Sending money abroad with Paypal?

shelleywa

eDicky wrote: »

The chances of an online transfer company going bust during the brief period when your money is in their hands, particularly a thriving one such as TransferWise, is extremely slim.

Can you see the GBP/AUD exchange rate that PayPal would give you, in comparison to the interbank rate provided transparently by TransferWise..?

Very true. But it does happen. And it's got to happen to someone

I'm more concerned with total cost (i.e. the hidden ones).

colsten

shelleywa wrote: »

I have seen Transferwise mentioned a few times, they seem pretty good. Do you know if the recipient has to pay any fees to transferwise? Or to their bank - is the money paid into their bank account as local currency or in GBP?

The recipient gets sent, in local currency, an amount that you can see before you instruct Transferwise to send it. The deposit into the recipient's bank account is a transfer in local currency. Unless the bank charges for such deposits, there will be no charges for the recipient.

AnotherJoe

Since £100 is the only liability I really wouldnt be fretting about a compensation scheme the odds are very low as its only for the few hours its in transit and its only £100 anyway.
No hidden costs with PayPal, you choose they get $X and you see what you pay. I would imagine TW is the same. I've used XE before (when they were HiFX) and that worked the same way, you either choose what they receive or what you send and depending, the costs are deducted from sent or received. You could compare suppliers easily. I dont see how there can be hidden costs since you know how much you are sending in £ and what they will receive in $. Nowhere for anything to be hidden unless as said the receiving bak charges but that would be there in the case of any sender.

As said, PP is only for friends and family otherwise it gets more expensive.

PRAISETHESUN

I'd avoid PayPal personally, even if they advertise "no fees", their markup on the exchange rate means you lose a lot in the transaction anyway.

Personally I prefer Transferwise or Revolut - I've used both these services to transfer cash between GBP and AUD accounts in my own name and have yet to have any issues. It's quite unlikely the firms will go bust whilst your transfer is in progress - just don't keep any cash in the intermediary account for any long period of time if that is a concern for you though.

eDicky

shelleywa wrote: »

I'm more concerned with total cost (i.e. the hidden ones).

That's why I asked if you have seen the PayPal exchange rate and compared it to the mid-market rate. Or if you can see how many Aussie dollars PayPal give you for £100 in comparison to what TransferWise offer including their fee, I'm sure it will be much better.

At the other end the money is sent to the recipient's account by domestic transfer from the TransferWise (or other service) local account, in AUD, without fee to receive it.

shelleywa

AnotherJoe wrote: »

As said, PP is only for friends and family otherwise it gets more expensive.

Does that mean it's cheaper if sending to friends and family?

shelleywa

eDicky wrote: »

That's why I asked if you have seen the PayPal exchange rate and compared it to the mid-market rate. Or if you can see how many Aussie dollars PayPal give you for £100 in comparison to what TransferWise offer including their fee, I'm sure it will be much better.

I had a look on PP but it looks like they don't show you the exchange rate unless you have funds in your PP account and start the process of making the transfer. But I'm not going to do that unless I know I definitely want to go ahead with the payment (catch 22 much?:think:)

I did however find this link and think for the sake of a £100 transfer, I will just try Transferwise this time.