How to Get Paid by Overseas Students as an Online ESL Teacher

Processing international payments is one of the biggest challenges for online teachers. Overseas students may not be familiar with or even able to access payment methods popular in your country. And that’s not to mention the cost of international transaction fees…

To make things simpler and more affordable, you should instead consider a more professional business payment platform or multi-currency account. These often have additional benefits such as automated invoicing or enabling customers to sign up for subscription payments too.

Let’s learn about some popular international payment options for online ESL teachers worldwide:

Best for receiving payments worldwide (including China): Stripe

Stripe is one of the most popular business payment platforms. A major advantage is its support for 125+ different payment methods, including WeChat Pay and Alipay (for Chinese students), Apple Pay and Google Pay (for mobile payments), and all major bank cards worldwide.

It also includes:

Invoicing and receipts
Payment links for selling products / services on a dedicated payment page
Recurring payments / subscriptions
Integration with popular booking / scheduling / eCommerce platforms
Customer portals for billing management
Automated VAT / sales tax calculations

However, Stripe isn’t available to teachers in all countries. If Stripe is not available to you, here are a few alternative options (particularly for processing payments from China, which the other methods mentioned in this guide do not support):

Scenario 1: You are in a Stripe supported country, but do not have access to the WeChat integration for *invoice* payments.

WeChat pay is not available as an invoice payment method for businesses based in all countries. However, WeChat pay and/ or AliPay may still be listed as available for website payments. This scenario particularly applies to teachers in Canada or Europe.
If you are in this situation, there are a few alternative options:
– Use Stripe payment links;
– Set up website payments (e.g. using this WooCommerce add-on for WordPress sites) and integrate Stripe;
– Use a third party website payment system such as PriceBlocks to generate a simple product payment page without needing your own website.
– Use a third party booking system such as SuperTeacher, which integrates with Stripe.

Scenario 2: You are in a Stripe supported country, but do not have any access to WeChat or AliPay payments

In this scenario, you have two options:
– Use Stripe invoices to accept card payments. Parents can pay via compatible credit cards (including UnionPay), although they may need their bank to approve international payments.
– Use one of the Stripe alternatives listed in scenario 3 below.

Scenario 3: Stripe is not available at all in your country

If you are having issues setting up Stripe or it is not available in your country, you may wish to look into the following Stripe alternatives:
– Airwallex: open a local CNY virtual account to receive money with Zero fees, or set up payment links for customers to make payments directly. Eligibility criteria depend on your country, but usually they accept both registered businesses and individual teachers.
– SilkPay: accept WeChat pay, Alipay and Union Pay payments (and you can link to WooCommerce to accept payments on your website using EggPlant Digital).
– HantePay: receive payments from WeChat pay, Alipay or UnionPay cards direct to your USD bank account. They seem to be targeting businesses in North America, but teachers in other countries have reported success registering if they have a virtual USB account (e.g. via Wise or Payoneer).
– SnapPay: accept WeChat pay, Alipay and Union Pay payments on your website (for North American businesses only).
– PayPal: only really suitable as a back-up option, since it is unable to accept WeChat or Alipay payments and charges higher fees, but parents can pay invoices via supported credit cards.
– Koala Go: excellent online teaching platform which includes an invoicing system to request payments from students anywhere in the world (including integrating with WeChat pay for Chinese customers).
– SuperTeacher: excellent integrated class payment and booking system for independent teachers, allowing you to fully automate sales and scheduling. Includes support for WeChat Pay and Alipay, as well as class packages, recurring subscriptions, group classes, self-paced courses, and more.
– Switch to an online tutoring marketplace platform such as italki, Preply, Cambly or Outschool (these will all take a significant percentage and place you in competition with other tutors on their platform, but simplify the payment and scheduling aspects).
– Bank transfer: Although wire transfers don’t have the best fees and can require a lot of paperwork in China, this is also an option which would work. Simply send the customer your bank details (you may need special numbers for international payments, e.g. an IBAN number).

Easiest to set up: PayPal

An easy option for many new online ESL teachers is PayPal. This is available to self-employed businesses in most countries worldwide, including the USA, UK, EU, Philippines, South Africa, and more.

The process for creating an account is very straightforward, enabling you to get set up and receiving payments within a few days.

PayPal supports a wide range of useful business features, similar to Stripe. However, do be aware that the fees tend to be slightly higher and the exchange rates tend to be a few percent under the market rate.

Best multicurrency account for receiving payments cheaply like a local: Wise

If you’re looking to reduce transaction fees, a multicurrency account such as Wise is the cheapest approach. Wise allows you to set up virtual bank accounts in other countries, into which students can pay via domestic bank transfer (usually free). You can then exchange funds into your home currency for very affordable fees (usually around 0.5%).

A Wise business account also includes basic payment request and accountancy features. However, it doesn’t support the range of features specialist payment platforms offer (recurring subscriptions, invoicing, third party integrations, etc). If you’re just starting out though, Wise is a great budget option.

Best marketplace integrations: Payoneer

A bit of a cross between Stripe and Wise, Payoneer is another popular online business payment platform. It allows you to create virtual bank accounts for various currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, and JPY, to receive money like a local. Additionally, you can send professional invoices or set up a simple online store.

However, what really makes Payoneer stand out is its integration with popular marketplace platforms like Preply, italki, AmazingTalker, Fiverr, and Upwork, as well as many online ESL companies such as PalFish, Native Camp, Engoo, and LingoAce (so you may already have a Payoneer account ready to go). Additionally, it is one of the few online payment systems which supports teachers located in regions such as Ukraine or Morocco.

This being said though, Payoneer does have quite high (and not very transparent) fees, including an annual account fee. Some teachers also report frustrations with payouts or customer service communications.

Best for agencies: Airwallex

Airwallex is a specialist multicurrency business account, designed for online businesses processing higher volumes of international payments. Unlike Wise, it also supports a wider range of payment methods (including local wallets such as WeChat Pay for China), as well as more professional invoicing tools and accountancy integrations. Of particular interest to agencies is Airwallex’s support for mass payouts, enabling you to pay teachers more easily and cheaply.

However, the monthly account fee is prohibitive for smaller businesses and individual teachers.

Conclusion

Depending on your country of residence, your students’ currencies, your budget, and ease of use, the best payment platform for you may vary. It is also worth setting up at least one back-up payment option, just in case of unexpected issues. If you’re just starting out, for most teachers a combination of Stripe, PayPal, and / or Wise is a good combination.