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Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
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Re: Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
#72[deleted]
Re: Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
#73We at Toptal initially created TopTracker payments (we don't monetize on this product at all) to be the lowest form of payments for freelancers globally by partnering with Payoneer. Essentially, it's a fixed 2% transfer cost including FX, however TransferWise is often able to beat that.
We, and I'm sure other companies, would love to partner with TransferWise, however they've yet to create API's that allows for a product to work with their system effectively. Once they do so, this will be a game changer for doing payroll globally.
Re: Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
#74I am surprised that there is no mention of Bitcoin. My current project is also in another country (US) and I live in Europe. I am getting paid in BTC, and I pay even less then via Transferwise. It is cheaper because the company already owns Bitcoin, so it doesn't need to buy them. What I do is: - Getting BTC transferred to a wallet at an exchange I trust - Sell the BTC ones I receive them and put the money on my bank…
> Getting BTC transferred to a wallet at an exchange I trust
This has never been a good idea, unless you’ve been immediately selling upon receipt.
Re: Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
#75I am surprised that there is no mention of Bitcoin. My current project is also in another country (US) and I live in Europe. I am getting paid in BTC, and I pay even less then via Transferwise. It is cheaper because the company already owns Bitcoin, so it doesn't need to buy them. What I do is: - Getting BTC transferred to a wallet at an exchange I trust - Sell the BTC ones I receive them and put the money on my bank…
This has always been more of the dream of BTC than the reality. Transferring BTC around can cost 0.1 - 0.4% which becomes quite expensive. The cost of a wire transfer from Canada to the various countries I make them is a flat $36 - though receiving fees can be as high as $15 (CAD). That means that BTC only makes sense if you're transferring less than $5100. But moreover, BTC back to fiat is significantly more expensi…
The costs for transactions are not fixed to a percentage of the total amount sent but on the size of the transaction and the network congestion.
Moving one billion USD worth of BTC can cost as little as 0.065 BTC or ~440 USD.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/ne...
https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/4410c8d14ff9f87ceeed1d65cb...
Re: Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
#76I’m a former TransferWise employee and I cannot speak more highly of them. Yes, they aim to make money like every business, but I’ve never seen a company so focused on transparency to customers. The CEO intensely interrogates roadmaps from the customer perspective, and fairness to customers is non-negotiable. Their economy of scale enables them to offer increasingly lower fees, but I can speak first hand to the pain…
> fairness to customers is non-negotiable. Nice try, TransferWise CEO. I know someone who had their money frozen because they made the mistake of mentioning that the money being sent was for kava. You simply can't trust TransferWise to put their customers first.
You probably don't realize it, but you're making the case for using them even stronger.
Keeping a close eye on compliance/risk is going to help keep their transaction costs down, which keeps the cost of their service down for everyone else.
Re: Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
#77I've been using CurrencyFair for over a decade and they've always been great.
Re: Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
#78We at Toptal initially created TopTracker payments (we don't monetize on this product at all) to be the lowest form of payments for freelancers globally by partnering with Payoneer. Essentially, it's a fixed 2% transfer cost including FX, however TransferWise is often able to beat that. We, and I'm sure other companies, would love to partner with TransferWise, however they've yet to create API's that allows for a pro…
Really?
A lot (most?) of the fintechs in the UK/EU seem to use TransferWise under the covers for their foreign currency exchange, and while I haven't used the api itself yet I have skimmed the docs for it and they seem detailed enough.
They (intentionally, afaict) don't provide a checkout flow, but there's still a lot there.
Re: Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
#79For CAD-USD exchanges, Norbert's gambit is a popular procedure: > Here’s how you can use this ETF to exchange $10,000 Canadian: > 1. Get a quote for DLR and calculate how many shares you can buy for $10,000 Canadian. > 2. Place an order for that number of shares. The trade will settle in Canadian dollars. > 3. Call your discount brokerage’s customer service desk and ask them to take your DLR shares and “journal them…
> Technically this would work with any interlisted stock, though the DLR ETF is very popular for this because of its liquidity.
An interlisted bank/telecom stock has far more liquidity than DLR does.
This is a bit of a problem because you’ll pay at least half a cent or a cent in spread for your purchase and sale to the market makers. This adds up a lot more quickly on a $10 DLR than a $100 bank stock that’s liquid enough to have the same spread.
A 1cent spread costs you 0.1% for the buy and then again for the sale on DLR. On a $100 stock, it’s 0.01%.
DLR’s advantage is that it isn’t volatile because it only holds dollars and nothing else.
If you use a bank stock, the advantage is that you’re “in the market” during the duration of your trade. On average, that’s a plus, but you could lose/gain a few percent in the time it takes to journal.
The other disadvantage of DLR is that it does have a management fee. You shouldn’t hold it for long periods, but it’s another mark against DLR.
Re: Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
#80Just to add a dissenting voice to the conversation, I recently attempted to transfer some money with transferwise and they refused just after I had uploaded all of my ID etc. In the end I went with worldremit and they were much easier to deal with. Slightly more expensive but I'd choose that over the hassle of tw.
To add another voice, I spent several weeks in Bulgaria unable to use my Transferwise "borderless" card in any shops (including all the major ones, like Lidl and DM). The first few times Transferwise insisted it's a broken card reader, then a few calls and emails later it became the merchant's terminal that's at fault. On some of the calls, Transferwise simply hung up on me when I didn't take "you should try it again…
Interesting, I had a similar issue with my NZ-issued TransferWise card, however it resolved itself in a few days. This was in Dubai airport & then across a few merchants in the UK, though.