Cost effective way for small amount transfers

daredreamer · #1 29.10.2011, 10:01

Hi guys, hope somebody can help with this.

The story goes.....I purchased something from ebay in Germany and the buyer requested for bank transfer and the amount is around 30 euro. I sent him a payment from my Swiss account here but he was charged 10 euro when he received the money. Obviously, he is not happy.

I want to avoid such situation in the future, so any idea of a cost effective way to make a bank transfer for small amounts say less than CHF 50?

I know I can send cash in a mail but.....

gata · #2 29.10.2011, 10:15

With UBS you can choose who is getting charged

MarieZug · #3 29.10.2011, 10:19

Get a Euro account and make Euro transfers from there. They were free for us with UBS, CS and Postfinance.

magic · #4 29.10.2011, 10:38

In the case of eBay and similar you can use Paypal.

I even have one in CHF and make payments for small software development, usually in USD or Euro and even though the exchange rate is not the best it works out a lot cheaper than other methods.

stephen_NE · #5 29.10.2011, 10:48

	Quote:	gata
	With UBS you can choose who is getting charged

Credit Suisse as well. When you do a transfer via e-banking, you can choose whether sender or receiver pays the charges.

jrspet · #6 29.10.2011, 11:48

It is free from Postfinance, as MZug mentioned above ( it is called SEPA ).

	Quote:
	With Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), transferring money in EUR has become easier and more transparent. The 27 EU member states, the three EEA states (Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland), Monaco and Switzerland belong to SEPA. PostFinance automatically chooses the optimal and least expensive option for you. Wherever possible, PostFinance will forward payments as SEPA payments without any additional costs. EUR transfers to the SEPA area PostFinance handle SEPA payments for all customers free of charge SEPA payments will be credited to the beneficiary's account within a maximum of 3 bank working days as of the debit date and with no deductions. Credit charges may still be charged by the recipient bank. Conditions for SEPA payments: Payment in EUR to a SEPA country Indicate the IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and BIC (Bank Identifier Code) The beneficiary's bank must be a SEPA participant

More on PF SEPA here.

	Quote:
	I know I can send cash in a mail but

Strongly discouraged.

#7 29.10.2011, 12:03

You can sepa with UBS too. It costs pennies

Fawad · #8 29.10.2011, 13:00

Western Union?

jrspet · #9 29.10.2011, 13:04

	Quote:	Fawad
	Western Union?

If one is going down that route, then why not Hawala ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala

Phil_MCR · #10 29.10.2011, 13:07

	Quote:	daredreamer
	Hi guys, hope somebody can help with this. The story goes.....I purchased something from ebay in Germany and the buyer requested for bank transfer and the amount is around 30 euro. I sent him a payment from my Swiss account here but he was charged 10 euro when he received the money. Obviously, he is not happy. I want to avoid such situation in the future, so any idea of a cost effective way to make a bank transfer for small amounts say less than CHF 50? I know I can send cash in a mail but.....

use paypal. that's what most ebayers do.