Anyone ever used auctionchex.com to pay Bob Roberts ?

[Level42]

Since Bob doesn't do CC or PayPal, he suggested this site that other foreigners have used to pay him:

http://auctionchex.com

I've looked around at the site, and besides that it doesn't look very professional (looks like this is a one-man company who I will have to trust my money with.....), there is no clear explanation of how the hell it works  !

So has anybody here used this site to pay Bob, and how does it work ? Does he receive a check or payment in cash or transfer ?

Thanks !!!!

[shardian]

I'm surprised to hear that Bob Roberts is doing any sort of online payment method.

I've acted as a 3rd party for Luigi before to pay Bob. I could do the same for you if you prefer.

[Level42]

Thanks Shardian,

Actualy Arcadefever already did me that favor once and he was willing to help me again, but it's a lot of hassle and it adds to the shipping costs of course.

Bob suggests Auctionchex.com on his site for foreign payments. I fact he should still receive his money "the old way" so something like a cheque or postal money order or something like that....

The option I can choose to get USD to someone is either through PayPal (which will obviously not work with Bob), or "USD by mail". So I guess that last one is the right option to choose....I just took the plunge....now I'm waiting for the PayPal invoice. I chose to pay to Auctionchex through PayPal because I can then select the much better CC euro-dollar conversion rate. The one offered by auctionchex is pretty lame.

[Level42]

Wait, did you mean you only "forwarded" the money and Bob shipped directly to Luigi ?

If that is possible that would be a lot cheaper than this Auctionchex stuff....

[shardian]

Wait, did you mean you only "forwarded" the money and Bob shipped directly to Luigi ?

If that is possible that would be a lot cheaper than this Auctionchex stuff....

Yeah. Luigi paypaled me the money, I sent a check to Bob, Bob sent stuff directly to Luigi.

[shilmover]

Level42,

As I told you previously, I would gladly do that same for you.

[Level42]

Thanks friends 

I just asked Shil to help me (since we were chatting on MSN already anyway.....no real other reason....thanks again for the offer Shardian, and thanks Fever for helping me out before. You guys are such a great help for us Euro collectors 

[Zebidee]

Guys, I used Auctionchex to pay Bob and it worked fine.  They send a cheque to Bob for you.

The only thing is, it took about a week for Bob to get the cheque anyway.  So I could've mailed him a bank draft from Australia without bothering with Auctionchex at all.

So, nice people like Shardian really do help!

[Level42]

I'm sure Auctionchex works, but there's more overhead costs using them then the way shardian explained. Also the conversion rates are too high.
As I understand from Shilmover, there is no cost for the US guys to send the check to Bob. So the only overhead cost is at the receiver's side of the PayPal transaction which is about 3,5%.

Also, with PayPal you can choose to do the rate conversion (euro->dollar in my case) by PayPal or by your Credit Card. I always choose CC, because they have better rates.

I actually think that it is amazing that with 2007's technology, it is still not possible to do a (cheap) transfer from a European bank account to a US bank account or the other way around.

This is one of the positive things that the EC has accomplished: it is possible to do international bank transfers between any EC country without any costs for the payer or receiver.  This is only true for amounts under €50000 but hey, I don't transfer more than that very often....It is  also amazing how few people are aware of this...

Bottom line, it would be great if Bob simpy accepted PayPal...if he'd had to charge a little for that, there's no problem at all with me....but I don't think that I will change his mind 

That site with horror stories about PayPal: I've used PayPal for dozens of times now, and never had 1 problem. It's by far the cheapest and easiest way to get money to people in the US that cannot take CC's. I love PayPal, whatever they say about it. They made it possible for me to buy stuff that would else be out of reach because of high transfer cost, and/or incredible hassle (IMO)

[Pac-Fan]

That site with horror stories about PayPal: I've used PayPal for dozens of times now, and never had 1 problem. It's by far the cheapest and easiest way to get money to people in the US that cannot take CC's. I love PayPal, whatever they say about it. They made it possible for me to buy stuff that would else be out of reach because of high transfer cost, and/or incredible hassle (IMO)

As a buyer, PayPal is generally good to you. It's being on the *other end* that sucks. Bob has to protect himself as a seller. PayPal doesn't do it for him.

It only takes a couple sheisters to completely screw Bob out of not only the goods and money for those 'bad' transactions but also have PayPal hold all of his money from the GOOD transactions as well.

I've been screwed by PayPal as a seller and stopped accepting them when I used to sell on eBay. I also have been screwed a couple times as a buyer where PayPal couldn't recover from a fraudulent seller.

Bob also can't afford to absorb the 35 cents plus 3% fee that PayPal tacks onto every payment as well.

Be glad you are paying a small amount for parts compared to some of the other arcade part sites or the eBay sellers that take his stuff and sell it for 2x as much and inflate shipping as well.

[FrizzleFried]

I always mail a check to Bob and Bob has always cross-shipped to me.  I am guessing that option is off the table as you are out of the country (the cross shipping that is).  I'd imagine a foreign check cashes just like any other?  Send `em a check...and request cross-shipping.  The worst he can say is "no".

