Sending USD to China

SimonFromNZ

Hi all,
I'm a business owner and need to send money to China. My supplier requires me to pay him in USD.
What solution do you recommend? Is there anything that I should be aware of. My bank asks me £35 for the wire!

DCFC79

SimonFromNZ said:

Hi all,
I'm a business owner and need to send money to China. My supplier requires me to pay him in USD.
What solution do you recommend? Is there anything that I should be aware of. My bank asks me £35 for the wire!

Have you paid the supplier before ?

SimonFromNZ

No it's the first time

colsten

Transferwise?

Fineco?

SimonFromNZ

Yes I have heard they are good. Do you know how they compare?
Also is a payment protection usually needed? Supplier looks legit but it's hard to know

colsten

I have used Transferwise numerous times, albeit not for payments to China, and not from a business account. They are not part of any protection scheme. Fast & reliable, good customer support.

Fineco used to operate under the EU passporting scheme and had the italian equivalent to £85K FSCS protection. They obviously still have this italian protection but don't ask me how it applies now after Brexit. They still have a temporary FCA authorisation but still no FSCS protection. I have never used Fineco for money transfers myself but my other dealings with them were ok. They are very 'italian', to the extent that some of their communicvation and explanations are in italian but they can usually be deciphered. I would probably not fancy a claim against the italian deposit protection scheme, though, because of language difficulties.

SimonFromNZ

Interesting, and do you know how they compare to Paypal? 

colsten

I don't. It never occurred to me to use Paypal for money transfers. For pure exchange rates/costs, you can use one of the many currency transfer comparison sites (assuming Paypal do service China).

SimonFromNZ

Thank you this is helpful! They do offer it but from what I have seen they are a lot more expensive. 
Do you know if it's standard for Chinese companies to ask to be paid in USD? 

eskbanker

colsten said:

some of their communicvation and explanations are in italian

Seemingly it's not just them who are inspired by the ancient Romans?

CKhalvashi

USD in China is a common currency, as for many parts of the world. In Ukraine for example, we are one of few companies that have everything set up in Euro, many base prices on USD.

I'd use Transferwise simply because I know the company. No there won't be payment protection in the sense you mean, however if the company seem legit and are open to answering questions, I don't see a problem. I've had many slow deliveries/responses with Chinese companies, but never been completely ignored or not received goods as supplied.