Fri, 30 Dec 2005
Money transfer
Pavlina wanted to order some product over the Net from Germany. They did not offer the paymend by a credit card, so we went for a conventional money transfer via bank.
However, I have found that the bank fees for foreign money transfers are pretty high (the fees are starting at about 50 Euro for a single transfer inside the EU). We have asked our friends in Germany to pay it for us from the bank account in Germany, and we will pay to them here in .cz.
I think Europe is waaaay behind US in this - in the US (and Canada) small money transfers are easily possible via Paypal, and maybe even via bank accounts. Well, we have international bank account numbers (IBAN), but these is not usable for small money transfers because of the fees. The bank system is very old-fashioned in this (corresponding banks? WTF?). And Paypal does not accept payments to the Czech Republic (maybe they think we are some wild country full of terrorists, phishers, or whatever).
Are there any other ways to do small money transfers inside the EU? I mean, something better than sending the banknotes in the envelope by a snail mail ...