Western Union

[ClaremontPhoto]

Does anybody here use Western Union for payments?

I used it for the first time today and it worked like a dream. My client paid money into his local office in south America and I walked to a local bank and received the cash.

I already accept cheques, but have to pay a bank charge and wait three weeks for them to clear. And I accept PayPal, but need to pay their commission.

Is there a catch to Western Union that I didn't notice or is it a good service generally?

 

[migtex]

Jon,
Your client paid there comission (from 12 to 20% depending on the amount).
And it is a good service if you are willing to pay the service.

Have a good weekend on the "mercado" shoot!

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Mmm. Thank you. I looked all over their site and could not see a list of charges.

The amount was €1100 ($1550) so 12% of that would be €132 which sounds a lot to me.

If they had sent a cheque I would have paid €13 at the bank to deposit it, and if they had paid by PayPal I think I would lost about €30 on the deal.

Off topic: The market photos are planned for 07.00 just as it opens and the sellers are rushing to get their stalls set up. On Saturday there are many farmers there extra to the usual stalls so it's a lot more animated and busy. I'm hoping that with the low light at that time and using an ISO 100 film I can achieve shutter speeds at around 1/15 and get some good movement blur.

 

[steamer]

I just sent 30,000 Japanese yen for 3,300 yen. It is pretty steep but the money gets there now.

 

[David Murphy]

This is certainly not correct for the US. There is a flat rate fee here that is modest. I think it's about $15.

Western Union is a fabulous way for sellers to do business (despite what you might read on the eBay and PayPal Web sites).

Jon,
Your client paid there comission (from 12 to 20% depending on the amount).
And it is a good service if you are willing to pay the service.

Have a good weekend on the "mercado" shoot!

 

[steamer]

This is certainly not correct for the US. There is a flat rate fee here that is modest. I think it's about $15.

I wish this was true in Japan. Not only do they levy a hefty percentage for sending but they snatch even more with a high dollar/yen exchange rate. But they are the only game in town when I need to send some money to Mongolia.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

They gave me a fair USD to EUR exchange rate yesterday, but I have no idea how much my client paid in fees.

The Western Union website mentions fees but there's no actual figure there as far as I can see.

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

They are very expensive.
Getting paid is no problem.
Paying is something else. You have to pay the charges and be sure you can trust the receiver. There is no way to get your money back in case of a scam.
Cheers,
michiel Fokkema

 

[David Murphy]

All true. Like I said it's great for sellers, but not necessarily buyers. If the buyer knows and trusts the seller and other forms of payment are not practical, this is a great service.

They are very expensive.
Getting paid is no problem.
Paying is something else. You have to pay the charges and be sure you can trust the receiver. There is no way to get your money back in case of a scam.
Cheers,
michiel Fokkema

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I know the client well and we both trust each other, but due to stringent monetary controls in his country he can't write a cheque and PayPal seems not to work.

So Western Union was a good solution for both of us.