Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/02/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I am 100% with Douglas on this one. Paper cheques/checks virtually do not exist in Western Europe anymore anyway. I have not had a checkbook since I left the US in 1995. If I need to pay someone in Europe, I just make a bank transfer from the comfort of my home. Within the Eurozone such payments cost the same as domestic payments (in the case of my bank in NL, basically nothing); outside the Eurozone (like when I send money to someone in Denmark or the UK), there is a fee of 4.50 EUR--not trivial, but not that horrible either. The problem is when you want to make trans-Atlantic payments, and the problem is mostly on the US end. I once sent my father-in-law over there some money, and his bank fleeced him $50 or something like that for receiving a payment of a few hundred $ (and yes, I had made the payment in $, not in Euros). And don't even get me started on Western Union...it may be good for drug dealers and the like, but is ridiculous for normal people. I will happily pay Paypal their 3.9% for making the transfer securely, easily, and instantly. Nathan On 7-feb-2007, at 16:53, Douglas Sharp wrote: > Even something as simple as mailing a cheque in Euros to someone > with a bank account in the UK is horrendously expensive. After > exchange rates, foreign currency charge processing and so on and so > forth the recipient gets to see about 40% of what you send (The > European Commission is trying to crack down on this but is still > meeting with strong resistance from banks) . > Paypal does the whole lot loads cheaper than my bank does - and a > damn sight faster too. > Douglas > > Lottermoser George wrote: >> Even here in the US PayPal makes sense. The cost of printing my >> checks = .18 + .39 postage + .05 envelope + drive to post office. >> On Doug's end he has the cost and inconvenience of driving the >> check to the bank. Direct deposit of funds is, in my opinion, a >> service worth paying a small fee for. Every time we use our credit >> card the person receiving that form of payment loses a small fee. >> >> Regards, >> George Lottermoser >> george@imagist.com >> >> >> >> On Feb 6, 2007, at 10:07 PM, Nick Roberts wrote: >> >>> For me, it's quite simple - with PayPal, Doug has already got it. >>> I have no idea how long a cheque from a UK bank would take to get >>> there, or what he could do with it anyway once it had. Worth >>> their share, I think, at least for those of us elsewhere. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > Nathan Wajsman nathan@nathanfoto.com General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com http://www.greatpix.eu Picture-A-Week: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog