How marketplaces do international wires?

[eurorealtor]

Hello Everyone,

most recently I've sold a four-letter .org domain via @Sedo and because it was MLS lead, it cost me 20% commission. During this transaction I asked the transfer manager to make sure they will send the funds via international bank wire as USD currency. The Sedo associate assured me that the accounting sends always funds as USD. But today I received a phone call from my bank in Czech Republic, asking why is someone sending CZK (Czech Crowns) to you USD checking account? Of course the bank in the US automatically converted USD into CZK in the worst possible convert rate and the bank in Czech Republic hat to convert it back into USD in the worst possible convert rate again. So I lost another 5% from this sale. This sale cost me 25% in total fees.

All US Banks always convert USD into the currency of the receiving country in the worst possible rate, unless you specifically ask them to send the funds out as USD. In my own experience Bank of America charge $35 flat fee for an international wire, but if you ask the banker to send the funds as USD, they charge you $45 flat fee. I made a lot of international wires since 2000s and always experienced these converting issues, some bankers didn't know how to do that.

I am holding 3 bank accounts, CZK, USD and EUR just to avoid these poor convert rates during domain sales, and believe me it is not cheap to hold 3 accounts in this country, because local banks charge you fee literally for everything.

I would like to know how marketplaces do their international wires? Perhaps they do it online and don't have the chance to make the wire in USD, but most of them don't even know this is happening. I used to have both personal and business checking account with Bank of America and neither one would let me do the international wire, I always had to come to the bank and make the wire with personal banker in his/her office.

I have been member at Sedo since 2010, but I moved from the USA to Czech Republic. When I tried to change the address, I figured I am stuck to US address only. The Sedo customer support told me it is impossible to change the address and I have to close my account and open a new one with new EU address. Well I never did, I still hold my old US account, because add and verify 100 domains all over again?

Your thoughts and experiences?

 

[Sedo]

Hi

Thanks for your comment,

I have checked your transfer and I can confirm what the transfer agent has already informed you is correct. The domain was sold in USD and you have an account with an address in the US meaning you are a customer of Sedo LLC and you therefore receive your payment as default in USD. There is an option where we could send you Euro if you requested it, but our bank does not convert the currency when sending it, the instruction to the bank from Sedo is to send USD. Sedo does not send the currency Czech Koruna to customers and neither does the bank. The issue with the conversion lays with your receiving bank account and we would ask you to direct you concerns towards them regarding the amount you lost with the conversion.

With regards to your account. Due to legal reasons we can not change the country of your account from the US to the Czech Republic. This is because our terms of use differ depending on the country you have entered in the address details section.

Should your location be in the US or Canada you are a client of Sedo LLC. Clients from Czech Republic represented by Sedo GmbH and different laws / terms apply to these. This is why we have asked you to create a new account with the correct country and approve the given Terms of Use for the Czech Republic. We are not able to transfer account data over for this reason.

All the best

Chris

 

[eurorealtor]

Sedo does not send the currency Czech Koruna to customers and neither does the bank. The issue with the conversion lays with your receiving bank account and we would ask you to direct you concerns towards them regarding the amount you lost with the conversion.

Receiving bank denied the convert as well, and I believe them because I dealt with international wires from the US banks before. Thanks for your info tho.

 

[tonyk2000]

As a customer of Sedo GMBH (German Sedo, since I am not in North America), I learned that they have no issues sending either USD or EUROs, and I receive exactly the same currency they send. The wires are from Germany.

Since @eurorealtor is currently in CZ and also has an account in CZ with IBAN (as far as I understood), the most practical way to receive wires from Sedo would be in Euros, through SEPA. From German bank to Czech bank directly. I think it may be 0 fee or maybe 1 euro fee or so (SEPA system). This would mean a new Sedo account though, opened with CZ address. They should also be able to wire USD from Germany to Czech Republic, but with extra fees charged both by German bank and by intermediate US-based banks (as USD will travel through U.S. banking system anyway, no SEPA here).

 

[eurorealtor]

As a customer of Sedo GMBH (German Sedo, since I am not in North America), I learned that they have no issues sending either USD or EUROs, and I receive exactly the same currency they send. The wires are from Germany.

Since @eurorealtor is currently in CZ and also has an account in CZ with IBAN (as far as I understood), the most practical way to receive wires from Sedo would be in Euros, through SEPA. From German bank to Czech bank directly. I think it may be 0 fee or maybe 1 euro fee or so (SEPA system). This would mean a new Sedo account though, opened with CZ address. They should also be able to wire USD from Germany to Czech Republic, but with extra fees charged both by German bank and by intermediate US-based banks (as USD will travel through U.S. banking system anyway, no SEPA here).

I appreciate your info. Once the great domain auction ends, I'll close the US account and re-open with new address. Chris @Sedo is assisting me, I appreciate his support.