Amazon now offers EFT payment to UK & EU authors for Amazon.com sales

[avantman42]

Authors in the UK and EU now have the option of getting their Amazon.com royalties paid direct to their bank account via EFT, instead of getting a cheque.

From https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help

KDP updates royalty payment options for UK and EU

We are pleased to announce Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) has new payment options available. You can update your account starting today for royalty payments to be made in April, 2013. Your account preferences can be set to receive royalty payments electronically across all marketplaces in British pounds or Euros. In order to be paid by Direct Deposit, your bank account will need to be located in the United Kingdom or in Europe.

It’s easy to make updates to your account information and payment preferences at any time.

Visit your KDP Account page now.

Best Regards,
The Kindle Direct Publishing Team

[HarryT]

That's good. I think Amazon are the only people who still send me cheques! They're getting pretty rare these days - I know I haven't written one for about two years.

[gmw]

No sign of Australia on that list yet.

[Mike L]

It's amazing that this should be news. Electronic funds transfer (aka direct deposit or bank transfer) has been the norm among businesses for many years now. It's hard to believe that Amazon has only just realised that.

Mike

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Mike L

It's amazing that this should be news. Electronic funds transfer (aka direct deposit or bank transfer) has been the norm among businesses for many years now. It's hard to believe that Amazon has only just realised that.

More common in Europe I think? Many businesses in the US still use paper checks for a lot of transactions.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

More common in Europe I think? Many businesses in the US still use paper checks for a lot of transactions.

Yes, I believe many people in the US still pay bills by cheque? "Direct Debit" (the company withdrawing money directly from the customer's bank account) has almost entirely replaced it in the UK. Generally companies give you a discount for paying by DD, because it's a lot easier for them, too.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, I believe many people in the US still pay bills by cheque? "Direct Debit" (the company withdrawing money directly from the customer's bank account) has almost entirely replaced it in the UK. Generally companies give you a discount for paying by DD, because it's a lot easier for them, too.

I think it's more common here for private consumers to pay electronically than for businesses to. At least in my experience. I personally pay all of my bills except one electronically, but none of them give a discount for doing so and one charges a small extra fee to do so.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I think it's more common here for private consumers to pay electronically than for businesses to. At least in my experience. I personally pay all of my bills except one electronically, but none of them give a discount for doing so and one charges a small extra fee to do so.

But is that with you having to actually manually make the transfer via your online banking account? The point about Direct Debit is that the customer doesn't trigger the transfer - the company does. The customer doesn't need to do anything at all, after authorising the DD agreement in the first place. As far as I know, the US banking system doesn't have any equivalent of Direct Debit, as far as I'm aware.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But is that with you having to actually manually make the transfer via your online banking account? The point about Direct Debit is that the customer doesn't trigger the transfer - the company does. The customer doesn't need to do anything at all, after authorising the DD agreement in the first place. As far as I know, the US banking system doesn't have any equivalent of Direct Debit, as far as I'm aware.

With most vendors you can setup payment either way. Either I can go to their website and pay each month telling them to take the money from my bank account or it can be setup in the manner you call "Direct Debit" although they call it something different. That's been around for many years.

EDIT: I guess the direct debit term does get used some times, but the term I was thing of was ACH (Automated Clearing House) which is the overall system used. This system is also what's used when companies offer direct deposit of employee paychecks.

[ApK]

I haven't personally written a check in long while, but my wife still writes one or two a month. Sometimes because she has to, sometimes because she resists the electronic payment system for some inexplicable reason.

I've always gotten my Amazon/Smashwords/ebay/etc payments electronically, but lately, I enjoy when someone writes me a check, because I get to deposit it instantly from my smartphone, and that still amuses me.

[cathalmc]

Good news - that'll save a few pennies on paying the cheque into a UK bank. I found Natwest charged the least, think it was £5 per cheque.

[HarryT]

Yes, I've had some cheques from Amazon which werent worth paying in - the charges would have been more than the amount.

[dworth]

Ah, this is excellent news! Especially since Natwest seem to have upped their charges to about 10% for foreign currency cheques.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dworth

Ah, this is excellent news! Especially since Natwest seem to have upped their charges to about 10% for foreign currency cheques.

Yes, I really wish they'd pay British authors in Pounds. Make life a lot easier for us that way.

[mr ploppy]

I like getting a cheque from Amazon, it makes it more real.

So they are paying dollar accounts in pounds now? That would be more useful, but it doesn't say what their conversion rates are?