What is the best way to avoid high fees for receiving payments? Thread poster: Fredrik Pettersson
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I have my company registered in Hong Kong, which has a bank account in Hong Kong and one in Norway in Europe.
For receiving payments from European customers to my Norwegian bank account doesn't cost much (a few euro for each payment), although the fees that DNB charges are quite high each month. But it still is worth it as most of my customers are in Europe.
However, I have begun to receive quite a lot of work from a Thai company and also an Egyptian company. And when ... See more I have my company registered in Hong Kong, which has a bank account in Hong Kong and one in Norway in Europe.
For receiving payments from European customers to my Norwegian bank account doesn't cost much (a few euro for each payment), although the fees that DNB charges are quite high each month. But it still is worth it as most of my customers are in Europe.
However, I have begun to receive quite a lot of work from a Thai company and also an Egyptian company. And when I received their payments this month, I was shocked to see that the fees for receiving where around 15 % of the payment they originally sent! Both the Thai company and the Egyptian company paid directly to my Norwegian bank account.
Paypal doesn't help much either, their fees are high.
So I wonder if there is any good solution for receiving payments from non-European customers? So I don't need to pay 15 % in fees for each payment from these non-European customers? ▲ Collapse
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Lincoln Hui 
Hong Kong
Local time: 07:41
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
As far as I know HSBC Hong Kong charges $60 HKD plus exchange rate for foreign deposits and I would reckon that most Hong Kong banks' fees are in that ballpark. Have you checked with your bank in Hong Kong?
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| Have you thought of.. | Aug 17, 2014 |
having your clients pay for the fees, just like all professionals do?
I mean a dentist doesn't pay for the material he uses to fill up your teeth, you're the one paying for that. If you call a plumber, you're the one paying for he's coming over to your house, not him!
Hope it helps...
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| Charge 15% extra to those customers... | Aug 17, 2014 |
... or whatever the fees are. Easy as that.
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 01:41
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
| 15% don't suffice | Aug 18, 2014 |
Michal Fabian wrote:
... or whatever the fees are. Easy as that.
Charging 15% more will also increase the percentage of the fees.
Perhaps using TranslatorPay might minimize the costs at your end.
http://translatorpay.com/Home.aspx
[Edited at 2014-08-18 05:13 GMT]
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| TranslatorPay is not operating | Aug 18, 2014 |
According to
http://translatorpay.com/Service-interrupted-until-further-notice.aspx
... they have suspended operations in last March.
IMHO this is part of the cost of doing business across borders.
While you can't avoid such fees, each country will have a different general setting and, within it, each possible option may have a different relative cost.
You may end up with different options, depending on the amount involved.
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Woodstock (X)
Germany
Local time: 01:41
German to English
+ ...
| This seems to be a good alternative, but | Aug 18, 2014 |
I'm not sure it's available in all countries - it wasn't some months ago:
https://transferwise.com/en
A client in UK used it to pay me. The payment was fast and in the full amount, so I was happy with that first experience.
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Use Bitcoin. No charges, no fees.
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John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 19:41
Member (2008)
French to English
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| Be careful with Bitcoin | Aug 21, 2014 |
George Hopkins wrote:
Use Bitcoin. No charges, no fees.
Be careful with Bitcoin and similar virtual currencies. If you are holding Bitcoins and it increases in value you could get hit with capital gains taxes, depending on your country.
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| Yes, be careful... | Aug 21, 2014 |
... you can be hit by capital gain taxes if you use Bitcoin just as likely as with any other form of financial transaction.
However, a translator is not usually involved in receiving large sums in payment and the "risk" invoved is negligible.
If you are at all worried, simply make sure that you don't keep large amounts of Bitcoin in your account.
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Fredrik Pettersson
Hong Kong
Local time: 01:41
Member (2009)
English to Swedish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Transferwise sounds good, but is not available in Thailand | Aug 21, 2014 |
If Transferwise had been available in Thailand, it seemed like a good solution. But it's not available there.
I was thinking of maybe asking HSBC if it's possible somehow to receive payments locally through them and then send to my main bank account in Hong Kong.
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