Quote from: b79 on September 24, 2009, 19:55

Quote from: madelaide on September 24, 2009, 16:09

Quote from: b79 on September 24, 2009, 12:01

to a local bank which does the currency conversion to Pesos, charges me a fee for the transfer.

B79, does the government charge you for these deposits in your bank account? I know our government does, and as far as I know it is not little.

for the transfers there is a USD 3 +IVA (VAT, 21%) fee for a central bank form that I have to fill  that the bank charges me along with their fee (USD40 + IVA) . and then there's the rest of the taxes (that don't discriminate if the income is generated here or abroad)

What!?

40 bucks + tax only for trasfer deposit? 

yep


[sarcasm] we have really nice, efficient and honest banks here....    [/sarcasm]

Quote from: b79 on September 25, 2009, 11:01

[sarcasm] we have really nice, efficient and honest banks here....    [/sarcasm]

I don't know if these high fees are defined by the banks or by the government.   

For what I know the bank fee is defined by the bank, (but government regularions have probably some incidence on the final price).
either way, there aren't any nice or honest banks or government here

I am from Singapore and I use Paypal and I think the charges are high too. It is just slightly better than banking a US$ cheque into the bank. The exchange rate is terrible and I hope to look for another solution too. So if someone has a better way, please help.
(Thanks for telling me that PayPal does not allow US$ to be transfered to a US$ account in a foreign country. I was deliberating on opening a US$ account in Singapore and transffering the money from Paypal to the US$ account. Now that is dashed.)

If a foreigner wants to open a US Bank account. Is it easy? Are we allowed? Who knows - if i go to US one of these days, I should try to open one. Which is a good bank? Are there charges? Will we receive interest for putting money in the savings account.

People, Payoneer is solution...

How can I make that judgement? Payoneer won't let you see what the costs are unless you sign up for an account with them. That always makes me suspicious that they're actually quite expensive and/or you're going to be inundated with spam.

Quote from: borg on September 26, 2009, 01:19

People, Payoneer is solution...

How can I make that judgement? Payoneer won't let you see what the costs are unless you sign up for an account with them. That always makes me suspicious that they're actually quite expensive and/or you're going to be inundated with spam.

I think you are wrong...

Fee outside of US is 2$ + up to 2%...

Everything on fee list is correct....

They can tell you their provisions but they can't tell you ATM bank's provision (exchange rate included), which can be different from bank to bank...
But I think that Mastercard has contract with every partner bank that cost of exchange can be only up to 2 %...
But that is also provision of my bank which let me to have their Mastercard, provision is the same for every Mastercard...

Also you pay 2 $ monthly for account and that is all...

So, you don't transfer money onto  your bank account, your account is Payoneer account...

Ufff, Payoneer have to pay me for their promotion...

The risk is the same as the loss of any other debit card...

Also you pay monthly or yearly account and card in every other bank, right...

Payoneer only charges the monthly fee if there is money on your account. So if you withdraw everything the same month as you get the money, the price for one withdrawal would be:

2$ monthly fee
2,15 $ ATM fee
up to 2,2% above market rates, based on the current exchange rates. I don't know what that would mean in real money?

Right now I wouldn't withdraw anything in Norway, since the exchange rate for dollars is at a all time low; 5,8 NOK for one dollar. You would loose more because of this than because of any banking fees.

Antonio, thanks for posting the Istock Payoneer fees.  Does anyone have the Dreamstime fees or some other Payoneer card so we can compare?

As I know, you don't paying to have account but you are paying for using card, Mastercard,Visa, Maestro etc....

There are no fees for just using the card, unless it's an international transaction. Actually, as I have a bad habit of carrying very little cash, I end up using my card even for very small charges like buying a coffee or bread.

I agree that a dollar can buy you more in the US than almost anywhere in Europe, especially when it comes to everyday expenses. It is only housing that makes total cost of living pretty high in some parts of the US.

I opened a US bank account (I'm from Canada). It's a bank that has a presence in Canada so I also opened a US currency account in Canada and can transfer back and forth free of charge. The money will stay in the US account until I need it. This way money doesn't get converted into Canadian dollars then again in US dollars when I'm travelling or buying something in the US. There may be a bank in your country that can provide a similar service.

I am getting tired of the extremely poor conversion rate that paypal offers between american and other currencies (2.5% goes to Paypal)

Does anyone have any good solutions?

I have been thinking of opening a Bank account or an account with E*Trade in the states so that I can withdraw the money there and invest it or something else useful.

I can open an American currency account here at my Norwegian bank but Paypal will not transfer american funds to the account.  If i withdraw funds from a Norwegian paypal account, they have to go either to an American bank (US funds) or a Norwegian bank (Norwegian funds). 

I just tried checking out opening an E*trade account in the states which is mostly a stock broker but also has a debit card associated with the account which could be usefull - but I found out they are not longer acceptnig applications from europe. 

Perhaps one of the other online brokers, or perhaps opening an american bank in person some time when I visit there (October)

Any other suggestions?

sounds like it's about time now to also embrace Bitcoin and similar Crypto coins for microstock in order to lower those "fees" (or at least destroy that apparent "reason" for fees there). Also, that would add more speed, better safety, and the ability to send micro payments and not wait for thresholds to be passed etc.

There is actually one up and coming concept out there: they are called coinstock.info and want to do just that -- on top of offering 81% payouts to artists! Still in beta AFAIK though.