Euro trading and best bank solution

sydneyf

Hi there,

I have been looking online quite a lot but still can't understand what my best option is.

I am launching a startup (Uk Ltd) which will however only trade in Italy.
I have to open a bank account but I'm pretty sure I'll need a euro account as well - most suppliers and all sales will be in euros. Sales are going to be high in number and small in fee.
We will still have some payments in sterling but it's likely to be mainly for the accountant, possibly some marketing, and few items which we cannot get in Italy.

I have looked into euro accounts but it seems that they all ask for really big sums of money to be into your savings or as balance on the account.
The other option is to open a bank account in Italy but I'm not sure if I can open that as I am now a Uk resident (also I'm scared that the crazy italian tax laws will find a way to claim taxes on me personally as I'm still an italian resident). And in this case I'd still get a really bad conversion rate plus charges when I transfer money to my Uk account.

No idea if paypal could be a solution? They however charge on every transaction so it will end up costly.. also I'd still end up having to pay invoices from my sterling account.

What should I do? Anybody been in this situation before? I'm just completely lost at thins point

grumbler

sydneyf wrote: »

..And in this case I'd still get a really bad conversion rate plus charges when I transfer money to my Uk account.

I don't think that conversion rate/charges will be much different from those in UK. Also, bank transfers from a € account in EU are likely to be cheaper than from a € account in UK.

Barclays offer a free € account for personal customers, but you need a business one.

eDicky

If your payments to suppliers and income from sales are both in Italy, it's most likely that you need the account to handle that in Italy (or other eurozone country).

wizzards

For supplier payments you can use for example Transferwise direct to their account which takes care of the exchange rate and is cost effective. For customers one assumes you might also take payments via paypal, Transferwise or even via visa or mastercard.

It really depends if you are running the business from the UK and paying UK tax etc or you run the business from Italy and what Euro customers you are targeting ?

Online direct debit is very comment in Germany and the Netherlands. In Germany, the often preferred online payment is ELV (short for Elektronisches Lastschriftverfahren), an electronic direct debit payment method that’s supported by banks in Germany. In the Netherlands a similar method is the absolute number one. iDeal.
In Russia, not only credit and debit cards are popular, but also Qiwi, a method that lets Russians pay electronically without having to transmit sensitive bank account or credit card numbers over the Internet. Russians also like to pay with Webmoney and Yandex.Money.