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Bank transfer fees?
 

Found what seems like the perfect supplier for some sports equipment I can sell but they only accept bank transfers from new customers which I'd kinda prefer to pay with for now anyway.

So the other day I sent $129 + was charged a $13.50 remittance fee from my branch.

Took 3 days -.- ...to reach my supplier in China. But they only received $109.

They asked their bank about that and they said it was a 3rd party bank (or "correspondance" bank) that processes the transfer who could have charged the fee ($20!). My bank said the same to me.

I asked if it's possible to find out what the basis of the fee is, and both my bank nor could my suppliers' find out.

Does anyone else have experience with sending bank transfers/international remittances to China to suppliers?

I'm truly hoping that the fee is only a flat rate (ex. $20 each time) rather than a % fee because if I make bigger orders in the future, I won't mind paying the flat rate fee of $20 versus a percentage that could cost a lot for bigger orders.

Hi,

I had the same situation with bank transfers to China and I was also charged a fee. I did my transaction online and it gave the name of the correspondence bank and I rang them.

They told me that they had a scale of charges when funds went through their accounts. If I remember correctly it was $20.00 up to $500.00 and $30.00 for $500.00 to a $1000 and so on.

^^^

Thanks for the info, that's good to know.

I did mine online too and I don't see any info in my payment details about the correspondance bank. I asked my branch and they said there was no way of finding out - which I find pretty dumb because I have the right to know what fees will be taken away from my money when being transferred.

It sounds pretty dumb to me also. As you say you have every right to know what fees are deducted and who received them.

Sadly bank transfers are only worth it for large sums of money. Chase/boa charges like $25 flat if you sign up to some program with them but I cant recall the name.

If your only doing a few bucks like that best stick to WU, paypal or some other method.

So they charged the sender AND the receiver? Wow - I send money to folx and they dont get charged a receiving fee...pure thievery!

My bank adds a $13.50 flat fee for me to send so the receiver should receive the exact amount I intend to give them. (That's pretty standard) However, it's the 3rd party bank that screws everything up by subtracting $20 from the total amount. It's not the receiver's bank that's charging the fee. It's some "middle-man/3rd party/correspondance" bank that charges these unknown fees that I'm not able to be informed about in advance -.- I'm still trying though. As GameFreak said, it's better off for bigger sums of money - which I will eventually be transferring

Middle man correspondence bank? Fug that nonsense. Anyhow, hope it works out.

Thanks

And yeah I know, it's bull