Receiving money from abroad

innovate

The ECB rates are here - can't see a Taiwanese dollar on it, though, doesn't seem to be one of their "reference" rates. No idea how the Euro rates for "non-reference currencies" are established

If Moneybookers orient themselves on Euro rates, presumably you'd be subjected to a double exchange rate charge - first from Taiwanese Dollar to Euro, then € to £? I somehow can't quite believe that they transfer everything first into Euros, and then into the target category...... Mind you, I am doing some business with China (mainland) at times, and we always agree on a price in USD, which I then pay in GBP (into a UK bank, where my Chinese business contact has a GBP account). I have never looked in detail into the exchange side of this because I judge things based on whether I think I pay a reasonable amount of GBP for things I get from my Chinese business partner

If there's a double currency conversion involved with Moneybookers, a 2% charge by Citibank for direct TWD -> GBP conversion might not be so unattractive, after all?

If I were you, I would ask both, Moneybookers and Citibank (and whoever else you might consider) for a 'quote' for transferring the same amount on the same day, to get a better idea on how they compare.

Please post back what you conclude, it will no doubt be of use for others (incl myself may be) at some stage


NB - you can actually call Moneybookers a little cheaper via one of those prefix-providers. I have some credit with Teletop (which I found via Martin's international call checker), and through them it's currently 9p/min (+5p connection charge) to call Moneybookers on 0044 709 204 2000 (but the other two Moneybookers numbers don't work via Teletop). There might be even cheaper ones out there.....