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International payment came through 6% down, how best to avoid this in the future?
Thread poster: David Jones
David Jones
David Jones  Identity Verified
Taiwan
Local time: 06:21
Chinese to English
+ ...
Feb 27, 2021

Hello folks,

I am very happy as I am nearly 4 months in and just got my first large payment for a translation project and there's another on the way next month. The happiness was slightly dulled by the fact that the money arrived in my UK account 6% lower than I was expecting. I'm going to write the agency a polite email on Monday morning just for clarification as I know that bank fees / weak dollar / transfers all add up but 6% is more than I've come across in the past for internat
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Hello folks,

I am very happy as I am nearly 4 months in and just got my first large payment for a translation project and there's another on the way next month. The happiness was slightly dulled by the fact that the money arrived in my UK account 6% lower than I was expecting. I'm going to write the agency a polite email on Monday morning just for clarification as I know that bank fees / weak dollar / transfers all add up but 6% is more than I've come across in the past for international payments!

Anyway I was just curious about what tricks of the trade people could recommend for avoiding such gaffs in the future? I've heard about TransferWise and was going to invest some time into seeing if that was a viable alternative as Paypal also takes a hefty chunk of my money every time.

Thanks in advance folks
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Josephine Cassar
Josephine Cassar  Identity Verified
Malta
Local time: 23:21
Member (2012)
English to Maltese
+ ...
International payments-what about this? Just a suggestion Feb 27, 2021

Have you tried SmartCat? I don't know about their currency exchanges but you might try them out. I get my payment directly in euro so no conversion is involved but you might try and have a look at them and compare. It seems they are all reviewing their policies now.

 
Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 01:21
Member
English to Turkish
Transferwise Feb 27, 2021

I'd use Transferwise if I were you. They charge something like 3 EUR for bank transfers, that is for transferring sums from your virtual account to your real bank account.

Dalia Nour
Kunal Jaidka
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 22:21
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@David Feb 27, 2021

I’ve been receiving payments from several customers via Transferwise and Transfermate. You don’t need to open an account to receive payment as it goes directly to your bank account. I only opened an account to send money to my daughter who’s living in Mexico and I was charged a very small fee.

Korana Lasić
 
Marina Taffetani
Marina Taffetani  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 23:21
Member (2013)
German to Italian
+ ...
Transferwise Feb 27, 2021

Like Teresa, I sometimes use Transferwise without having an account. My client pays via their Transferwise account and I receive the money directly on my bank account. I pay no fee whatsoever, and I get my money just seconds after payment. The client needs to have a Transferwise account, of course.

Korana Lasić
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Dalia Nour
Kunal Jaidka
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:21
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Check Feb 27, 2021

David Jones wrote:

Hello folks,

I am very happy as I am nearly 4 months in and just got my first large payment for a translation project and there's another on the way next month. The happiness was slightly dulled by the fact that the money arrived in my UK account 6% lower than I was expecting. I'm going to write the agency a polite email on Monday morning just for clarification as I know that bank fees / weak dollar / transfers all add up but 6% is more than I've come across in the past for international payments!

Anyway I was just curious about what tricks of the trade people could recommend for avoiding such gaffs in the future? I've heard about TransferWise and was going to invest some time into seeing if that was a viable alternative as Paypal also takes a hefty chunk of my money every time.

Thanks in advance folks


Your problem may have nothing to do with the agency. It may be your bank.

Check your exchange rate. If your bank is a good one they will be sending written confirmation of receipt of the transfer, with the original amount received and the exchange rate they applied.

But no matter what payment method you use, if a currency exchange is involved you will necessarily lose something. If you use an intermediary like PayPal or Payoneer, you may lose twice: once to the intermediary and once to the bank for the transfer from the intermediary to your bank.



[Edited at 2021-02-27 12:07 GMT]


Korana Lasić
Laurent Di Raimondo
Recep Kurt
Dalia Nour
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:21
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
You need to have several options for clients Feb 27, 2021

It's good to offer clients payment options that won't cost you money. I had a UK sterling account for UK-based clients only. All euro zone clients were asked to pay into my EU euro bank account. Clients in the US, Japan, China etc. paid by Paypal, either into my euro or my dollar stream, as they wished. If they paid in dollars then I'd try to spend those dollars (on ProZ membership or other online dollar purchase). Every time you convert funds you're going to lose money.

Peter Shortall
Philip Lees
Korana Lasić
Dalia Nour
Tina Vonhof (X)
 
Dalia Nour
Dalia Nour  Identity Verified
Egypt
Local time: 00:21
Member (2018)
English to Arabic
+ ...
Transferwise Feb 28, 2021

I think Transferwise is a good option. My client sent me the payment through it and it went to my bank account through almost two days! I think it's fees about 3 or 4 dollars because the payment was less than the expected by 3 or 4 dollars. But in general, I received it easily without any problem! Also, you don't have to create an account on it to be able to receive the payment.

Korana Lasić
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 23:21
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@David Feb 28, 2021

David Jones wrote:
Anyway I was just curious about what tricks of the trade people could recommend for avoiding such gaffs in the future?


If the client had paid via PayPal, and if he had paid in a currency other than the currency of your PayPal account, then there is the PayPal fee of course (about 4%) and the fact that PayPal uses a very bad exchange rate when transferring money (which could account for the additional 2%).

I recently tried to buy something for EUR 100, since the seller quoted in EUR, but the seller's PayPal account accepted only USD, so PayPal converted the EUR 100 to USD, but it converted it to about 5 dollars less than what XE.com said the particular day's EUR/USD exchange rate was.

