sending dollars to america from U.K.

[mrseyebright]

I wonder if anyone can give me some advise please. I have bought an item on ebay from american ebayer, I didn,t check to whether this person accepted paypal but it turns out she doesn't can anyone suggest a way of sending dollars other than sending cash, money orders/bank draughts are very expensive . the amount I have to send is $17.70. i'll be grateful for any advise.Thankyou

[Buenchico]

Realistically, you might have to send cash. Even that doesn't work out particularly cheaply. First of all, you can't get $17.70 from the Post Office (or other bureau de change). You'd have to get $20. (You'd also need to watch out for fees. Some bureaux de change charge a �6 minimum fee, plus commission to change your money). Then you'd have to pay at least 54p postage. On top of that, you'd need to consider using the 'AirSure' service, which costs �4.20 extra. ('AirSure' mail is electronically tracked).

Services like Western Union and MoneyGram are far too expensive. (The minimum fee with MoneyGram, which is available through any post office, is �12).

Your only other option might be to persuade the seller that, if they want to sell online and not use PayPal, they should consider accepting payment by Ikobo. If they do, you pay $17.70, plus a fee of $5.51, online to Ikobo. They then send the seller an e-mail to state that you've paid. They also send the seller a Visa debit card, with $17.70 in the account. In future, the seller can just ask for payment by Ikobo. As soon as a payment is made, he gets an e-mail from Ikobo and the amount is credited to his debit card account:
http://www.ikobo.com/

Chris

[mrseyebright]

thanks chris. Do you have any experience of sending travellers cheques.

[Buenchico]

Thanks for your response.

There's probably little advantage in sending travellers' cheques over sending cash. To validate a cheque, you'd need to sign it. As soon as you've done that, it effectively becomes cash (especially in the USA where travellers' cheques can be used like cash, rather than exchanged in banks).

It's also hard to get travellers' cheques without paying a minimum fee of several pounds. It would be simpler to go to the post office and buy a $20 bill.

Chris

[mrseyebright]

thankyou for the advice, I think you are right. I will go to the post office tomorrow,

[spudqueen]

Why not buy $18 instead of $20. They still have $1 bills, so you need a $10, a $5 and 3 $1.

[shineybomb]

The post office would probably be cheapest for buying US dollars. Good luck
Don't forget, you might have to pay import duties too when this item comes into the country. I'm not sure how much it would be

[Buenchico]

Just in case Shineybomb's post has got you worried, I'll post to point out that you won't have to pay import duty, VAT or any other charges on the item you're importing.

The system is complicated but, in essence, you can import items from non-EU countries (with the exception of items such as tobacco and alcohol, which attract excise duty), free of all charges, as long as the value of the items comes to less than �18.

For a more detailed description of how the system works, see here (but take note that the rates of duty vary for different types of import):
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Shopping/Questi on397976.html

Chris

[mrseyebright]

just to say thankyou for all your help everyone. I went to the post office and I was able to purchase $18 dollars no extras to pay so I have sent them. I was very pleased. so thankyou all again.