right, I’ve come across a problem that paypal does not allow it’s users in ukraine/russia to receive money, only to send (pay for stuff), as can be seen from this list:
so seems to be a russian tutor you must indeed be outside of russia? doesn’t really make sense? After doing some quick research seems there are sites that convert money from paypal to webmoney- a paypal-like system used in ukraine/russia.
so my question is to the russian tutors- is this the method you use?
No, I am from Russia. I just receive my tutoring salary as points at LingQ.
Юрий, чему вы удивляетесь? Эта система называется “ниппель”, она работает исключительно в одну сторону. В России вообще люди уже лет сто работают за очки, палочки, рубли и всякую такую лабуду.
Виктор- вы если хотите работайте “за палочки” 
yess I think I found a decent site that can be used for paypal->webmoney transfers
the exchange rate is “bad” though at 1->0.83 and the minimal commision per transfer is 20usd (so if you transfer 21usd you get 1usd) so it only makes sense to transfer every 3-4 months to get something semi-decent. Still better than nothing.
Кстати, вы за газ нам заплатили? А то скоро Новый Год и все такое…
so yeah, seems the aforementioned website is the best way to go, though there is little difference in cost between it and western union. (I am willing to accept the 20$+ transfer fee as a deduction of my pay), However again the best way to do this then would be to receive payement not once but every 3-4 months that way the transfer loss is minimal, though what has me worried then is lingq’s system which destroys points every 90 days or so - is this also active for tutors?
You cannot transfer your LingQ points into PayPal. When you send an invoice to Kindrey, you choose whether you like to receive it as LingQ points, or money at PayPal. You can send an invoice once a month, or even once 3 months, it does not matter.
At the moment, you are paid in points or through Paypal. In the future, points will be paid automatically whenever you tutor. At that time, points will still expire after 90 days so you will have to use or convert your points before they expire.
yeah I understand that is the “status quo” but lingq has to be more flexible than this- otherwise how can tutors in russia, ukraine, or the myriad of other places where paypal is “send only” expect to be paid?
These are issues that we may address one day, but not in the immediate future.
mm it is sad that I will be prevented from being a tutor on lingq because of such a fixable issue. mm in an hour I’ll give my scheduled group conversation but will cease my activities because of this. Sad that after devoting many hours of conversation the admins can’t be bothered with a 5 minute visit to a website.
The ‘admins’ consist of Mark and me, and we have learned through experience that everything that seems to be quite straight forward and easy to do, ends up taking up a long time, and often the benefits are not worth it.
We just have to resist the temptation to chase down every specific request for a specific solution to help out one or two users. It is unfortunate. We simply have to stay with solutions that work for most people.
I have enjoyed our discussions and hope that in the future we can find some solution that works.
Yuriy, we’re sorry to lose you but we can’t afford to set up another payment system for one member. Steve has said we may address it one day but at the moment we quite simply can not do this for you.
okay, as soon as this “future” arrives be sure to email me and I’ll be back in a jiffy
nvm figured out an unofficial workaround- if it works I’ll be very happy (don’t ask how as it’s a secret)
will stay on for now, but you guys really should configure lingq to work with at least checks or western union in the near future
Yuriy, did you ever tried to take a lesson of polite English?
I don’t think it is appropriate to state your request in a such ultimative manner.
PayPal always was unfriendly to their clients from Russia/ex-USSR, for some reasons. But formally, when you registered at PayPal, you read (or you should did it) all online agreement documents. I’m sure, there was a link to “approved-signup-countries-outside”. So PayPal “sincerely” wonder if you was surprised by that sadly fact…
I don’t see a reason to blame LingQ team in such circumstances. You have PayPal account - LingQ pays. You only can ask to provide another payment option for a future, but nobody must react as fast as possible.
It is only my opinion, don’t take it as an offence.
hi Niksa! I do apologize if my posts seemed rude or “ultimative”, I respect the lingq staff and especially Steve Kaufmann. While yeah I was at first somewhat disgruntled about this issue since even the lingq tutors guide said “We normally pay through Paypal.”, implying that there are other possible modes of payement. I am now exploring several workarounds around this issue.
Yuriy, I am just a little curious, why you are the best?
“PayPal always was unfriendly to their clients from Russia/ex-USSR, for some reasons”. I wonder what their reasons really are?
I have tried buying books from Russian online shops and had to give up because it seems that in Russia and the UK banks operate completely differently. I couldn’t find any form of transaction that would work from a UK bank to a Paypal one. Similarly the German banking system is different from that in the UK. Germans can arrange electronic funds transfers very easily, whereas for us it is fiendishly difficult. When I started as a LingQ tutor I assumed that it would be similarly awkward to arrange payments from Canada to the UK, and was surprised to be assured that it was perfectly straightforward. Even the currency conversion isn’t a problem with Paypal. With many other systems, as Yuriy has discovered, the exchange rate is quite punitive.
This must be a lot more frustrating for you than me Yuriy! What do other Russians do - or don’t people generally try to do international transactions?