Bitch and moan.

[gemfyre]

I think banks and similar services are just here to make it impossible for small timers to sell overseas. I'm in Australia.

I'd love to sell my jewellery to people everywhere. But there seems to be no method of payment that will charge me less fees than the money I make.

Cash in foreign currency - $7.50 exchange fee (this was free until a few years back).
Money Order - I believe these are something like $20 to exchange - ridiculous.
Paypal - more fees than the money I'd be making.
Don't have and don't want a credit card - although I'm not sure if it would help me anyway.

Is there ANY way to do this and not get charged up the wazoo so much that I'm actually losing money to fees rather than making a profit?

Comments

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

I didn't think paypal's fees were that bad - 2% of the total cost or something isn't it?
We got a paypal account just for e-bay.
Ummm.....direct deposit into your bank account? You might have to up the price of your merch to make up for fees & stuff - although on e-bay you often add that into the price as well as shipping.
I know Western Union is about $30 - it's crap! If it's for a LOT of money then $20 or $30 isn't that much on $500 or so but when it's for a $10 thingy it's rediculous.

[pooxs.livejournal.com]

keep the money in US$, and then when you want to buy something from ebay you dont worry about having to convert the currency :)

however, thats assuming you buy lots of stuff from ebay in US$

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

I used to do that.

But at the moment I need money I can spend right away here in Perth.

[pooxs.livejournal.com]

yeah, thought that might be the issue :(

get people to give you cash and you pay for their ebay purchases?

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

I generally say paypal, and buyer pays the fees.

It's a pain in the ass to figure out ($1AU + $0.30US + 3.75% or something tupidly complicated like that) but i find people don't mind too much.

Still, it's probably depend on the stuff you sell.

You can minimise on paypal charges though if you're willing to wait a while for the money... then you can withdraw it all at once instead of bit by bit losing all your profit.

Also, call around some credit unions: there may be some who won't charge fees for foreign currency cheques. But they take a month to clear.

It sucks, doesn't it?

[tuesdays--grace.livejournal.com]

I run websites for a living (hint hint ;^)

I've built a few shopping catalogues and found PayPal actually had the lowest rates. Credit cards charge too much and to process them over the internet they charge you a monthly fee--whether you sell anything or not. Mega sucky!

Perhaps tack on the percentage (I think it's .02 on the US dollar) as a handling charge. If people want your stuff, they should understand.

Your jewellry is gorgeous, btw. I don't mind the image load times --it beats all the other "refinance mortgage, enlarge your shwang, and try Cialis" spam crap I get on a daily basis. :^)