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Most economical method of Payment in Euros from the US
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Seller in Europe wants payment in Euros; doesn't have a Paypal account. What's the most economical method of sending funds into their IBAN account? (Wire transfer fees here are ~$40)
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Tell him you will pay him in Euros via Paypal.
even if he does not have a PP account, he can then transfer the amount to any bank in Euros.
You can also do this directly via paypal to his bank in Europe.
But, was the auction or the buy in Euros?
check it out...
I just paid an auctioneer in Europe via paypal in euros. he got euros NET while I paid in CAN Dollars.
Not an auction house, and they doesn't use Paypal
I've sent money to a UK account using TransferWise (https://transferwise.com/), which was reasonable and efficient. They also do EUR transfers.
Virtus Collection - Renaissance and Baroque Medals
Another option is to purchase euro denominated AMEX travelers checks. Or get cash at the bank and send registered.
I hope you trust this guy....
Not sure if it is am option, but if his bank has a US branch maybe they would accept a deposit to his acct?
I lived overseas at one time and it is easier to do money transfers over there than it is here.
I had to use Western Union once to pay for a coin in Germany. I don't remember what the fee was.
Depends on the amount of the transaction but I've done yen and euros out of my bank account and into theirs via wire transfers. Some of the overseas places will allow paypal for a 3-5% surcharge. Depending on the amount it was either worth it or not to eat the fees. That said, my dollars were converted to their currency easily enough in the wire transfer process.
Never heard of transferwise, but if @Iosephus recommends it I'd look into that too. @YQQ I didn't know you could use paypal to deposit into their bank account. I'll have to look into that. My credit union is lovely but trying to pull that off over the phone is a pain in the rear. Probably worth my time in a per hour basis to do it that way.
edited to add: so that what Xoom for is on paypal. Looks easy. Easier than using my credit union directly, and I can use money IN my bank account to avoid a cash advance fee from my CC. Which is no different than sending a wire. Transferwise looks interesting and flexible. Those Estonians. So resourceful. I'm tempted except Paypal already has my 'documents'. Not sure I want to upload to yet another place. But I generally dislike paypal.
I bought a catalog from a dealer in Spain who didn't have PayPal (and refused to set one up) - so I also used TransferWise and it worked very smoothly. You attach to a bank account here in the US, the dealer had payment in 3 days in EUROS and then quickly shipped the catalog.
Fees from TransferWise were almost nil, as my credit union wanted $80 for a Wire Transfer (wire transfers are notoriously outrageous - at least for anything of value less than multiple thousands of $).
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My sets: [280+ horse coins] :: [France Sowers] :: [Colorful world copper] :: [Beautiful world coins]
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Thank you to those who have recommended Transferwise. It seems to be the best solution.
Interesting information to know, thank you all for sharing !!!
Sometimes I dont understand seller who wants to sell worldwide, but refuse to use something easy to let the people pay them.....I use Paypal as seller, I am in germany....you can add what ever currency to your account and I only pay arround 2 $ each time I transfer to my bank account.
AMEX travelers checks ?????
try and find some.... and then find someone who still accepts them.... they do not know anymore what that is...
Eric,
German dealers etc are some of the worst in embracing something new like PP regardless of convenience. until recently, and still now, they wanted to cash in on it and charge a hefty fee for accepting CC or PP.
There are only a small handful who recently saw and recognized the opportunity.
3 weeks ago I had to push hard to get a dealer / auctioneer in DUS to set up so my PP payment will go directly to his account NET in Euro! It was a trial and error and they still added their "banking fee" of 25 Euro. It took them years to accept CC because they were afraid it would cut in to their incredibly extreme high mark-ups. and now this thing called paypal, "well lets see how we can get more euros out of our clients" without compromising our "comfortably soft" cushion.
I agree with the comments above regarding transferwise. It is by far the most convenient way to send foreign funds, you get a better rate than other services such as paypal, and there's no need to worry about the typical upcharges from the dealer/auction house for using paypal/credit cards.
I've been using transferwise for a little over a year now and sent over 80 transfers, and sometimes your funds will be there in a matter of minutes (though in general it takes a few days).
Jeremy Bostwick
For exceptional works of medallic art, check out our current inventory at Numismagram!
No doubt they aren't as popular as they used to be, and I know that in Europe checks in general are far less common than in the US. But I assume you can still deposit a check in a German bank?
In the US you can get travelers checks at many banks, and at AAA (car) offices. While overseas you can easily cash them at any AMEX office (assuming there is one in a particular city).
In Germnay, and I think in the rest of Europe too.....they dont use cheques anymore....
I wanted once to put a cheque in US $ to my bank....the fee was horroble! think it was 20 $ for a 50 $ cheque.
SO I send it to a friend in the US and he send me by Paypal.
I'm curious...are you talking about the Paypal Xoom or regular Paypal? (looks like that is a deposit into their bank account like any other wire), Are the recipients able to see it's paypal charge more? I was thinking (from reading PayPal) it would take money from my linked account and transfer to their account without me having to deal with my credit union on the phone for a wire transfer. There'd be no credit card involved and it's account to account.
I have done that for a friend as well. It is far easier to deposit a US check into a US bank and then settle up via PP or cash.
I lived in Germany some years ago. I got 10 checks with my bank account and only ever used one to pay a travel agent. I don't think I ever deposited any checks into my account.
Of course, when I did electronic transfers by filling out the paper slip and dropping it off at the bank I guess that was sort of like a check.
I hadn't heard of xoom before, @Stork, but I just looked into it, and it appears to be the same type of service. They would take your money from your bank account, send it to their corresponding bank account in the destination country, then that bank would pay your seller, so the seller gets the right amount and doesn't feel the need (as is often the case in Europe) to add an additional fee to cover it.
Looking at xoom's fee structure though, I have to say the transferwise still looks better. Xoom charges a similar nominal fee to send the money, but also shaves you a little bit on the foreign exchange. Transferwise is much better about that, and you get a more accurate exchange. For example, I just sent a €437 wire to Belgium. Transferwise's fee: $3.95; xoom's fee would be: $13.75.
Jeremy Bostwick
For exceptional works of medallic art, check out our current inventory at Numismagram!
Got it. Either is way better than a regular wire (paying the paypal fees pretty much for anything over $450 or so), but maybe I should suck it up and make a Transferwise account next time I go crazy with SixBid auctions.
How long did it take to set up an account with Transferwise?
It took a minute to set up - really easy. And seller got the deposit into their bank within hours.
Another thumbs up for Transferwise. Just completed my payment for the recent Czech auction wins within minutes with fees that are definitely lower than PayPal. I'll probably use that for US-to-Canada payments, as well.
Do it!
8 Reales Madness Collection
good for you.
my experience was actually ok on the end.
BUT my transfer was for several K and they kept my $$$ for a few days until they dep it to the German sellers acct.
it is cheaper than PP but has longer delays. AND... I can not use $$ I have on Acct with PP.
My way out if all else fails is my Acct with a bank in Germany for many years.
Yeah, sounds like different experiences. My transfer was under $2K Euro and it took about 2 seconds to get to the auctioneer.
8 Reales Madness Collection