Third Party Payments
Introduction
These screens allow you to pay someone who doesn't have an SWREG account. Usually this will be one of your affiliates or marketing partners.
There are two main screens - one where you set up information on the people to be paid, and a second where you create payments (in batches)
Set Up Payees
This screen lists your payees (people to pay). If this is the first time you have used this system, no-one will be listed there.
To create a new payee, use the line which has a button 'New Payee'. Choose a unique reference name (if you are using SWREG affiliate tracking and this person is one of your affiliates, it is recommended that you use their existing affiliate id). Enter their email address, and select a payment method (these are the same payment methods by which we pay vendors, so please refer to the documentation on the 'Author Details' screen for details of the different types). Finally, hit 'New Payee' and the payee is created.
Once a payee is on the system, you need to enter the details of where to send a cheque, or which bank account number to pay into, etc. etc. Select a payee and hit 'Update Details'. The screen that follows will prompt you for the information required to fulfill that individual payment method. For example if your doing a UK BACS (interbank) transfer, we need to know the bank account number, the bank branch sort code, and the name of the account holder. If we are to post them a cheque, we need to know the full postal address and the name to put on the cheque, etc.
If you have set up your own payment details before on SWREG, these set-up screens will be familiar. They are the same as the screens you see in the 'Author Details' area when setting up your own payment details. Please ensure that the information is complete - required fields are in red.
To change a payees payment method, select the new payment method in the front-end screen before hitting 'Update Details'. (Remember you will also need to enter the new information as each payment method requires different information).
Batch Payment
You pay payees not individually but in batches. The batch payment screen has two halves.
In the upper portion, you can create an individual payment. This is quite simple - type in an amount (in US Dollars on the usd server, in GBP or Euro on the gbp and euro servers) select the payee from the drop-down list, and add any comments you wish to make against the transaction in the comments box. Then hit 'Add to Batch' and the payment is created.
In the lower portion of the same screen you can see these payments listed. These are not yet on the system to 'go' but are held until you decide to release the batch. To release the batch for payment press the button marked 'Release Batch for Payment'.
Once a batch has been released it will be moved from this screen and will appear as a list of transactions on your main 'Payments' report. Payments to third parties are distinguished by the 'Payee' field being marked in blue. As with payments to you, a payment has two possible status's - 'Paid' and 'Not Yet Sent'. The former means that SWREG have extracted the payment information & the cash is (or will be soon) on its way. 'Not Yet Sent' means that the payment is still in your account (as it were).
Payments to third parties are normally sent by us at the same time as vendor payments, on a Tuesday morning. If a payment remains as 'Not yet Sent' beyond the following Tuesday it is probably because the system couldn't understand the payment information you provided for that payee - please re-check this.
Fees
These are as follows:
Per batch:
- USD 10.00 on the usd server, EUR 10.00 and GBP 6.50 on the euro & gbp servers respectively.
Per Payment:
- ACH, BACS, PayPal are USD / EUR 1.00 on the usd / euro servers, GBP 0.65 on the gbp server.
- Wire Transfers are changed as follows:
On the gbp server, the fee is GBP 13.00 for transfers in USD, and GBP 10.00 for any other currency.
On the usd / euro servers, the fee is USD / EUR 20.00 for transfers in USD, and 16.00 for any other currency.
- Citibank Local Cheques are charged as follows:
On the gbp server the fee is GBP 2.50
On the usd / euro servers fee is USD / EUR 4.00
Stopping a Payment
To remove a payment from a batch prior to release, use the 'Delete' button against the appropriate record in the lower portion of the 'Batch Payment' screen .
To remove a transaction from a batch after it has been released but has status 'Not yet Sent', use the 'Delete' button against the batch in your main Payments history 'View Transactions' report.
If a transaction has been released and has status of 'Paid', you will need to contact the SWREG administrators for help. There is a $30 fee to stop any cheque provided it has not yet been cashed (guaranteed). A $15 fee to attempt to stop any wire, ACH or BACS payment (no guarantees with these).