Payment methods when Buying from Germany/Austria

Wig

sconieroany wrote: »

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

I have just been informed of the option to send auctionchex Euro cash in an envelope so the fee will only be £2.50 They are based in Liverpool.

Tirian

Wig wrote: »

I have just been informed of the option to send auctionchex Euro cash in an envelope so the fee will only be £2.50 They are based in Liverpool.

Feel free to tell me what I'm missing here, but if you're going to send Euros in an envelope then why send it to Auctionchex? Just send it straight to the seller!

Wig

It has shorter distance to travel, first class will be delivered next working day. Less likely to go missing. It appears you can trust auctionchex (they seem to be an honest bunch). RD and SD would both be cheaper to a UK address than an EEC address....although the extra £2.50 might be better spent on a recorded delivery to Austria....again something to be considered.

You cannot trust all sellers no matter how nice they seem.

Tirian

Auctionchex are trustworthy, but you're still relying on the seller's trustworthiness to actually send the goods whichever way you do it. Auctionchex don't offer any cover, all they do is send the money to a specified bank account.

SD is irrelevant, as it the insurance doesn't cover cash so you may as well just do RD if that's what you're sending.

Also, the quicker delivery time within UK compared to sending the cash direct to the seller will be cancelled out by the time it takes the transfer to be processed - it's not immediate.

As for less likely to go missing, I wouldn't be so sure. Nothing I've sent abroad has so far gone missing - whereas numerous items I've sent within the UK have. With the exception of Italy, whose postal service is shocking and extremely dodgy, I would say most European countries have faster and safer postal services than the UK.

Wig

Your points in order:
It would be possible to file an EU small claims against seller, in the event of non delivery. The trustworthyness was about the sendee admitting the money had arrived - an EU recorded delivery would somewhat solve this problem - as I said before.

SD is not irrelevant as it guarantees next day delivery by 9 am (IIRC) which could be seen as important.

The quicker delivery was only mentioned for the less likelyhood of it going missing. Not for the seller recieving funds - the 2 methods would probably take the same time.

The time and distance of delivery to EU would by it's very nature increase the chance of it going missing. Yes we have scum working for Royal Mail here but both delivery addresses would involve the Royal Mail sorting offices.

Dave_Brooker

Wig wrote: »

Your points in order:
It would be possible to file an EU small claims against seller, in the event of non delivery.

I've been led to believe that it's almost impossible to do that, even taking people in Scotland to the SCC apppears to be impossible?

Tirian

Wig wrote: »

It would be possible to file an EU small claims against seller, in the event of non delivery. The trustworthyness was about the sendee admitting the money had arrived - an EU recorded delivery would somewhat solve this problem - as I said before.

Good luck with EU SCC if you ever attempt it ... I don't fancy your chances. If you're dealing with a scammer, then I doubt your chances of getting your money back will be very much different whether you pay by cash in post, or by bank transfer (which is what Auctionchex effectively is).

As for cash going missing in the post, I'm not convinced by your assumption that there is a correlation between length of time in the postal system / distance travelled by post and the likelihood of it going missing. I'd be interested to see evidence of that.

Back on topic, whenever I've used Auctionchex I've sent the money by UK bank transfer.

Wig

Tirian wrote: »

As for cash going missing in the post, I'm not convinced by your assumption that there is a correlation between length of time in the postal system / distance travelled by post and the likelihood of it going missing. I'd be interested to see evidence of that.

Just as you made a sweeping statement about how secure European post (except Italian) is compared to ours with no evidence. You also ignored the fact that both methods have to go through a UK sorting office.

Back on topic, whenever I've used Auctionchex I've sent the money by UK bank transfer.

You miss the point of this thread - to save money - it is cheaper to not allow auctionchex to do the exchange rate conversion. Within this thread I am exploring *all* options (no matter how hair brained they may seem at first) to see which one comes out top.

Dave_Brooker

Wig wrote: »

You miss the point of this thread - to save money - it is cheaper to not allow auctionchex to do the exchange rate conversion. Within this thread I am exploring *all* options (no matter how hair brained they may seem at first) to see which one comes out top.

If the fees are only £6 or so, why risk sending cash in the post when you can make the payment from your computer?

Wig

Indeed, but it is still an option to be considered. Which is the purpose of this thread.

I might point out that post #23 which Tirian took issue with was me replying to sconieroany who had aleady concluded that cash in the post was the best method. I was merely pointing out to sconieroany that s/he could send the cash in euros direct to auctionchex and have it transferred for a fee of £2.50 It was another option for sconierony to consider. Perhaps sconieroany lives in Liverpool and could even walk into auctionchex's office.