UKC

Struggling to get a sensible answer from my business bank, so I thought I would consult the font of all knowledge which is UKC.

I have acquired a few customers in Ireland and I'm wondering what the best way to accept payment is. There are the occasional 'big ticket' items for a few thousand Euro, which I understand the customer can do an international transfer and take the fee hit; but we also take regular payments of a 100 or so per month, where the transfer fee would be exorbitant.

We've thought of accepting payment by 'Cardholder not present' credit card, but that will involve ringing up every month... any other suggestions?

Worth having an Euro account ? then you can make occassional but large transfers to the Sterling account & your customers have no/low bank fees

PayPal?  Though the fees are quite steep.

Thought of that, can I open a euro account when I'm based in the UK?

I have the same problem in reverse (payments in sterling, dollars or whatever into my Euro account). Larger payments I tell the customer to use a transfer service such as Transfermate which is far cheaper than a bank charges, smaller ones by Paypal. Whichever way they make payment in € though, currency exchange charges are their problem!

Have you looked at money transfer services like Western Union? Not recommending it, just wondering since I presume a lot of the transactions they handle are quite small the fees are presumably taken as a cut rather than a fixed sum as with most banks.

jk

Several UK banks do euro accounts for personal savings or business, there are limitations though. (Fees, limited payment options etc) you’ll have to look into it with your bank if it’s a worthwhile investment for the volume of euro business you’ll have. 

You can definitely get a euro account as a UK resident. 

For smaller amounts you could recommend your customers use Transferwise. The transfer fee is a lot cheaper than the banks and the exchange rate is usually pretty good.  

Western Union is very expensive. Or at least they used to be. 

Haven't used them myself but I was looking at this the other day https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/

If you don't mind potential delays of a few days for currency conversions it seems like a pretty good setup.

+1 that is what I have been using for a few years.

Bitcoin?

Yes, my company has euro and dollar accounts. We're with HSBC, but we used to have foreign currency accounts when we were with the Co-op too.

Bank of Scotland have an option for this I think (foreign currency account), but haven't used it and don't know what charges they levy.

Sounds like you might have to go offshore

Edit: BoS has free business banking, I don't think this will be but my HSBC account costs £5.50 a month + transaction fees (we're closing it soon)

Right now bitcoin is far too volatile. 

Can you take payments via Stripe and/or setup recurring or SEPA payments that way through either your accounting/invoicing system or your website? Then transfer from Stripe to Revolut for business account into a euro account, then forex in there.  Could be a bit complex but would reduce bank fees if you’re doing enough volume ( > £20 pcm in bank fees)

I would recommend the Euro bank account route. Ignore anything that adds complication or time; you are a computer engineer not a currency guru. 

Yes.

I use Transferwise to make and except payments in euros as well as other currencies, it works well for me as most of my transactions are generally always larger although I do some smaller ones too......to send a £100 to someone in euros costs around £1.15 and £1000 around £4.30

On smaller regular amounts I invoice in GBP then the client can set up a regular payment with his bank.

If the customers are computer people that are up for it how about crypto currency.  Ethereum will do the job fast and almost free.  

Pardon the pedantry, but that means the opposite of what I think you're intending, which could be quite important in some situations

I've used Transferwise a great deal too, highly recommended, best rates going.

Do you have to convert it to GBP?  Why not leave it in Euros and use them if you go abroad?

You still declare the income to HMRC and pay tax on it at whatever conversion rate but avoid the conversion costs.

All of my clients are based on the continent and billed in Euros, and I get a noticeably better rate with the ones that pay by TransferWise

I'd suggest EUR bank account as well. Barclays offered us EUR and USD accounts with no monthly fees and no fees for accepting payments. There are fees for making payments out but they were pretty reasonable on EUR (less so on the USD).

For a 100 euros or so a month hardly seems worth the bother of doing something. The cost of setting up anything will outweigh any real gains. 

Get them to pay you in £, otherwise it’s just not worth it. 

That's rather odd. I bank with barclays and this was extremely straightforward. It's one of the basic services a business bank should provide. Who are you banking with?

For personal forex I use Revolut - which may suit for small amounts but I'm not sure about using them for business banking.

This. Also, if you invoice in GBP, payment should be in GBP. But its your choice; Flexibility, and taking some of the risk / costs may be a factor in winning customers.

We're with Santander but we haven't ever paid bank charges and to open a euro account we'd have to become corporate and start. May be worth it though.

At 100 euros a month , sales are going to have to grow dramatically.

They are, but its his choice as to whether thats where his market is or not; if there are lots of €100 month payments to be had, then its worth it.