[Level42]

Well, checks are something that we left behind about 10 years ago. No one uses checks here anymore, they simply were stopped by the banks. In Europe we can use our debit cards to pay transactions in about every shop you can imagine. And it is extremely popular. Much more popular than credit cards are. CC are not very popular here because shops don't like them much for the high costs to accept money, Anyway, the extremely high acceptance of the debit card made that people use less and less checks. (We had "Eurocheques" here that you could use throughout Europe for payments, it's funny how quickly you forget about these things. I do have a Credit Card, mainly for buying stuff abroad and holidays, but I use it rarely, here, mostly in restaurants.

So, the only other option I have is what I believe is called a International Money Order. I would have to go to a post office for this, stand in queue, and most important pay a lot of overhead costs. €9,50 is the minimum for this, plus I bet conversion rates are way of the scale. O, and our Postoffices use Western Union, another payment method that Bob doesn't accept according to his site, because this is the type of WU transfer that you have to go to your local WU "office" to get your money, and I can understand Bob is not wanting to do this.

Pac, I've read Bob's reasons for not accepting PayPal on his site and understand what he and you say. And I respect that.It's sad really that there is no safe and widely accepted alternative.

But I think the "problem" is solved in a rather nice way for all now

[polaris]

we dont use cheques much here but you can still get chequebooks, ask your bank, i dont see like frizz said why you cant just send a cheque, or are you at the mercy of the banks regarding exchange rate then i wonder?

[Level42]

If I'd ask my bank for cheques, they will call the nut-house and carry me away here....

[Zebidee]

I always mail a check to Bob and Bob has always cross-shipped to me.  I am guessing that option is off the table as you are out of the country (the cross shipping that is).  I'd imagine a foreign check cashes just like any other?  Send `em a check...and request cross-shipping.  The worst he can say is "no".

I suspect that this is simply something Bob does on a case-by-case basis with good customers

I have worked in banking and accounting for many years - international bank drafts are still commonly used - they are like a bank cheque.  Also, it is worth mentioning that much of the world still doesn't make extensive use of (or doesn't trust) online transactions.  Especially in less developed countries.

The bank will not laugh at you!  There is a fixed fee for such a cheque, but this fee will be different for different banks, so shop around.  I would expect the fee to be around $10 Australian (which is a lot less in GBP).

[Level42]

Yep, I'm sure there are still steam engines pulling trains in India as well, but we're talking US to The Netherlands here.
I hope and assume that you do not count either of these countries as "less developed country".
(f.i.The Netherlands has the highest penetration of broadband connections in Europe).

Again, the problem is solved really

[patrickl]

we dont use cheques much here but you can still get chequebooks, ask your bank, i dont see like frizz said why you cant just send a cheque, or are you at the mercy of the banks regarding exchange rate then i wonder?

From what I understood when I was still using checks, they charge something like $12 to cash an EU check outside of the EU.

I actually think that it is amazing that with 2007's technology, it is still not possible to do a (cheap) transfer from a European bank account to a US bank account or the other way around.

I have an american checking account and I don't remember paying any excessive fees when moving money between my european accounts and the american one. But then I only moved larger sums so perhaps I simply didn't care about the fees. I have had no trouble moving the money online either.

I was quite surprised when they actually sent me a checkbook. I haven't used any of them yet, but I guess I could sent a check to someone in the US and they could easily cash it.

:edit: ok i see my bank charges a 0.1% transaction fee. That's not a lot, but the minimum is 6,80 euro and that would be rather excessive on a small purchase

[polaris]

Again, the problem is solved really

yeah well ---fudgesicle--- it lets keep waffling anyway

the uk is dragging its ass slowly behind, big shops dont take them anymore , just makes everything slow doesnt it

[Level42]

Again, the problem is solved really

yeah well ---fudgesicle--- it lets keep waffling anyway

Ok then

the uk is dragging its ass slowly behind, big shops dont take them anymore , just makes everything slow doesnt it

Hah, the things I remember from my early holidays in the UK:
1) The first cash machines. We hadn't seen these before and were wondering why the people were queuing up, only to discover that strange machine...... I think this was late 80's...

2) Much later, was there with my wife on holiday. Wanted to fill up my tank at a gasstation in a suburb of  London. I wanted to pay with a Eurocheque. These things were accepted all over Europe, but hey, the UK is the UK. So I asked first, the guy at the counter had no clue what it was and refused. So I drove up to the next station and asked again. That guy didn't know it either but he was a little smarter. He made a photocopy of the cheque and the card and faxed it to his bank to ask if he could accept it. It was OK of course, but that was the very moment that I decided to get a credit card

[Zebidee]

Yep, I'm sure there are still steam engines pulling trains in India as well, but we're talking US to The Netherlands here.
I hope and assume that you do not count either of these countries as "less developed country".
(f.i.The Netherlands has the highest penetration of broadband connections in Europe).

Crikey mate, there is more to the world than just two corners     No, I wasn't talking about the US or NL I was talking about the whole world, where the rest of us live!

The international banking system still uses international drafts, which you can get from your local major banks.  Even your European & US banks.  Even in NL, with all of its BB connections (can you believe that  )

You generally can't use a personal cheque a/c for payments in other currencies, althouigh there are exceptions.

Anyway, you'll work it out one way or another.