I’m curious about how other whistle makers and/or dealers handle international transactions.
PayPal works OK for me, assuming the customer’s country has it available, and the customer has an appropriate credit card and is willing to use PayPal. I’ve had several direct bank transfers, but my own bank charges $20 to accept such a payment, and there are sometimes intermediary banks which also take a cut which I have the sad job of passing on to the customer. International checks seem to be sort of difficult. Any and all suggestions welcomed.
Neither a maker nor dealer be I, but what about asking for international postal money orders?
Regards,
Philo
from my experience with ebay, almost any foreign transaction is going to cost extra in some regard. checks and money orders get you a charge to cash them. paypal requires a transaction fee as well (one fee for membership to accept cc transactions, and another if you want your balance in cash). direct bank transfers are the most expensive it seems. converting cash will cost you too.
it’s just a world of cost 
Aren’t American banks outrageous when it comes to wire transfers? A lot of makers prefer wire transfers – Grinter and Swayne come immediately to mind. I went to the bank (actually, it was the second bank I went to; my primary bank doesn’t do international transfers), and it was going to cost $47 to wire $240 to Australia. Fortunately, he accepted a cheque when he learned of my plight.
I told this to some European friends who were aghast – much commerce over there is by transfer, and it’s cheap. I dunno why American banks discourage it. It can’t actually be expensive, otherwise mortgages and other loans wouldn’t require payments by debit.
Rant mode off.
BTW, Lee Marsh (I think) posted the name of a bank a year or two ago that does inexpensive international transfers.
I’m glad you brought this subject up, because it’s something I too will have to deal with at some point in time.
I’ve only shipped one of my whistles overseas (UK), but I didn’t get any education on international monetary transactions since it was a gift.
PayPal is something I’ve considered, but I haven’t seriously looked into all the pros and cons of using it.
Please post your final resolution to the problem when you decide what’s the best available option… you’ll save me a big headache on down the line! 
I use PayPal exclusively. It’s relatively inexpensive, and accepts a number of non-US currencies. Anything that keeps my costs and hassle down, benefits my customers. If I have to work at it, that costs me, and it’s a cost I must pass on. Been there, done that with Australia and wire transfers. I bought a dijeridu via a friend there, and it wound up costing me an extra $40 or so to do the wire transfer. Outrageous! And Never Again. International Reply Coupons (Money Orders) are an alternative for countries that can’t use PayPal. Unfortunately, that’s going to have to be up to the customer. My margin isn’t great enough to play too many games chasing after money.
Hope this helps! 
serpent
Have you ever realized that it takes about 30 seconds to get a credit check done, but that it takes five days for an out-of-state check to clear in the Greatest Country In the World That Is Going To Improve The Rest Of The World, Too? Can you just imagine the sums of money in checks-waiting-to-clear each day? The interest banks earn on it must be staggering. And on top of it, they will treat you like a criminal until proven otherwise if you walk into a bank to open an account. :roll:
I don’t think you’ll find better than PayPal, in a place where people order Pizza and DVD rentals on line but send a stack of checks by mail every month. (And in case you wonder: if you pay your bills “electronically” the bank prints a check and sends it by mail to your payee.) Pass the bottle.
My bank charges a flat $45 for an international wire transfer. I’ve had no problems sending money to England, but the Australian banking system has a different swift code than the US banks and wire transfers to a checking account were not possible. Direct transfer to a credit card account wasn’t a problem at all. I’ve also sent checks from my US based personal account to a pipemaker in Australia and added $30US to cover his banking fees for the transaction.
PayPal. 'nough said!
It’s cheepest and most conveneint for both parties that I’ve found.
I just had to wire money to Australia for a melodeon I’m having made. My bank charged me $50 for an International wire transfer. I did ask the maker about sending a USPS International Money Order but he said he’d had trouble cashing these in Australia. My preference was just to send US$ cash via registered mail (which I’d done before when buying something from Australia) but the maker stated that he thought it was illegal to send cash through the mail… Anyone know if that’s true?
-Brett
True
And the USPS money order isn’t very good either. I was suprised they took my US personal check without any problems.
I use Paypal for most transactions but will accept Money Orders, Travelers Checks. One person (I think in Finland) send me something called a ‘Swiftcheck’ it seemed to be ok.
