Welcome to the already third part of my blog series on how Amazon Associates receives checks and get them redeemed in Republic of Georgia.
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of Amazon Associates program are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia by a bank check is a blog series I originally made at the end of 2014 / start of 2015 while struggling to redeem my first bank check issued by Amazon,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.