

What? There are plenty of business ownership models that don't have anything official to create a legit business...even something as simple as a DBA is enough to get a merchant account, I don't think you even need to do that to be honest.

In the USA, You "can" get your business it's own employer ID, which is then used instead of your social security number, but you don't have to unless you employ someone other than yourself and partners.

[Sea Frog]

Originally Posted by Scot McPherson

What? There are plenty of business ownership models that don't have anything official to create a legit business...even something as simple as a DBA is enough to get a merchant account, I don't think you even need to do that to be honest.

In the USA, You "can" get your business it's own employer ID, which is then used instead of your social security number, but you don't have to unless you employ someone other than yourself and partners.

What I wrote not in any way contradict to what you say. I used words "legitimate business", not "company". DBA is perfectly legitimate. In fact, for last 12 years or so, I have been doing business online and accepting cards payments with 2 merchant accounts, as DBA, without any problems. I love DBA

However, as I wrote above, it seem to be irrelevant with PayPal card reader as they don't seem to require this.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Normanby

Interesting.
I do have a merchant account, here in Oz. It says it's multi-currency, but maybe it won't work on foreign cards. Maybe I'll call up an overseas friend and ask if I can ping their card for a dollar, see if it works.
I'll be teaching, English mostly. That ought to help with getting a working visa, but often the wheels of bureaucracy move very slowly. I just wondered if with PayPal I could take shorter-term teaching or tutoring work.
I wouldn't think teaching English would be taking work from locals.

Anyhoo, sounds like no one on CF is doing it that way. Or if they are they're not talking about it, which is probably wise.
i might be the pioneer.


Matt
Compass 28

I've used a PayPal merchant account and their Virtual Terminal POS app internationally in the past, but only for USA dollar transactions and not in Oz.

Not competing with the locals is less likely to land you in hot water. I know a few who teach English on a volunteer basis (technically still illegal in some countries) and I would be surprised if there are not some doing it for pay under the table.

My stepdaughter, and a number of her friends, teach ESL. Getting work visas has not been a problem for them, but they are accepting full-time jobs with accredited schools, not working on the side. In that case, the in-country employer deals with the visa issues.

[Cormorant]

Here's an interesting article on creating passive income on the web. No easy answers, but a broad guide.

Smart Passive Income: 10 Top Tips From Expert Pat Flynn - Forbes

[the_alpine]

One thing to be aware of with the paypal is if you have 200 transactions OR $20,000 in transactions within a year they will report the income to Uncle Sam.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[frank_f]

Originally Posted by the_alpine

One thing to be aware of with the paypal is if you have 200 transactions OR $20,000 in transactions within a year they will report the income to Uncle Sam.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Aren't you supposed to be reporting your income anyway?!?

What was I thinking?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by the_alpine

One thing to be aware of with the paypal is if you have 200 transactions OR $20,000 in transactions within a year they will report the income to Uncle Sam.

Even if you are not based in the US, don't have a US paypal account and are not a US citizen?

Normanby raised the issue originally and stated he has an Aus Paypal account.

[Normanby]

Originally Posted by the_alpine

One thing to be aware of with the paypal is if you have 200 transactions OR $20,000 in transactions within a year they will report the income to Uncle Sam.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

My Uncle's name is Bob...
I know the IRS has long tentacles, but to date they've generally left us Aussies alone.


Matt
Compass 28

[Normanby]

Just got a discouraging reply from PayPal, to my international transaction enquiry:

Dear Matt,
Thank you for contacting PayPal.
I understand that you would like to know if it’s possible for you to have an Australian PayPal account in UK, can accept payment using foreign credit cards and the fees that will be charge.
You cannot use your Australian PayPal Here to receive payments in UK. One of the PayPal Here feature it has GPS that you can only use this device in one country/region.
If you want to continue receiving payments through PayPal here you need to create a UK Business PayPal account and apply for PayPal here UK.
Here’s how to sign up for a PayPal account:
1. Go to www.paypal.com.au.
2. Click ‘Sign up’ at the top of the page.
3. Select your country or region and your language.
4. Choose the account type you want (Personal, Premier or Business) and click ‘Get Started.’
5. Enter the required information and click ‘Continue.’
6. Check your email for a confirmation email from PayPal (the email might take a few minutes to reach your inbox).
7. Click the confirmation link in the email.
8. Enter your password and click ‘Confirm.’
After you complete the sign up process, you can immediately use your PayPal account to send and receive money.
Once you have applied for ‘Business Account’ in UK PayPal you can apply for PayPal Here in UK. For more information about PayPal Here UK you can contact UK PayPal Customer Support at this number 0800 358 7911 from 8am to 10pm Monday to Friday, from 8am to 9pm on Saturday and from 9am to 9pm on Sunday.

In line with your concern, that you would like to move your balance from Australian Savings account to UK bank account you can do it by bank to bank transfer.
I can see that you have an available balance of USD $136.41 on your PayPal account. Once you have created a UK PayPal account, we can request for your PayPal balance from Australian PayPal account to be transferred to your UK PayPal account.
Thank you for choosing PayPal.

Sincerely,
Heidi
PayPal

Hmmm. All over PayPal's website are words like "international" and "without borders" etc...

"Global" my *rse...