Electronic payments from the ROI

Mistral001

I sometimes do some work for a firm in the Republic of Ireland. Up to now I have been paid through Paypal as the sums are quite small (about £100 each time). Paypal charge about 3.5% plus currency conversion charge. However, the sums have gotten larger recently and I am considering getting payments by electronic bank transfer. The firm I deal with does not want to use cheques.

My bank (Northern) charge £6 flat rate fee plus currency conversion charge for accepting electronic payments. The flat rate fee is not charged when it is received from the Northern’s sister bank in the South. The firm I deal with is not with the Northern's sister bank, so I will have to pay the £6.00 if I accept money this way. The fee is charged over and above currency conversion fees which is also the case with Paypal. I have calculated that it becomes cheaper to go for the Northern electronic transfer rather than use Paypal where the amount being transferred is greater than £171. Bank transfer has advantages as it means only one transaction, rather than the two (ROI firm to Paypal and Paypal to my Bank) with paypal.


Does anybody know of any ways of transferring money electronically more efficiently than the ways I have outlined above?

Mistral001

ashleyingle wrote: »

If possible, let the payment build up and make bulkier transfers through bank or currency broker.

Thanks for your response. The firm I work with wants regular invoicing and to be honest, i want it as well as I do not want to be exposed for too long.

There is an option from paypal to keep an account in Euros so if I spend money in the Eurozone using my Pay[pal account, I presume I do not get charged exchange commission. This is one option, but I cannot think of anything I want to buy in Euros. Are there items that people can buy in the Eurozone and get them shipped here cheaper than buying in the UK? It might be worth investigating this on Ebay.

bigsy

Is it possible for you to open an account with National Irish Bank, get paid in € into that, and then transfer the money across the border to your Northern Bank account to avoid the £6 fee?

Mistral001

bigsy wrote: »

Is it possible for you to open an account with National Irish Bank, get paid in € into that, and then transfer the money across the border to your Northern Bank account to avoid the £6 fee?

The short answer is no. But thanks for the suggestion.

DesG

Are you a sole trader rather than a Ltd co?

Is so, maybe look at getting Citibank stg & euro accounts you can receive the euro payments into your euro account for free, and then transfer money between accounts at just the conversion rate (couple of % ).

Do a search on here for citibank euro for previous threads.

There was some issues with them charging for sending euro SEPA payments, not sure if that is resolved yet, but doesn't apply to your usage as outlined above.

Cheers, Des.

DesG

Oh, and they don't do Faster Payments on the STG account last time I checked, grrr.