How participants of Amazon Associates program are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia by a bank check is a blog series I originally made at the end of 2014 / start of 2015 while struggling to redeem my first bank check issued by Amazon,
Although it's still technically possible to withdraw bank checks in Georgia, at the end of 2016, I flew to the US and opened a bank account there, see: How To Open A Bank Account in the U.S., As A Non-resident Non - citizen, Wells Fargo Bank
For complete series of my adventures while living in Georgia with Georgian banks and checks from Amazon, please see:
- How Amazon Affiliates get paid in the Republic of Georgia - Part 1
- How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 2
- How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 3 - Waiting 40 Working Days
- How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees
I created the first post of this series at the start of November 2014. Back then my earnings for August, September, and October has reached $486.00 and I was looking for ways to get paid.
Prior that I did set up a minimum threshold of $450.00 on Amazon Associates before processing the payment - because I'm aware of bank commission fees.
Direct deposit is not an option right now for me, because I'm not a holder of US bank account, neither I'm a US citizen. I'm left with two options - gift card or check.
The first check from Amazon was issued at the end of December (December 27, 2014) - I received it via snail mail here in Georgia on January 28, when I created a second post of this series.
After a struggle with a few local Georgian banks, I felt pretty happy that I believed I have found my new best bank in Georgia - the Bank Republic, which offered to redeem my check in two weeks. I processed my check to the Bank Republic on January 29 and started to wait when money will be actually transferred to my bank account.
Once in a day I logged to my new internet bank - but found just 0.00 there. OK, I understand I must wait, it's not a problem for me, but I decided - I could contact my bank and ask a simple question - what is the current status of this check.
Hello! I have a question regarding a check processing, I submitted at your bank at late January (29).What is the status of this operation? Thank you for looking into this!
Unfortunate - answer (which came few hours delayed) was something from league of my previous experience dealing with other Georgian banks:
Hello Mr. Reinis, We have received your message on info@republic.ge. 37,50 Gel is charge for opening account. So, you have payed this fee for one year.
At this moment I started to regret that I decided to deal with this bank at all, because as you can see - the answer is not anyhow related to question, but I tried one more time, took my phone, made a snapshot of the current order issued by this bank attached to mail and sent another message:
For some reason your internet bank message system works very poorly, so I'm sending you reply here: Hello, my question is not about 37.5 GEL. but about a status of a bank check (please see attached current order) What is the status of this check, when I could see incoming money on my account for this transfer? Please - look into this and call me back,
After some hour I got a reply:
Mr. Reinis, Sorry for misunderstanding. Bank check amount will be received on your account during 40 working days. We will inform you about this.
Well, 40 working days are not 2 weeks, right? But at least it's some answer.
