Checks (or Cheques if you are from the UK) are a long established way of paying someone, but most people don't know how they work. Modern technology has changed the process quite a lot, but for most people, getting a check is not as convenient as being paid through PAYPAL. So what is the process and why do some big companies still use them? So you've received a check from Amazon and you take it to your bank. The check has several pieces of information on it that the bank will look at. The 2 most important pieces are the Routing Number (or Branch number in some countries) and the Account Number. The name of the person receiving the check is not so important and it is only seen once, by the cashier you give the check to. After that everything is done by machine. A few years ago, all the checks would have been collected at the end of the day, the information read electronically and each check would have been returned to the originating bank in whichever country it came from. The originating bank would then confirm whether Amazon had enough money in it's account to pay you and then send the check back to your bank with instructions to release your money, otherwise known as Clearing the Check. These days, copies of the checks ("Substitute Checks") are sent electronically between the banks which speeds up the process a lot, but further simplification can be difficult because banks in different countries use different electronic systems which can't talk to each other, so sometimes a check still has to go around the world twice so you can get your money. So why use such an old fashioned, inefficient system? That depends on which country you live in. Some countries don't have PayPal and companies like Amazon would probably rather stick with 1 payment system that works for everyone and avoid the complication of having to administer multiple systems and in the case of Amazon, PayPal is owned by Google and they would prefer not to use something owned by a competitor.
it depends on bank and their policies.I am from india,when i get checks from adsense it takes 22 days time for me to clear it.When you are from Uk why dont you use wire transfer?