Okay, so I placed an order some time ago with a sword maker from overseas. I will not mention who the maker is is, but they have an honest reputation, and have done business with customers in the US many times.

I have tried, for three days now, to wire transfer the money to the maker to pay for my contract. The receiving bank keeps stating the account number the maker sent me is too long. I have verified the account number four times via email with the maker, but the bank keeps rejecting my funds due to the account number issue.

After three days of spending a significant amount of time, and 41 dollars in US funds (20 for the wire transfer, and 21 to get my money back out of cyberspace and directed back to my account), I have given up on the wire transfer. I will not attempt this again.

In our last exchange, the maker told me that if I wanted to give up on the wire transfer, they would accept a regular check sent through regular international mail. Through email, I asked the maker for a discount on the price of the items to cover part of the money I've lost in the botched wire transfer.

I have not heard back from the maker, but I am wondering what other buyers who've used wire transfer think about this issue? Am I being too difficult in asking for some of my money back after being given an account number the receiveing bank will not accept, or is this within reason? I feel entitled to at least enquire about this with the seller, but to be honest, I dont know whether he's already going to take a loss due to the exchange rate when he gets my check in US dollars through regular international mail. I also dont know what sort of profit margin he's working with. (I dont want to give exact numbers, but the price of my purchase is between 600 and 800 dollars.)

Any advice? I'm all ears.

Best regards, Michael Black

P.S.-I should add that I have several other contracts lined up with this maker within the next two years, and that I want to maintain a good releationship. I posted on this forum because I feel members here can provide me with grounded, experienced feedback. In that spirit, I request that any posters on this thread refrain from mentioning specific makers of swords.

This is kind of tricky to deal with. I can see your side of it but also a makers side.

I don't think that it is the makers fault that the bank can not get the money to him. Maybe in that country there are more numbers with the accounts. If the maker has given you the same numbers every time - I would guess that it is his actual bank number.

I guess if I were you Michael - I would try contacting your bank. They charged you for a service that you never received and I think they would be the ones liable, not the maker.

This is my 1.5 pennies worth anyway. Take it for what it is worth.

This is one reason I stick with Credit Cards if possible. You're protected from fraud and the money goes where it needs to if everything is legit. :)

Wire transfers are my least favorite way to go with international payments. They charge both the sender and the receiver, the banks can take several days to process the funds, they are not 100% traceable and I was surprised to find out are not guaranteed in any way. Once it leaves your bank there are no back ups if the funds go missing. There gone and the banks are not responsible.

I prefer cc, international money orders or Western Union which I found easy to use and less expensive than transfers. The old paypal will work as well but some overseas customers are less able to access funds that way.

Some days it seems more difficult to sell something overseas than it should be for a world striving for good trade. We have shipped to most major countries in the world at some point over the years and we have never found a perfect payment method. It is always a bit of negotiation to find a method that works cleanly between any two specific points.

Good Luck
Craig

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I felt a bit odd asking for business advice on a public forum, but none of my close friends here in Chicago had ever done a wire transfer overseas. I had no idea what would be involved, or the proper etiquette required.

I'm going to continue on my path to get the wire transfer cancelled (my bank says this will be done tomorrow), and pressure them to compensate me for any costs incurred.

The maker has emailed me, and agreed to discount me a small portion of the price. if the bank can be persuaded to refund me my lost money, then I am going to pay the maker the difference as a tip for services.

From now on, my international purchases will be done with international money orders, or credit card.

Thanks again, Michael Black

My limited experience with wire transfers have been OK, but rather hair raising, as 2 out of 3 goes ended up with the money 'not arriving' at the other end (all withing the continental US). The chap at the other end was able to get it sorted, but quite nerver racking due to the sums involved.

Something that worked surprisingly well for me recently was a money order sent through insured FedEx, with gaurenteed delivery etc etc. I was informed when the check was recieved by the seller (with signature). I had copies and a real paper trail, with insurance, of the whole transaction; I'm not sure if this would be of use internationally or in courts, or if things went bad, but it seemed like a good idea, and was quite fast. It was much cheaper than wire transfer or Western Union (at least locally). Can money orders be of different currencies? If so it might simplify things for your vendor as well.