Payment methods when Buying from Germany/Austria

Wig

I am buying something from Austria, payment methods listed are wire transfer/ bank direct debit.

In Germany (and I guess Austria) it is the norm for people to use payment via their banks (they are far more sensible than us relying on expensive paypal). This seller does not list paypal.

So my question is what methods and their respective admin costs (to me) would be available to me? e.g. Western Union, postal order, Barclays bank transfer etc the amount is likely to be between £30 - £50.

Does anyone know if an Austrian bank will accept a French cheque (in Euros) without levying a charge on the payee?

Dave_Brooker

Wig wrote: »

I am buying something from Austria, payment methods listed are wire transfer/ bank direct debit.

In Germany (and I guess Austria) it is the norm for people to use payment via their banks (they are far more sensible than us relying on expensive paypal). This seller does not list paypal.

So my question is what methods and their respective admin costs (to me) would be available to me? e.g. Western Union, postal order, Barclays bank transfer etc the amount is likely to be between £30 - £50.

Does anyone know if an Austrian bank will accept a French cheque (in Euros) without levying a charge on the payee?

German sellers and buyers almost all use bank transfer.

I doubt your bank will charge too much and it will keep the seller happy.

soolin

Most of the High Street banks will charge you between £7-£12 for a bank transfer from a sterling account to a Euro account and this has been a great hinderance to me as I sell something in the UK that I usually source in Germany. When this question has been asked before there were some other suggestions made, but I know there was arguments about costs and safety which is why I never went ahead.

It doesn't help you I know, but luckily paypal is becoming much more widely used in Germany now, so i can now buy fairly easily. However, I'm sure someone will be along shortly with some better advice for you about sterling to euro payments.

sconieroany

I am in the same boat, just bought an item this evening and dropped by this forum for advice, I take it moneybookers is no use, as the funds need transfered to a bank account in Germany, I am with the Royal Bank Of Scotland, so I will ask them in the morning, it's that or send Euros in a thick envelope and hope they arrive !!!

Dave_Brooker

sconieroany wrote: »

I am in the same boat, just bought an item this evening and dropped by this forum for advice, I take it moneybookers is no use, as the funds need transfered to a bank account in Germany, I am with the Royal Bank Of Scotland, so I will ask them in the morning, it's that or send Euros in a thick envelope and hope they arrive !!!

There used to be a chap in Germany who you could paypal funds to and he's (for a %) transfer the funds into the bank account of the relevent German seller, it was a quick and reliable service.

I found him via the ebay boards, this was a few years ago and I don't know if he's still at it.

Dave_Brooker

soolin wrote: »

Most of the High Street banks will charge you between £7-£12 for a bank transfer from a sterling account to a Euro account and this has been a great hinderance to me as I sell something in the UK that I usually source in Germany. When this question has been asked before there were some other suggestions made, but I know there was arguments about costs and safety which is why I never went ahead.

It doesn't help you I know, but luckily paypal is becoming much more widely used in Germany now, so i can now buy fairly easily. However, I'm sure someone will be along shortly with some better advice for you about sterling to euro payments.

Anyone used these guys?

https://auctionchex.com/index.php?ap=home&at=minfo

Wig

Dave_Brooker wrote: »

Anyone used these guys?

https://auctionchex.com/index.php?ap=home&at=minfo

Interesting,

I pay £2.50 fee
plus 2.5% for same currency transaction (because I deny them the possibility to charge me on an exchange rate)
plus 3.5% because I pay them by paypal

So for a £60 purchase

£2.50
£1.50
£2.10

Total = £6.10 Still a heck of a lot just to pay someone.

Looking further at their website, I see that it is possible to send them a cheque thus negating the paypal fee and the same currency fee, but they will then charge the exchange rate fee which I have calculated at about 8.5%....so it's cheaper to pay by paypal in the currency of the destination.

They do appear to have good customer support in their forum
http://www.itsfree4u.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=2

Wig

I see a post office moneygram cost £12 :eek: for upto £100 transfer.

Western union costs £12 fee for upto £50, £14 fee for upto £100 and they then stick you for exchange rates on top of that! - costing you another 6% !!!

Barclays want £20 (plus delivery bank fees)
Halifax want £17.50 (plus delivery bank fees)
Lloyds Economy International Moneymover £10. (Payment amounts are restricted to pre-defined value limits depending upon the country of destination - whatever that means)
Natwest offer the EIM for £10 or a draft for £8 (upto £100)
And you can bet your bottom dollar that the banks will also charge an exchange rate commision. My question for Barclays tommorrow.... Why don't you offer the EIM?

Suddenly auctionchex appears to be cheap.

sconieroany

Looks like cash in an envelope then......Doohh

Dave_Brooker

Wig wrote: »

Interesting,

I pay £2.50 fee
plus 2.5% for same currency transaction (because I deny them the possibility to charge me on an exchange rate)
plus 3.5% because I pay them by paypal

So for a £60 purchase

£2.50
£1.50
£2.10

Total = £6.10 Still a heck of a lot just to pay someone.

They were never going to do it for nothing...

digerati

Wig wrote: »

I am buying something from Austria, payment methods listed are wire transfer/ bank direct debit... This seller does not list paypal... Does anyone know if an Austrian bank will accept a French cheque (in Euros) without levying a charge on the payee?

An Austrian bank will levy quite high charges to accept a French cheque (or any paper-based method of payment issued on a non-AustroGerman bank). Instead I suggest the following:

Login to your French bank's website and choose bank transfer (Transfert bancaire), select international and enter the recipient's BIC + IBAN details. For bank charges (Frais à la charge du) you should select Shared charges (Frais partagés). It's very quick - normally payments between France and the rest of the EU only take one to two business days at most.

Use the eBay auction number as a reference to help the seller match your details with the sale.

Hope this helps! :-)