How to choose a cross-border payout provider: the 12 questions a finance lead should ask before signing

Most payout providers look identical on a landing page. They stop looking identical on the twelfth question. Here are the twelve, in the order that has saved customers the most money.

1. Do you show the mid-market rate before I confirm? If the answer involves the word "competitive", the spread is the fee. Storspay: yes, on every screen, with the 2% shown separately.
2. Is the fee one number, or a table? A table means the price depends on things you will discover later. Storspay: 2% all-in on every corridor, both directions; from $5, £4 or €4.50 on USD, GBP and EUR bank payouts.
3. What does "successful" mean? Ask whether the status changes when money leaves you or when it reaches them. Storspay: completed only when the recipient's bank or network has confirmed the credit.
4. Which countries are really live — bank and mobile money? Ask for the list, not the map. Storspay: 26 corridors, mobile money native in 12 of them.
5. What happens above a per-transfer cap? Rejection, manual splitting, or automatic? Storspay: automatic split under one reference and one fee.
6. Can the recipient be paid in dollars, pounds or euros instead? Storspay: yes, to a US, UK or EU bank account from $5, £4 or €4.50, or into a Storspay Account with a Storspay Card.
7. Can I fund in my own currency? Canadian, British and European companies converting to USD first are paying twice. Storspay: fund in USD, CAD, GBP or EUR.
8. Can my customers in those countries pay me back? Storspay: payment requests paid locally, USD credit the same business day.
9. What happens when a payment fails? Where does the money go, how fast, and who tells you. Storspay: the line shows failed with the reason, and the amount is returned to your balance automatically.
10. Does the recipient need to sign up for anything? Every signup is a support ticket and a delay. Storspay: no.
11. Is there an API, and is it the same product? Storspay: Payouts and Platform APIs live; Accounts, Cards & Collections API in sandbox — the same rails the dashboard uses.
12. What are you registered as, and where is that written down? Vague answers here are the biggest red flag. Storspay: registrations and their status are listed on the terms page and updated as each completes.

Print the list and ask every vendor the same twelve. Then put your corridor on the calculator.

Who this is for — and who it is not for

Storspay is for businesses, and a sole trader counts as one. If you are a freelancer or sole proprietor trading in your own name, you open a business account of the sole-trader type. You can be paid by companies abroad, and you can pay other businesses on Storspay — including other sole traders — for work they have done for you.

What Storspay is not is a personal money-transfer service. We do not open personal accounts, and every payment has to be a business transaction: an invoice, a contract, work delivered. Money to family, gifts and personal transfers are not what this is, and we would rather say so now than at verification.