Mars Woo left a comment on my earlier post about Malaysians getting their Adsense payouts via Western Union:

Hey, I’m a Philippine publisher and I also received an invitation from Google to try Western Union this morning. Hmmmm. I think publishers should be wary of this because Western Union has a payout limit. I’m having second thoughts also because Western Union is very strict. You have to produce two valid IDs, fill up information sheets yadah yadah.

But one good thing to consider is that those who are invited to try the Western Union payout will not be charged for the service at this time. Hmmmm. Any thoughts?

I checked my AdSense account and the Western Union option is not yet available. However, in the tips section, you will see this: “TIP. If you have selected to receive payments by Western Union Quick Cash, we recommend that you check the amount of your upcoming payment to ensure that it is not over the Western Union payout limitation. Learn more.”

Clicking on the link will get you to a page with an error message — “Oops! This feature isn’t available yet. Please stay tuned — it’s coming soon, and we’ll be sure to let you know when it’s available to you.”

My thoughts? I think this is a good option considering that we still have postal delivery problems and secure delivery via DHL is a bit expensive ($24). It would have been better if Google will shoulder the remittance fees via Western Union. In any case if a publisher is earning between $100 to $300 a month, the $16 fee is still cheaper and faster (2 days!).

However, Mars is right about Western Union having a money transfer limitation in the Philippines. The maximum you can receive is $2,000 at a time (per day) or its Philippine Peso equivalent. Now, that already disqualifies me.

Note: profile removed as per request by Mars Mosqueda.

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