>I just did a transaction from US to AU and ended up sending a Western
>Union wire which is expensive. However I did find out some information
>which might benefit you Australian or other members not in the US. I
>explored using PayPal to send the money to AU but at the moment PayPal
>only converts from $US directly to Canadian pesos, British £, French
>francs, and German marks. I think AU will be added soon.
>But... Australians can use a PayPal account as an offshore account in
>US$. They can accept payments in $US and use the same $US to make
>purchases in any of twenty-some countries. There is no fee for this and
>no money exchange fee since the account stays in $US. They make money by
>not paying interest on this account. So if you balance your sales and
>purchases an account like this may be a very convenient way to handle
>offshore transactions. I believe that you could make payment to PayPal
>in $US if you wanted to buy more than you have in your account. Also
>when PayPal starts to convert to $AU the exchange fee is a very
>reasonable 20r so which is at least as good as a credit card.
>
>Mike
There were two reasons why I did not sign up with PayPal. One was the way
in which they seem to be trying to set up as a cyberbank. The second was
their idea that I keep MY money in Florida (?) in their offshore account.
No thanks. I find that all somewhat shady and I have enough bank accounts.
I want my money HERE, in my credit union (see - don't like banks much).
Remember, the US is a foreign country to me - would you like to have your
money held in an Australian or French bank's offshore account?
At the moment, all wire transfers are far too expensive, given the effort
and technology involved. I think that PayPal and Billpoint will eventually
recognise that there is a niche there.
I don't need to put my money in a US offshore account - if I want to buy
something in the states, I can use VISA or buy a Western Union money order
in US dollars in my local, rural post office. Or use BidPay.
A customer in Canada recently bought a camera off me. The price was set in
US dollars, he paid for a bank cheque in Canadian dollars and had it made
out in Australian dollars. Charges were not high.But then, he's a
professional person who is used to telling people what he wants - and
getting it.
AndrewF
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