I've heard about TransferWise and was going to invest some time into seeing if that was a viable alternative as PayPal also takes a hefty chunk of my money every time.


Well, TransferWise's fee can also be high. For example, if I were to transfer USD 100 to your GBP account, TransferWise charges USD 6.65 as the fee, which is 6.65%. On the other hand, for higher amounts, it's better than PayPal: if I were to transfer USD 1000 to your GBP account, the fee would be only USD 10.50, which is 1.05%.

Don't forget that regardless of whether you use PayPal or TransferWise or even a direct bank transfer from e.g. the USA, your UK bank may also charge a SWIFT transaction fee of around GBP 10-15 (fortunately this is independent of the amount transferred, but it can be a big chunk if you're transferring a small amount).


 
David Jones
David Jones  Identity Verified
Taiwan
Local time: 06:21
Chinese to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Things I would like to say about my bank.. Mar 1, 2021

So thanks Tom, I checked and yes indeed my banks exchange rate is magically 5%below the actual exchange rate :/ there's a whole host of adjectives I'd like to use to describe that bank but I'll refrain ha ha ha...suffice to say 85USD for a currency conversion is just not cool!

Josephine, smart card looks like a decent option too. Thank you

Samuel, thanks for that very informative and detailed breakdown of info.

Everyone else thank you all for the great fe
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So thanks Tom, I checked and yes indeed my banks exchange rate is magically 5%below the actual exchange rate :/ there's a whole host of adjectives I'd like to use to describe that bank but I'll refrain ha ha ha...suffice to say 85USD for a currency conversion is just not cool!

Josephine, smart card looks like a decent option too. Thank you

Samuel, thanks for that very informative and detailed breakdown of info.

Everyone else thank you all for the great feedback and advice!

The agency has been a real joy to work with and has said they'll look into paying directly in GBP using the day rate or even transferwise so I'm quite relieved.
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Slobodan Kozarčić
Slobodan Kozarčić  Identity Verified
Serbia
Local time: 23:21
Member (2016)
English to Serbian
+ ...
Hi, Mar 1, 2021

Marina Taffetani wrote:

Like Teresa, I sometimes use Transferwise without having an account. My client pays via their Transferwise account and I receive the money directly on my bank account. I pay no fee whatsoever, and I get my money just seconds after payment. The client needs to have a Transferwise account, of course.


You said we don't need an account to get money through Transferwise, but when I started the process, they asked me to pay 20 EUR to them. I don't understand that.


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Alternatively Mar 1, 2021

Charge them in your own currency and tell them to pay by bank transfer and pay all the fees.

We have done this without any issues for 28 years.


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 01:21
Member
English to Turkish
Issue with Transferwise Mar 2, 2021

Once a client's bank (European bank) refused to make payment to my Transferwise EUR account, probably after seeing the name Transferwise and thinking it wasn't a proper, legitimate bank. I wonder if anybody has had a similar experience.
I also wonder if anybody here uses Payoneer EUR account to receive SEPA payments. I'd be interested to know if Payoneer charges a fee for each incoming SEPA payment (like they do with the USD payments) and how much it charges when you transfer your funds f
... See more
Once a client's bank (European bank) refused to make payment to my Transferwise EUR account, probably after seeing the name Transferwise and thinking it wasn't a proper, legitimate bank. I wonder if anybody has had a similar experience.
I also wonder if anybody here uses Payoneer EUR account to receive SEPA payments. I'd be interested to know if Payoneer charges a fee for each incoming SEPA payment (like they do with the USD payments) and how much it charges when you transfer your funds from your Payoneer EUR account to your local (real bank) account outside the EU.
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Marina Taffetani
Marina Taffetani  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 23:21
Member (2013)
German to Italian
+ ...
Hi Slobodan Mar 2, 2021

Slobodan Kozarčić wrote:

You said we don't need an account to get money through Transferwise, but when I started the process, they asked me to pay 20 EUR to them. I don't understand that.


That's because you probably set up a Transferwise account, I believe I've read something similar before in some other discussion. The first time my client told me she was going to pay through Transferwise, I simply gave her my bank details and I received the payment in a matter of seconds. Also, I forgot to mention that she pays in EUR even though she's based in the UK—I believe there is an option to set up a multi-currency account on Transferwise (not sure how they call it exactly), so you can pay and get payments in your currency of choice. Which means I don't have to pay any exchange fee.


 
Slobodan Kozarčić
Slobodan Kozarčić  Identity Verified
Serbia
Local time: 23:21
Member (2016)
English to Serbian
+ ...
Thanks, Marina. Mar 2, 2021

Marina Taffetani wrote:

Slobodan Kozarčić wrote:

You said we don't need an account to get money through Transferwise, but when I started the process, they asked me to pay 20 EUR to them. I don't understand that.


That's because you probably set up a Transferwise account, I believe I've read something similar before in some other discussion. The first time my client told me she was going to pay through Transferwise, I simply gave her my bank details and I received the payment in a matter of seconds. Also, I forgot to mention that she pays in EUR even though she's based in the UK—I believe there is an option to set up a multi-currency account on Transferwise (not sure how they call it exactly), so you can pay and get payments in your currency of choice. Which means I don't have to pay any exchange fee.


But I am still puzzled. If she paid you using your bank data, why did she use Transferwise? Why a "middleman"?


 
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International payment came through 6% down, how best to avoid this in the future?







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