Sending money from the US Internet to England

[StephenTx]

Sending money from the US Internet to England

I ordered some parts from Steve Dickinson and need to send payment from him he has requested it to be in pounds £ 15.91.  I’ve never done this before although I said a lot of money Internet wise here in the US. What would be the easiest way to send money in pounds to England. Thank you

[alex_holden]

Easiest and quickest is probably PayPal if the sender and recipient already have an account (most people do), but you have to be careful about how you send it so the recipient doesn't get stuck with the transfer fee.

 

Transferwise is cheaper and faster than a traditional international bank transfer. One difference is that they put the funds directly in the recipient's bank account, so they don't have to have a Transferwise account but you do need to ask for their bank details, which people are sometimes reluctant to give out to strangers over the Internet.

 

I ask for Transferwise by preference, but some choose to use PayPal because they find it less hassle.

[Sprunghub]

A second 'vote' for Transferwise....not necessarily relevant to a US / Uk transaction, but as far as European Banks are concerned, post 01/01, many are adding charges for £ to € transfers which have caught me out recently ( for those not using Paypal )  Transferwise avoids these by all accounts.

[cohen]

Steve doesn't use paypal (or at least he wasn't when I spoke with him in December) so something like Transferwise would probably be your best answer. 

[Paul_Hardy]

Similarly to Transferwise, I regularly use XE.com to pull funds from a US bank account and put them into a UK bank account.

 

I also recommend PayPal as the easiest way - anybody know Steve Dickinson well enough to recommend that in this day and age as a small trader he ought to have a PayPal account?

[RAc]

1 hour ago, Paul_Hardy said:

 

I also recommend PayPal as the easiest way - anybody know Steve Dickinson well enough to recommend that in this day and age as a small trader he ought to have a PayPal account?

 

I hate to become political, Paul, but I must disagree. Nobody should have a Paypal account. Their business model is immoral and inacceptable. Steve to me becomes so much more respectable for refusing to become part of that big mistake.

 

[robert stewart]

Of course, the problem is that all business models based on maximum impersonal profit are immoral and unacceptable.

Best to play the concertina.

 

Robert.

[RAc]

2 minutes ago, robert stewart said:

Of course, the problem is that all business models based on maximum impersonal profit are immoral and unacceptable.

Best to play the concertina.

 

Robert.

 

That's not what I meant. A business must make profit, otherwise it wouldn't be a business. I don't have any problems with that.

 

[StephenTx]

Oh my goodness this wasn’t meant to turn into a political discussions 🙂

[alex_holden]

13 hours ago, Paul_Hardy said:

I also recommend PayPal as the easiest way - anybody know Steve Dickinson well enough to recommend that in this day and age as a small trader he ought to have a PayPal account?

 

It's possible he has one but doesn't like to accept business payments on it due to the fees they charge, or because of PayPal's habit of freezing your funds on the slightest suspicion of illicit activity.

[Devils' Dream]

Quote

PayPal's habit of freezing your funds on the slightest suspicion of illicit activity.

Agreed that Paypal can be a PITA, but the whole point is the expense of providing the 2-way "safety" of transaction and many actually want "PayPal's habit of freezing your funds on the slightest suspicion of illicit activity."

99/100 they fix it.  9/10 they fix it relatively fast.

Many don't like sending 1000 dollars/euros/pounds/whatever blindly.

[RAc]

well, we can only speculate why Steve is hesitant to use PP.

 

I don't mind PP being profit oriented (again, it's the basic right and reason for existence of any business, as long as the profit isn't generated through immoral or criminal activity), and I don't mind if they're a PITA, and I don't mind them freezing your funds at their own descretion (rather on the opposite), and they're as entitled to an occasional mistake and inconvenience as is any company.

 

Here's my major gripe about PP: They're data miners. They'll strip you naked and sell your nude pictures to anyone willing to pay (metaphorically speaking), and they make you believe that the "free or cheap" services you get in return don't cost you anything. Well, they do. While data mining is a fairly accepted and in some cases relatively unharmful practice, it's something I wouldn't want my financial life to be subject to.

 

Have a look at this , in particular section 4, for example Sutherland (that is, find out what a "telemarketing service provider" knows about what you paid whom and when). And then ask yourself why you would be surprised that you have difficulties finding a health ensurer when all the medication you ever ordered online and paid through Paypal help "service providers" obtain a fairly detailed knowledge about your health situation (= very valuable data for insurance companies that without any doubt try to get their hands at it).

 

Of course, it's one's own choice what to pay through Paypal and what not (not much potentially harmful information to sieve off an occasional concertina sale), but remember that the sale of your data is the main income of Paypal, or at least the subsidizing of your "free" account. That's the reason why they make the payments so "convenient" and "easy" to you and encourage you to make as many transactions as possible to them (or, in their terms, provide lots of resellable data to them).

 

[Devils' Dream]

RAc, understand completely.  The internet has a lot to answer for.  No such thing as a free lunch.

 

"Slightly" more on topic, it always amazes me what a nice job concertina.net (and melodeon.net) do as (using the word carefully) "hobby" sites.

 

No ads, no crap.  Appropriate moderation. Helpful membership.  Etc.

 

Maybe there are some internet miracles.

 

[Ken_Coles]

Actually we have ads all over (banners top and bottom of each page) - helps Paul pay for server space. But we do this mostly for fun...now where did I put my concertina?

 

Ken

[Devils' Dream]

Ken, nonetheless, doing a nice job.

Ads so discrete never noticed.

(so much for your marketing muscle 😀 )

 

On topic to the OP:

I sent a decent size wire transfer to UK via my bank (Wells Fargo) to theirs (HSBC).

"NEVER AGAIN".

[alex_holden]

Just now, Devils' Dream said:

On topic to the OP:

I sent a decent size wire transfer to UK via my bank (Wells Fargo) to theirs (HSBC).

"NEVER AGAIN".

 

A client sent me a traditional international bank transfer last year, and they charged both him to send it and me to receive it. Not an insignificant amount either.

 

By the way, I just found out that Transferwise has recently changed their name to 'Wise'.

[Devils' Dream]

Got a little interested in Transferwise (now called Wise) from Alex' post.  They are not exactly privacy angels, but these days, who is?

 

Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
    •    Purchases
    •    Financial Info
    •    Contact Info
    •    Contacts
    •    User Content
    •    Search History
    •    Identifiers
    •    Usage Data
    •    Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age.

[Don Taylor]

 

8 hours ago, Devils' Dream said:

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
    •    Purchases
    •    Financial Info
    •    Contact Info
    •    Contacts
    •    User Content
    •    Search History
    •    Identifiers
    •    Usage Data
    •    Diagnostics

As a satisfied (Transfer)Wise user I want to point out that Wise does not know what you purchase through its service, it only knows about the person that you are dealing with via the bank account that they registered when they signed up to  use Wise.  All of the above other data, AFAICT, only applies to your activities on Wise and not, for example, your general browsing data.

 

It is also worth pointing out that your government already has ready access to your banking records and all of your activities on the web should they want to access it.