Accepting money from abroad?

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clairelou65
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Accepting money from abroad?

Post by clairelou65 »

Probably a daft question but here goes...
How do i accept money from The Netherlands?
I have just accepted a booking from a couple in the Netherlands, I do bank transfer, paypal, cash and cheques.
I would rather not wait for 100% cash as it is a July booking Thurs-Sun (bad timing but quoted a fairly high price and they accepted :) ) paypal is expensive, so can i accept a cheque from the Netherlands? or is a bank transfer safe enough? is there a better way?
This is our first foreign booking and I am sure its simple enough I just haven't done it before :oops:

Thanks in advance....
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

I think they don't do cheques in the Netherlands any more (nor in Belgium), so you might have to think of another option. Paypal with the costs for the client is always an option, and bank transfers are pretty quick now and the cost is often lower than Paypal.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

What is a cheque*? The Dutch moved away from them since around 1992/3. Money transfer the Dutch use Ideal also most Dutch have internet banking.
What is unsafe about bank transfers?

*Just getting my own back on the bods that think that the UK is in the 21st century.
viewtopic.php?t=17122
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Essar
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bt

Post by Essar »

Clairelou65

Bank transfer and international bank transfer are safe, no one can get at your account with your account numbers.

Your normal sort code and account number are not sufficient for international bank transfer.

You will have to provide your international guests with the following information:

Your bank name and address.
Account IBAN and BIC codes>

IBAN looks like: GB NAIA 0104 6114 8577 06 (sample)
BIC looks like: NAIAGB33 (sample)

These can be found on your on-line account profile or your paper bank statement. The process is straightforward, but not all on-line banking systems provide this service so your guests may have to go into their branch to do it (they'll still need these codes).

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clairelou65
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Post by clairelou65 »

Many thanks to you all!!!
so it was not such a daft question after all.
Steve thanks I will look for that and include it on my booking form to them :wink:
B&B netherlands
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Post by B&B netherlands »

yawn... even I can make a payment through my dutch bank, using the IBAN etc. story. cheques????? i once had a woman coming to stay with me as a friend, long time ago, showing me US-bank cheques worth a fortune, 'can you tell me which bank in holland is best to cash them?'

she needed a dutch based bank account to be able to cash them (it was 50 k in dollars, mind you!) and it was a bank in... poughkeepsie. (sp?) nobody here had ever heard of... and she ended up with a warning from the 'nederlandsche bank' (state bank) as they suspected her of money laundering... and she refused to open a bank account, 'as banks steal money from people where i come from'.

never a dull moment. it was insurance money she was entitled to 'because of an operation that didn't go well'.
Beachcondo
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Post by Beachcondo »

American banks are just a laugh and a half!
Everything done by cheques. Even when you pay by internet, you only create a cheque. And don't get me started on Bank of Americas internet security.....no random codes, code boxes or anything.
I am not able to transfer money to my Swedish account either by internet or walking into my bank. I have to take money back home in cash or try to cash a cheque here.
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kg1
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Post by kg1 »

Do you have stated in your T&Cs that all bank charges are the responsibility of the guest, as you will probably find that there will be a charge from their bank to them & a charge from your bank to you. As we take a security deposit I explain to guests that the charge to us will be deducted from the refund of the deposit, the last one I did was about £12.00. We need cleared funds in our account for the full amount of the rental cost. If you do take a security deposit the problem is then how to refund it without massive fees - my bank Santander charges £25.00. So we use XE Trade as do others on LMH, takes a few days longer but I find guests are happy with that if they can avoid charges.

If you explain up front to guests the problem with charges they are fine, what they don't want is a nasty surprise at the end!
Beachcondo
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Post by Beachcondo »

There should be no fees within Europe if you split the cost between payer/receiver.
See this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=17326
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kg1
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Post by kg1 »

Beachcondo wrote:There should be no fees within Europe if you split the cost between payer/receiver.
See this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=17326
Is this a recent legislation - we have just received money from Germany which has had a large fee deducted?
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

No but not all banks seem to play to these rules. Question the feees with your bank or change it to one that works within the rules set out by SEPA
Read the links given in my post of Sun Jun 03, 2012
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Beachcondo
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Post by Beachcondo »

"Is this a recent legislation - we have just received money from Germany which has had a large fee deducted?"

No, it is at least a couple of years.
But if the sender has put the payment as "receiver pays the fees" then it will cost you.

Therefore I have in my T&Cs that it shall be transfered as sender/receiver shares costs, otherwise I will deduct the fees from the deposit.

Also as mentioned, check with your bank. They might have their own tricks that are not according to EU legislations.
Then again, they could also charge you a hefty fee for transfering money domestically, in which case they have the right to do the same for international ones.
Pessimists only get positive surprises.
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