Paying for an eBay item in Germany?
 

I need to pay a seller in Germany 20€ for a footpeg!

He's gievn me his German bank details, but my bank (Barclays) wants around £12 to do a bank transfer, and the seller doesn't accept PayPal. Apart from sending the cash in an envelope, is there another way I can get the money to him?

Any suggestions? :puzzled:

I had this prob recently, and the banks all want an arm and a leg for something so simple.
I had to pay over £100 so it wasnt quite so big relative to the item cost.
It seems that sending cash in an envelope is the cheapest option - and insuring the envelope adds almost as much to the cost as the bank charge !
I ended up paying the bank cos it was at least an instant transaction then.

I have sent euros by registered mail for small amounts. For some reason PayPal is not popular in Germany, but some sellers will open an account if asked.

Mike

So much for the common market then, common ripoff more like.

Sent cash loads of times, insured if it's a reasoable sum. No probs so far. BTW, £12 for a international txfer is pretty reasonable. I have been charged up to £30 in the past. Rip Off is right.

Rgds, Rob

Another vote for cash by registered post

Yeah, common market my a$$! The banks are just trying to rip us off!

I'm gonna send some cold hard notes in the post! :D

I live in Germany maybe I can help.

My bank or any European bank doesn't charge a penny for Euro transfer's in European lands. This is typical of the UK banks (rip off England). This is why the UK residents are so against the EU. I can transfer up to 12K in one go though the internet and not one percent is changed to my account.

Have another word with your bank. If you have the Banks SWIFT and IBAN numbers from the Ebay'er then inform them that the transfer should be free. Not sure but I think it's a EU rule. They may charge you for the exchange rate though.

Failing that, if you give me the bank details of the guy I'll pay it for you. You then transfer the money to my UK account (in pounds). U2U me the details.

I tried that myself with HSBC - they only offer a free funds-transfer within the uk.
It would be nice to find out more about this though.

get his bank account details and transfer by internet banking direct into his account?? that works ok for uk accounts without charges

Cross border payments have been an issue since the Euro was introduced. There are currently three eu intitiatives on the subject but in the benelux countries things arent too bad - as crunchy says.
Going further afield to spain and portugal and it would become a problem. If you ask for a SWIFT to be sent that will cost you - my internal SWIFT costs are about €5 per message and that for billions of € transfers.
Go to the post office, get your € exchanged for free, pop it in a registered envelope and post it off. That comes from being an International Banker for the last 26 years!

Like I said before, it's no wonder that most off the people in the UK are against the Euro and the EU. The institutions in the UK don't let them see the benefits.

Crunchy, I appreciate the offer mate, but I've managed to sort it. I will keep you in mind for future purchases though! :D

I did have the SWIFT/IBAN numbers, told Barclays, but they weren't having any of it. I don't see how they can justify such a charge.

No probs. ;)

It does annoy me though how difficult it is to do business with the UK. The sooner we are in the Euro the better. UK residents could then use European banks and then maybe, just maybe good old Blighty will stop being so expensive. :flame:

But I still miss being there:(

Europe, outside of the UK, has its own internal battles in it's banking systems believe me.

I have lived in the Netherlands, work for a AAA Bank, seen both sides of the coin and could go on for ages but I wont. :mad:

Glad you are sorted khu!! ;)

I've bought from a German supplier on e-bay. Found the same problem of bank charges, I explained the problem and offered payment via PayPal or credit card.

The seller opened a paypal account :D