are US dollars a problem in the UK?
coachleonard
Posts: 995 ✭
I've paid for a number of Great Britain ebay transactions in US cash. For some reason I got the impression that the
attitude of British sellers was 'We love US dollars.' Recently though, a fellow in England let me know that my sending
US cash was an imposition unless i sent extra to cover the expense of his converting the dollars to British currency.
I guess my question is, have I been impositioning British sellers in the past when I've sent US cash to cover just the
cost of the coin and shipping and not extra for the cost of money conversion? I do know that I wasn't thrilled once to
be paid in Euros, so this guy may have a legitimate gripe. Have to admit, I'm kinda dumb when it comes to the whole
international money exchange thing.
attitude of British sellers was 'We love US dollars.' Recently though, a fellow in England let me know that my sending
US cash was an imposition unless i sent extra to cover the expense of his converting the dollars to British currency.
I guess my question is, have I been impositioning British sellers in the past when I've sent US cash to cover just the
cost of the coin and shipping and not extra for the cost of money conversion? I do know that I wasn't thrilled once to
be paid in Euros, so this guy may have a legitimate gripe. Have to admit, I'm kinda dumb when it comes to the whole
international money exchange thing.
0
Comments
09/07/2006
It does save time/money on both ends. If the UK seller only wants payment in Pounds, then you can expect to pay an additional 10-12% to cover his transaction fee to convert USD to Sterling. My wife just made an exchange with the rate at about 1.83 in July. She converted $120 at a major bank and received 59.12 pounds in change. They charged a 2 pound "transaction" fee on top of the usury ...
Web: www.tonyharmer.org
make sure what their requirements are.
<< <i>US cheques are a pain in the UK area as the banks either charge high fees or even refuse to change small cheques. Cash is fine as it is cheap to change ( at your own bank it may even be free ) or it is recycled ( ie used in future payments or kept for future trips across the pond ). >>
US dollars are easily exchanged at a bank, the only issue might be the progressive weakness of the dollar vs GBP, but I guess for the usual amount of money in an ebay transaction that would be negliable.
Paypal is quite universal though, you can choose to send money in USD or GBP. Brits seems far less happy about the 5% fee than Americans though! I guess it is because they live in "rip off Britain"
Dr J
My omnicoin collection (or how my coin photography has progressed)
cost of the coin and shipping and not extra for the cost of money conversion?"
If they say they take cash, and the auction is in US dollars, then they have no reason to complain.
My usual method of acceptable payment is i send the coin/s to the US (i pay the P&P to the US) , the person on the other end sends me the same value in battered silver Washingtons and they pay their end of the p&p. Silver can always be resold and since we both pay our own postage and packaging that cancels out more often than not.
Try this next time a seller complains. You can get bank drafts in most major currencies from here, you can even get actual currency sent to you which you can send to your sellers. Paypal also does currency conversions if the seller lists it as a payment option.
I live in Germany and I have tryed nearly every kind of payment!
1. Cheques (foreign) will be charged by my bank for 5 - 6 $ each!
2. Cash in foreign currency is a good way, the bank fees are not so high
between 0 - 4 $ for each transaction. But here the most bank take no fees when you buy
foreign currency! They charge only when you want to change to Euro again.
My tip is always when you get fx. US $, save them, you can use them next time when you buy something
and want to pay in Cash!
Once I have sold a coin to a guy in Texas and he asked me if I take german currency (before Euro).
I said, sure, no problem! Than I got the mail from him!
I tell you he really payed much for the coin! The send me about 60 Mark in small change up to 1 Mark!
That was a really heavy letter I got! Many older coins. Really crazy!
But al last my way is, you can talk to the seller and find out something! Normaly you will find a good way for both!
Wishes
Eric
I also got once three older 1 pound bills and the bank dont want to change them!
I have sold them at Ebay and guess what! I got more then the value of the bills for them!
Eric
The fiver i got was a George Stephenson one demonetised in September 2003 and it was a rather bad one at that. So i came across a change machine that still accepted them, it had been altered to reject the Dickens £10 notes but the Stephenson fivers it still took, it whipped it out of my hand faster than i could blink and threw a pile of ten pences at me. So no problems there!
Adolf Hitler
Foreign exchange can be a problem for some people. My bank for example will not exchange anything worth under $10. So I can exchange a 10 euro note, but not 2 5 euro notes! Fortunately, there's a currency exchange shop near by with reasonable rates/fees.
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