I live in the US and bought an item from Europe. The purchase was from a new to me company. I did a bit of research before bidding and decided the company was ok. The invoice asks for a wire transfer. The auction information did not specify payment methods. I have asked to send funds by credit card or PayPal and have not heard back. In checking for other options, I saw an ad for: TransferWise. The company advertises good exchange rates and low fees. Can someone here vouch for them before I divulge my banking information to another party? PS - I know we played this record in a recent thread, but I do not recall this company being mentioned.
TransferWise is reputable British company and you can trust them. I have already worked with them in the past.
The drawback of transfers, is that you can not get your money back. With PayPal and credit cards, you can dispute your transactions and item your purchased up to 6 months... with wire transfer, once you transferred money, you can't get them back. Personally, I have never done it!
I was wondering about this outfit too, more for being a more economical option (possibly) than for having to do wire transfers. If you do use them, please tell us how it goes!
Also, you can compare the benefits of TransferWise Vs Bank Transfers here: https://www.icomparefx.com/compare-between-transferwise-and-bank-transfer-foreign-currency-rates/
Hi Guys, Gav from iCompareFX. I noticed this thread and thought I'd give you some more info. With TransferWise you can also send the recipient the money without knowing their bank details. Within TransferWise you can Send to Email address. The recipient puts in their banks so you don't have to. I personally have used this feature in the past successfully. Also, TransferWise will be coming out with a global debit card shortly through their Borderless Account service. You can take advantage of their near mid market exchange rates while paying for goods and services in foreign currencies. Svarog is right though. If you use PayPal at least you have some recourse to recover your funds should there be a problem with the foreign dealer. So if you do not know or trust the dealer perhaps a money transfer company is not your best option. Cheers Gav
Hi Severus, Best of luck. I'm sure you'll find the experience with TransferWise quite pleasant. They have an offer giving the first transfer up to £3000 fee free (so essentially true mid market rate with no fees). You'll find more details about it on iCompareFX.
I have just had another thought that you guys might find useful in future. If you need to send money overseas to a bank account but you need to ensure that there is a specific reference number attached to payment, the only money transfer company (that we are aware of) that allows for custom bank reference numbers is CurrencyFair. For example, when I needed to send money to GoldMoney's GBP account from Ireland, I need to attached my customer number as the bank reference. Just make sure that you are located in a country where CurrencyFair has a local settlement currency account (i.e. EUR, GBP, AUD, NZD, CHF, CZK, DKK, HUF, NOK, PLN, SEK) otherwise you'll be forking out for banking TT.
I have now used TransferWise twice, once to the UK and once to Switzerland... both went smoothly. It takes a little time (4 or 5 days) but I'm happy with the service. They have bank accounts in many different countries, and no money is actually wired. They just accept your money to their local account in your local currency, and transfer the equivalent in the foreign currency out of their account that is local to the seller. The mid-market exchange rate is decent and their commission is low.
