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International payment for Design Job

J

John J Rambo

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 10, 2010
37
0
Belfast
Hi guys,

I live in the UK and I have just completed a job for a client in America, its my first international job so I wasnt really sure how to sort payment.

We agreed a fee in $ that would be transferred to my bank account.

I was wondering if I should expect to receive the full amount converted into sterling or would I be charged any fees?

The reason I ask is that the fee that arrived looks a little short on what I had been working out via online convertors for the daily rates...

thanks in advance for the help.
 
John J Rambo said:
the fee that arrived looks a little short on what I had been working out via online convertors for the daily rates...
Click to expand...

Unless your client pays all fees for the transfer you will always receive less than the invoiced amount.
And do not forget that banks use their own exchange rate which bear little resemblance to online exchange calculators.
*Hint* They do not calculate in your favour. :eek:

If you will be doing lots of US work it is worth looking into opening a USD account.
 
Last edited:
opeter said:
Because of exchange rates, administration "borders" etc.
And I did not even mention that, it is also more complicated, if you are outside of the EU or USA.
Click to expand...

Certainly you have to be more careful with an international client, but I would never say it is not worth it.

In this case the OP should have stipulated his fee is payable in GBP (Not USD) and transfer fees are payable by the remitter.
Then the exchange rate would not have concerned him.

And why is it more complicated for someone outside the EU or US to do foreign work? :confused:
I can't imagine anyone being refused having money transfered into their account. Of course individual countries have different levels of extortionate taxes, but that is another issue. :)

I am not trying to be argumentative here, just speaking as someone who actually does do quite a bit of work internationally. On the other hand I didn't learn it all in my first transaction either. :p
 
John J Rambo said:
Hi guys,

I live in the UK and I have just completed a job for a client in America, its my first international job so I wasnt really sure how to sort payment.

We agreed a fee in $ that would be transferred to my bank account.

I was wondering if I should expect to receive the full amount converted into sterling or would I be charged any fees?

The reason I ask is that the fee that arrived looks a little short on what I had been working out via online convertors for the daily rates...

thanks in advance for the help.
Click to expand...

If the funds were wired to you from America, you need to take into consideration the wire fees. With Bush and the Patriot Act, the wire fees almost doubled. The Bush administration did this to track laundered money etc. Also some banks add their own little charge and deduct it from the wired funds.

Have you considered a PayPal account? I'd look into it.

Having work or no work is the point here, and not whether you accept international design work. On the next job, add it the wire and bank fees.
 
opeter said:
It is not worth to do international jobs.
Click to expand...

I live and work in the UK, but I derive almost half my income from US clients. Some do bank transfers, some use Paypal, ironically the most favourable in terms of exchange rate and fees is a foreign currency cheque -- First Direct (my bank) use a very fair exchange rate and their fee is 0.5% of the cheque's value, minimum £5 and max £50. The downside is that if they decide to present the cheque to the original US bank before they'll clear the funds into your account, it can take up to six weeks to see the money.

Yes, it is a bit galling to see a large chunk of your money disappear in exchange or transaction fees, but you only need to declare the net amount as taxable income, and paid work is better than no work.

Cheers

Jim
 
arkitect said:
And why is it more complicated for someone outside the EU or US to do foreign work?
Click to expand...

Speaking as someone directly involved in a UK publishing project which has backers outside the EU, I can confirm that moving money into the EU from outside is whole orders of magnitude more difficult than moving it around within the EU. Money transfers attract far greater suspicion from the banks and everyone is terrified of getting smacked with anti-terrorism or anti-money-laundering laws, so if the 'i's aren't all dotted and the 't's crossed just so, they'll bounce the transfer back to the originating bank.

Cheers

Jim
 
Jim Campbell said:
Speaking as someone directly involved in a UK publishing project which has backers outside the EU, I can confirm that moving money into the EU from outside is whole orders of magnitude more difficult than moving it around within the EU. Money transfers attract far greater suspicion from the banks and everyone is terrified of getting smacked with anti-terrorism or anti-money-laundering laws, so if the 'i's aren't all dotted and the 't's crossed just so, they'll bounce the transfer back to the originating bank.

Cheers

Jim
Click to expand...

Can be easily done with PayPal for those who don't mind the fees.
 
opeter said:
Because of exchange rates, administration "borders" etc.
And I did not even mention that, it is also more complicated, if you are outside of the EU or USA.
Click to expand...

+1 for that, unless the project has a budget of $USD50K+ you'll end up loosing with exchange rates, foreign currency conversion fees via the banks and Government taxing issues (generally speaking double dipping).

Otherwise Western Union could work :p
 
Consultant said:
He is based in UK.
Click to expand...

Yes, the OP is based in UK. But I trought on this whole "thing" as an ordinary situation. You think designers are located only in the UK or US of A? Step outside of your office, please.

Sadly, it is very complicated, to do jobs (not only design jobs) and get payed outside of the EU and USA.
 
Consultant said:
He is based in UK.
Click to expand...

You're not reading what I'm writing.

I said: moving money into the EU is harder than moving money around the EU.

You said: get a PayPal account.

I said: Getting a PayPal account in Bosnia isn't that easy, because the person sending the money needs an account as well as the one receiving.

I use Bosnia as an example because that is the example I'm familiar with, as I explained previously. The publication I'm involved with has a Bosnian backer, and the finances have been murderously complex, precisely because Bosnia is not (yet) in the EU.

I offered this example in response to arkitect's specific query:

And why is it more complicated for someone outside the EU or US to do foreign work?
Click to expand...

Country of origin for the payment makes a huge difference. Trying cashing a cheque sent from Nigeria some time.

Cheers

Jim
 
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