Paid via PayPal from Canada

[borderreiver]

Managed to set one up quite quickly. They send a 1p transaction to your bank with a verification code instantly. I checked online banking and got code from there

That bit was easy for me too. But ISTR they wanted me to submit all manner of company documentation (certificate of incorporation etc) before they would deign to let me actually withdraw funds from my PayPal account, and that took a few days.

Of course, maybe they've improved things since then (12 months ago).

[BolshieBastard]

There's no reason a client's overseas bank cannot make a payment to a UK Bank account with the correct IBAN and SWIFT codes.

Any client who says they cannot is lieing. As for using Paypal to receive payment, jeez, with their charges for getting at 'your' money and account suspensions etc, people must be desparate to use them.

[jamesbrown]

This is almost certainly a question of your client nor being a***d or not doing it properly. Who does YourCo bank with? If it's a UK clearing bank, it should be straightforward. If it's someone like Cater Allen, it's less straightforward, because it's routed via two intermediaries, so your client probably cannot initiate this via online banking (which leaves them at the mercy of generally useless bank staff), but it's still do-able once they get the wire transfer set-up properly. Bottom line, it needs someone vaguely competent on the client side, but they probably can't be a***d to do it. I deal with clients from North America all the time, and I've only had to accept a cheque on one occasion. You definitely don't want to be using PayPal.

[SueEllen]

There's no reason a client's overseas bank cannot make a payment to a UK Bank account with the correct IBAN and SWIFT codes.

Any client who says they cannot is lieing. As for using Paypal to receive payment, jeez, with their charges for getting at 'your' money and account suspensions etc, people must be desparate to use them.

Lying?

Of course the client is lying. Why would you pay extra charges to send a foreign transaction if you don't want to?

[Eirikur]

The client mentioned Western Union. How does it work? Does it go direct to you bank account?

Western Union is used to transfer cash to 3d world countries, where the bankings system is poor or people don't have bankaccounts. You get a reference number you go to an office and get cash. The percentage they take can be well over 10%

[jamesbrown]

Why would you pay extra charges to send a foreign transaction if you don't want to?

They have options if that's an issue; they can split the charges, pay all the charges, or have the receiver pay all the charges. It's more likely that they couldn't do it via online banking and couldn't be bothered to make the effort, but who knows. Either way, the client needs to pull their finger out.

[earningacrust]

I use a business PayPal account regularly to receive payments from international customers. I simply add a line to their invoice stating "If paying via Paypal (other than mass payments), an additional fee of X% is due to cover the costs of processing the payment."

I then calculate the Paypal fee and show it below the invoice total

...and for a Canadian customer, I'd invoice in Canadian dollars and show the Paypal fee in dollars also

Money gets sent to PayPal, I leave a bit in there but transfer the rest across to my main Business current account. No problems to date and the PayPal account has been running for years