Online affiliate income businesses usually offer two or three methods for you to choose how you would like to be paid the online affiliate income you have earned. Most common methods of payment are through internet payment services such as for example PayPal, AlertPay (there are others), by cheque or via their own global cash card system that enables you to withdraw your money from an ATM.

Upon completing your Personal Account Section for each affiliate program that you join, before selecting your choice of payment you need to check that the payment system will allow your online affiliate income to be paid out in your country and most importantly that you are able to withdraw funds from that account.

South Africans for example cannot withdraw their online affiliate income from PayPal (as at August 2007) although you can accept payments into your PayPal account. Sounds crazy doesn`t it? But that`s the way it is. You can make payments from your PayPal account though, which means you could pay for some advertising or make purchases on the internet. You can also send money to someone else too.

Cash card systems allow you to withdraw your funds from your local ATM (automatic teller machine). But be sure to check if these work in your country. The foreign exchange laws vary from country to country and these will to a certain extent control the way you can be paid foreign income. The cash cards operate just like a bank card and you can check your balance and more online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your online affiliate income is paid directly to your card then converted to cash, in your country's currency, instantly. You do have to purchase this card, which is a once-off payment.

The advantages of selecting the online payment processors or cash card systems means your online affiliate income gets paid instantly and do not have to wait for a cheque to come in the post. Some affiliate programs, for example Clickbank, only pay by cheque irrespective of where you live. Although, if you are earning huge Clickbank commissions you can apply to have your funds paid by wire transfer direct into your bank account.

AlertPay for example works globally but not all options are available for some countries. For example to withdraw by wire transfer you need to provide a US bank account number. You can also choose the option to be paid by cheque or transfer the money to e-gold, but then in some countries you cannot withdraw from e-gold either.

Some may only have the option of being paid by cheque. Depending on where you live the cheques will take 1 to 2 weeks to arrive. You then simply go to your bank and complete the appropriate forex form and deposit it into your account. In some countries the first time you deposit a foreign cheque it may take 3 to 6 weeks to clear because the banks actually send the cheque back to the issuing bank for collection, but once you have regular cheques coming in then they will be cleared a day or so after you deposit them. The fees for requesting payment by cheque are slightly higher than the other systems.

Banks charges levied on foreign cheque deposits do seem to vary from bank to bank, some charge per cheque others charge a percentage of the value of the cheque, so depending on the way your bank charges it may be beneficial to look for an option in your affiliate program account section to enable you to accumulate your commissions and then set a threshold of say $100 before they issue and post a cheque to you.

Follow the above guidelines when looking for an online affiliate income business to ensure that the payment options available allow you to get paid and withdraw your online affiliate income.