[Dry Martini]

I am buying headphones from a person in Germany for the first time and am in an unfamiliar situation. He asked for about 80 euros so I went to the bank and sent out 80 euros via international wire transfer. It costed me about $35 as a sender which was not a problem. The only problem is that the German seller emailed me today saying he only received 56 euros. So I went to the bank right away, and they showed me exactly 80 euros were taken out of my account to be sent.

One thing I am guessing is that there is a fee for receiving international wire transfer, so the German bank took out 24 euros out of my 80 euros? That's almost as high as the fee applied to the sender

People at the bank today thought it was too high as well. Is there anyone who had bought phones from a distant country and have experience in international wire transfer? Are the numbers that are showing up not as confusing? Thanks in advance.

This is undoubtly one of the best forums! and sorry for my wallet

 

[TMC]

There is certainly a receiving fee for bank transfer which is usually about as much as the sending fee. I must say it's a rather high a fee in your case, last time I did a transfer from Europe to the US it was about $20 on each side.

 

[Dani]

Hi Dry Martini!
I live and sometimes buy in Europe. When I make a wire transfer at my bank , there is a place in a form asking who pays transfer costs. 3 possibilities are:
a) sender
b) receiver
c) both (sender in his bank, receiver in his bank)

To enable the receiver to receive the full amount (80 €), you should state that you (sender) pay both costs ( in sending and in receiving bank).

The costs you mentioned sound realy too high too me, but it happens. Sometimes costs consist of a fixed amount per transfer + percentage of amount you are sending. Fixed amount is sometimes high and for small transfers (like yor 80€) they can be extreme in relation to amount you are sending.
Within Europe there are cheaper ways to transfer money, but I guess it does not help you much in USA.

Bye, Dani.

 

[DRuM]

I'd change banks if I were you. You'd think they would at least advise you of the receiving fee, especially when you went back to query it.

 

[RunsWithScissors]

I'm exploring a deal between USA (me) and New Zealand. I'm told that International Money Transfer will cost NZ$25 (approx $16USD) and my bank advised me that a fee of $10USD will be charged to receive the wire transfer.

Hope that gives you some idea of charges.

I'm still trying to figure out how to completely avoid Customs charges and if there are any, who is responsible for paying them. It appears that in the case of New Zealand Customs, no charges are applied if the value of the item is declared below $50. I can also declare it as a 'gift' but the value must still be below NZ$110 (if I read all this stuff correctly on the NZ Customs web site).

 

[greenhorn]

For such amounts I would definitely use cash well conceived in a registered envelope.

 

[edstrelow]

I use Paypal on international E-bay purchases. Ther is no charge to the sender and Paypal claims to be able to send money to any one with an e-mail address.

 

[Rob N]

When I have sent a bank transfer the bank has asked whether I want to pay all the clearing fees (including any fees that the receiving bank may charge) or not

 

[ffocus11]

I would recommend PayPal too - quick and easy!

 

[augustwest]

I too have used "Pay Pal" when buying outside the USA, or sometimes I use a credit card if it is not a private transaction. A while back I think I also may have used a international money order.

- augustwest

 

[warubozu]

If you did the wire transfer thru your bank, you might have asked the bank teller to put a currency exchange rate lock on the amount you transfered on that day. It is possible that the difference in the amount you transfered and the amount that the seller received is a result of the currency exchange rate fluctuating from the time transfer was made till the time the seller had actually gone to the bank to pick up his money. Putting an exchange rate lock at the time you are making the wire transfer will ensure that the 80 EUROS you sent based on that day's exchange rate won't fluctuate the next day when the sellers goes to pick up his money. I put an exchange rate lock on all my foreign wire transfers whether it's made from my bank or thru Western Union as I had a similar incident like you are having before I realized what was going on.

 

[Dry Martini]

Today the seller in Germany emailed me and confirmed that the bank did charge 24 euros for receiving, dang it. But this means I won't make the same mistake again. I definately would have prefered paypal, but not a lot of people in germany seem to be familiar with it. Seems like 24 euros in a registered mail will go to the post office tomorrow. Anyways, thanks guys for the generous help.

 

[greenhorn]

It's rather difficult for Europeans to open and use a paypal account. Plenty of strange requirements to be fulfilled. I wanted to open one some time ago but I finally gave up. For payments within the EU I am using bank transfers (it costs about 2-4 euros) and for payment to the US I use International Money Orders (from the Post Office - it costs 10 - 15 euros). For small amounts: cash in a (registered) letter.

 

[Rob N]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenhorn It's rather difficult for Europeans to open and use a paypal account. Plenty of strange requirements to be fulfilled. I wanted to open one some time ago but I finally gave up. For payments within the EU I am using bank transfers (it costs about 2-4 euros) and for payment to the US I use International Money Orders (from the Post Office - it costs 10 - 15 euros). For small amounts: cash in a (registered) letter.

What are the strange requirements?
In the UK I had no difficulty opening and using a Paypal account

 

[Luke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob N What are the strange requirements? In the UK I had no difficulty opening and using a Paypal account

I'm in the US, and I've bought and sold lots of things in the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Italy, Swizerland, Netherlands, even Hungary and Belarus (ex USSR), and they all paid or I paid them by paypal, piece of cake. I can even keep funds in multiple currencies in my paypal account, as in BPs, Euros, Yen, USD, whatever. Just yesterday a guy in Italy bought a CD from me. He paid me within 60 secs via paypal. Ten minutes later, his CD was in the mail, AIRMAIL.