Best way for Indian freelancers to receive international payments? (PayPal fees are brutal)
Been doing freelance dev work for foreign clients for a while, and PayPal's fees + forex markup are eating a real chunk out of every payment before it even lands in my bank account.
Just set up a Payoneer account but haven't run an actual payment through it yet, so I don't have a real sense of what it'll cost once conversion + withdrawal fees are factored in.
For those of you getting paid directly by international clients (not through Upwork/Fiverr), what are you actually using, and what's it really been like:
- Total fees (platform + conversion + withdrawal)
- How long it actually takes to land in your Indian bank account
- Any GST / FIRC / compliance headaches
- How annoying setup was
Curious if Wise, Payoneer, or something else (Skydo, direct SWIFT wire, etc.) has worked best for you. Trying to figure out what's actually worth switching to before my next invoice goes out.