International payment methods

[weirdami]

When I sell stuff on ebay, my payment block says that international folks (non-US) can only pay by Paypal, and then only for non-credit card payments. The problem is that every time an overseas type wins an auction, they try to pay by credit card. Or, they pay with a debit card thing that Paypal considers a credit card for certain countries.

So, can you guys suggest some safe methods for accepting payments from people outside the USA? Is there like an international money order thing or something? I don't want to take cash because that's just asking for trouble. I also don't want to exclude non-USA folks from bidding because some stuff I sell has international appeal. :-)

[InTheSand]

I think Paypal users can use their credit card or debit card to credit their own Paypal account and then pay from these funds, but I'm not sure how much hassle this is, or how long it might take for such funds to clear...

 - Ali

[CatHerder]

Actually, for Canadians and Americans with a PayPal (confirmed?) account, when you have a balance lower than your purchase amount, PayPal will automatically take money from either your bank account or your credit card. If it's from your credit card (you can set which method it uses) it's instant and treated like it was a PayPal balance from the sellers perspective: if it's from your bank account PayPal treats it as an e-check (e-cheque) and it has a 4-5 day hold for the seller.

[Chain]

lot of countriex CANNOT FUNDS their acchound, only direct card payment is poshible (p h * c k)

[tonyvdb]

Paypal is the easyest way to make payments and receive them for ebay. Your bank account can be connected to it as well as sending an e-cheque. (you should be able to place money onto your paypal acount with an e-cheque) If that is not an option you can set up an account with Bidpay.com but as I have never used them I do not know what there requirments are.

[weirdami]

Is there no international money order or some such?

[odin]

AFAIK nope, which explains why unofficial banking (and rather dubious) stuff like paypal has become so big.

[Oliver]

I've generally managed to do international bank drafts without much trouble.  I'm not sure why/how ebay enforces such a regulation.  Maybe you should just contact your buyers and tell them to pay direct to your bank account through an international agent, or some such thing.  I guess the fees may be a bit higher that way though.  I don't think people use international money orders now.  I think online banking may allow one to make an international draft without much of a fee at all.  There are likely to be more options available.

[peroxidechicken]

There are alternate payment processors out there.  

http://www.e-gold.com/
http://www.e-bullion.com/
https://www.emocorp.com/ - money orders that you print

http://www.uniclear.com/
http://www.bluebanking.com/

The last two are debit card issuers.  Your country of origin is irrelevant (in most cases...) and transfers between members inside these companies own online payment system is fast and inexpensive.  

Finally, I will mention and warn against StormPay and I've never been very fond of PayPal.  

[odin]

From my experience both paying and recieving by direct international banktransfer costs fortunes (10-15 eur per payment), unless you transfer money within the EU (or just EMU perhaps?) and fill in the IBAN and BIC codes.

[asian1]

In some countries there are restriction on foreign currencies, limit on transfer of fund etc.

There are possible problems with unstable foreign currencies, multiple currencies payment etc.

The fastest (and most expensive) method: Western Union.

Perhaps you can use TT (Telegraphic Transfer), Remittance or other methods.

[dnelsonfl]

weirdami wrote:
Is there no international money order or some such?

In the US, there is an international money order you can buy from the post office for sending money to certain other countries. The list is here. Countries on this list may have something similar to send an international money order to the US.

-David

[JaXanim]

@weirdami

If you have a 'Personal' PayPal account, you are not able to receive payments from buyers using a credit card. The dosh has to be taken directly from their bank account. This means that before they can make a purchase from you, they have to set up a direct debit system between their bank and PayPal. Occasional buyers don't want that hassle, so they won't buy stuff from you. The advantage to you is when they do pay you via Direct Debit, there are no fees from you to PayPal.

To allow your buyers (American or otherwise) to use their credit card to finance a purchase from you, you need to change your Personal account to a Premier account. That way the customer has no hassles, but you have to pay a small fee to PayPal. They have all the angles covered: customer hassle or pay a small fee. It doesn't cost anything to change from Personal to Premier though.

You can read all about it HERE.

Most regular sellers have a Premier account cos it's easy and they just accept PayPal's cut.

JaX

[lopos]

What about Monneybookers?
They are quite good for people who can't have a paypal account. Used it once and it worked very well.