Calculating Overseas Postage is usually a extra task.
I’ve purchased instruments overseas (Ebay Purchase) using Western Union (Bidpay).
International money orders work best for me. My bank will cash them with no problem. I suppose that is the advantage of living in a small town! Everyone knows who you are and where you live anyway.
If a customer can’t get the international money order or if the fee is too much I will take a personal cheque which the bank is supposed to hold for 2 weeks. Again, they usually let it go but promise to find me if the cheque bounces!
I have also been sent cash by mail and that works fine for me providing the customer is comfortable. One time the cash came from Scotland and the customs people opened the envelope and put the money back.
I just love honest people!
I think the most important thing is for the customer to communicate with the whistle maker if a prefered payment plan is causing them a lot of grief or a huge fee. They may be willing to work out an easier arrangement!
All the best,
Sandy
[ This Message was edited by: Sandy Jasper on 2003-02-27 01:59 ]
I buy Travellers Checks from American Express, $US. It’s almost like cash, but I can mail them just like checks.
Dealing with both makers and private sellers in the US, I send a bank cheque made out to the recipient in $US. It cost me $A20, but on a largish order that’s not all that much. It costs the recipient nothing and he/she can get the cash immediately with no clearance wait. Haven’t had even the slightest hint of a complaint yet; in fact all the feedback I’ve received has been very positive. Perhaps if I ever get into importing as a business I’ll have to use credit cards since my profit margin might well disappear in the bank charge on small purchases—well, I know it would.
Hey Paul, I think we’ve got a transaction coming up in the not too distant future haven’t we? How’s that wood coming along?
[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2003-02-27 09:13 ]
paul -
i think we did a wire transfer. despite the addiitonal cost, i truly treasure my sweet and beautiful bocote busman high d.
thanks!
- tom
p.s. i’d vote for paypal next time.
From an earlier post.
…
On 2001-10-30 15:45, LeeMarsh wrote:
Tony,You may want to look in your yellow pages under Foriegn Exchange Services. These services will for a small fee create a bank draft in a foriegn currency drawn on a foriegn bank. For example, an exchange service 8 blocks from where I work, created bank draft drawn from Barclay’s of London in British Pounds Sterling, that I sent over to england to pay for some whistles. The fee was less than 10 dollars total. I paid them with my visa. This was like sending a certified check in the vendor’s currency that the vendor could deposit or cash as they chose. Very easy for the vendor, suprisingly easy for me once I found the exchange service. They even provide this service over the phone and will mail you the bank draft.
I found a lot of the banks wanted to charge fee’s in excess of 50 dollars.
If your buying an expensive flute or whistle using a foriegn exchange service may be the best way to get the money to the instrument maker.
And then with your new purchase you can …
… if you can’t find one in Nashville, e-mail me and I’ll get you the name and address of the local place here that has an 800 number.
…hope this helps with your foriegn purchase, I know you’ll …
… P.S. I found the info on the foreign exchange service I used here in DC. They have a web sight at Associated](http://www.afex.com/afexoffices.html%3EAssociated) Foriegn Exchange (AFEX). In addition to office in several cities, they have 800/888 numbers to most of their offices. I believe the fee for a bank draft drawn on Barkley’s Bank of London in British Pounds Sterling was about $7.00 Hope this helps.
P.P.S. World’s](http://www.wmeinc.com/Orders.asp%3EWorld%27s) Money Exchange out of Chicago also provides these services.
The above was posted about a year and half ago so I'm assuming the prices are still about the same. At least its an option to let more folks ...
[snip]On 2003-02-26 19:25, Bloomfield wrote:
And on top of it, they will treat you like a criminal until proven otherwise if you walk into a bank to open an account.[snip]
But if you go to Mike Moore’s favourite bank, they’ll give you a free shotgun, and I think it’s even pump-action, which would improve its potential as an aid to “speeding up money transfers” .
On 2003-02-27 09:11, Wombat wrote:
Hey Paul, I think we’ve got a transaction coming up in the not too distant future haven’t we? How’s that wood coming along?
Hi Wombat-- the body is totally finished, the head is still “resting” (how’s that for cryptic? 
)