german bank accounts..... help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[magicmistertea]

what is the easiest wayto transfey money to a german bank account ?

i just won sone grips off e-bay, only just realised the german seller doesnt take pay-pal !,
i want the grips........ but im not sure the easiest way to get the cash to him?
any ideas ?

 

[john]

what is the easiest wayto transfey money to a german bank account ?

i just won sone grips off e-bay, only just realised the german seller doesnt take pay-pal !,
i want the grips........ but im not sure the easiest way to get the cash to him?
any ideas ?

Cash in an envelope. Seriously, have done it a few times.
You can do a bank transfer into his/her account using their IBAN number (or somesuch). UK banks charge about £20 for this - rip off Britain again

 

[Drewson]

Yup, HSBC charge £9 for an IBAN transfer!!!
F***ers.... :roll:

 

[nimbus]

What John said.

To transfer electronically you'll need the IBAN and SWIFT codes of the recipient's bank.

£9 from HSBC seems positively reasonable. RBS has just scrapped its £10 'budget' rate and the cheapest is now £16.

 

[JeRkY]

What Jon said.

To transfer electronically you'll need the IBAN and SWIFT codes of the recipient's bank.

£9 from HSBC seems positively reasonable. RBS has just scrapped its £10 'budget' rate and the cheapest is now £16.

aye I got charged £21 by HSBC for a £60 transfer last year!

 

[njgoldby]

Yes, Second John cash in an envelope for cheapish items. Euros obviously.
Otherwise its an International Money Mover which varies in cost between banks. Usually around £15-£20. Some online banks used to do this for free but I'm not sure if this is still true.

 

[njgoldby]

Actually interested to know why so many German traders on E-bay don't acept Paypal?

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Actually interested to know why so many German traders on E-bay don't acept Paypal?

Germany has long had a very efficient system of inter-bank transfers ("Überweisung") which is the standard means of remote payment. Many Germans don't even use credit cards for mail order purchases, and many German sites don't accept them. Since the appearance of the Euro, banks in the Euro zone are obliged to perform bank-to-bank intra-zone transfers for the same fee as a domestic transfer, so the system works euro-zone wide. That makes Paypal less attractive for many sellers.

Cash in an envelope can work well, but of course when it goes wrong it can leave a nasty taste in the mouth, and it only needs to go wrong every once in a while to make Paypal fees seem cheap. After a few bad experiences a number of years ago, I'd only use it as a last resort.

 

[njgoldby]

Cool, Thanks for that.
Only reason I asked was I quite often find things cheaper in Germany including the delivery. But then the tranfer fee from our banks still makes it more expensive.

In this digital age should it really cost that much for the bank fees. Me thinks the Banks are making a bit to much profit from this service.

 

[magicmistertea]

hmmmm,
they are going to be very expensive grips !!!!
£20 for the grips.
£7 for the postage
£ 10 - 20 for the bank transfer !

im looking at a £40 set of grips !!!!!!

fecking hell i wont be doing that again. :cry: