I am selling something to a company in America. They want to pay by Cheque or PayPal (it seems the value is too small for them to bother with a wire transfer). What would be the best thing to do? I've been looking into the PayPal route, but am very confused. I have a premier account set up for Dollar and Pounds (in fact, Dollars seems to be default for some unknown reason!). What would PayPal charge me if they deposit an amount into my account in Dollars? I want to take into account that I'll be withdrawing it to my registered bank account immediately. So... I assume PayPal will leave the amount in Dollars. What do I lose straight away? Do I have to convert it to Pounds to withdraw it to my account, or can I send it to my account in Dollars and have the bank charge me? Which option would be better for me? Do I have to pay another charge to convert it internally, other than PayPal's exchange rate? Apart from that, would I be better off just getting a cheque? Part of me says yes, but they have to ship it to England, by which time who knows what the exchange rate will be like? It is VERY variable at the moment - I'm hoping for a weak pound when I get payment!!
I would use PayPal. For incoming payments they charge 1 euro (i'm dutch) for amounts under the 100 euro's. The exchange rates they use are similar to other payment organizations and i think that they also charge 1 euro for transferring your money from PayPal to your bank.
Paypal. Their FX rates suck ass (2.8% if I'm not mistaken) but it's cheap compared to a wire. I've heard of Citibank to Citibank wires for $10 or so, but mine, for some fucked up reason are $30. I am against cheques and everything they stand for (ancient, broken technology). I'm also against Paypal since that suck the shit out of my ass, but they're a necessary evil (like internet trolls).
We use Xoom to send money to the UK. It was advertised on BBC America, and it is great. Much cheaper than bank transfers ($5), though I suspect too expensive for your requirements. Still, since we have a lot of expats in various places here, it may prove a useful post. EDIT: Oops, I thought they offer a service to send money to America, but I was wrong. Sorry.
