ways i can make payments for american products

[izzymem]

hi i live in london, i want to purchase a product from american. the man will only accept a bank cheque in dollars or my credit card number with expiry. however i do not want to give him � and want to give him $ as it will be cheaper for me. the man also wants dollars.

if i was to give a UK bank cheque or my card details will the banks or card companies automaticaly work out the exchange rate and deduct the right amount of GBP (�) to the dollar? also does it have to be credit card, can i not use a visa electron debit card?

does anyone know of a way. i just get paranoid.

[izzymem]

yes paypal are very good but this man does not have a paypal account in order for me to send him the money. is there another way i can do it through paypal.

[izzymem]

no. when you go to pay with paypal you send it via an email address, which is sent to the seller. if he does not have an account then paypal sends them instructions to open an account with them in order for them to get the money. and they have to go through a 2week process of validation. i do not think there is an easy solution. paypal is a big no no in regards to an answer to this question.

[stevie21]

Your bank can make a cheque out for you in dollars and charge the sterling equivalent to your account but unless it's a large cheque, this isn't ideal as there's likely to be a charge of about �10 - �15 for this.
Similarly, you could send the money electronically but the charge for this from the bank will be even higher.
The post office possible offer a similar service (possibly) using Western Union - you might want to see their rates.
One risky way of doing it is to go to a post office or travel agent and ask for the dollars in cash and to post these but what if he gets your money and then says that it never arrived??

Finally, you're asking us "also does it have to be credit card, can i not use a visa electron debit card?" but we have no idea who you're paying so that question is almost impossible to answer. It depends if they have the facility to accept Electron or not.

Sadly, paypal is one of the easier way of doing this and you've all but ruled it out.

[izzymem]

yes because he has not got a paypal account. so i cant do it that way. the amount is $150 (about �80)

[stevie21]

If you send a cheque made out by a UK bank which they make out in dollars, it might take up to 2 weeks for the cheque to clear at his end.
Sending the money electronically is likely to cost about �25 and will take 2-5 working days to get there.

Just tell the guy to open a paypal account - it will save you lots of money and won't take too much longer than all of the other options.
Go on, be assertive. :-)

[Pinotage]

Go down the post office bureau de change and get 3 $50 bills, enclose them in several pieces of paper and put in a brown envelope and post to him.

[BenDToy]

How about Travellers' Cheque?