Currency conversion Thread poster: Maria Dilena
|
|---|
Maria Dilena 
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:29
Italian to English
+ ...
I am a translator who often gets paid in foreign currencies. I am just wondering if anybody has any particular recommendations as to which companies/operators to use to convert foreign currencies into pounds sterling?
| | | |
If I want to know the conversion rate and amount in a different currency I usually use www.xe.com When it comes to actual money exchange usually I'm either paid via Paypal which allows me to convert it to a different currency or I am paid by a transfer to my bank account and the bank applies its own exchange rate.
Best Regards
S
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 13:29
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Like Stanislaw, I use PayPal a lot; this has the advantage that one can keep the money in the PayPal account and wait until exchange rates are favourable before converting it back to the home currency. This is mainly of course applicable if you have a PayPal account in the source currency, and so it only gets 'converted' at the moment of transfer out to your account in the target currency.
Otherwise, I have found that there are generally greater day-to-day variations of exchange rat... See more Like Stanislaw, I use PayPal a lot; this has the advantage that one can keep the money in the PayPal account and wait until exchange rates are favourable before converting it back to the home currency. This is mainly of course applicable if you have a PayPal account in the source currency, and so it only gets 'converted' at the moment of transfer out to your account in the target currency.
Otherwise, I have found that there are generally greater day-to-day variations of exchange rates across the board than I have mainly found between different services. In other words, a less economic service on a good day may end up giving you a better rate than a more advantageous one on a bad day! The trouble is, of course, the (wo)man in the street has no way of 'forcing' the banks etc. to use a specific exchange rate — unless you change cash over the counter in a bureau de change!
In the past, I have requested my bank to make a transfer on a day when the exchange rate was favourable, only to find that it was much lower on the day the transfer actually went through 
Don't forget, of course, that the rates quoted by most of the on-line conversion services are business rates, not at all the same as the rates available to us mere mortals, which are more usually more or less equivalent to the 'tourist' rates.
If you do a lot of business with one currency, for example, in the €uro zone, it might be worth your while opening a €uro bank account somewhere, so that you can choose when to convert the funds back to £ according to rates trends. For more occasional use, PayPal is probably the simplest solution.
[Modifié le 2012-01-16 21:35 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | |
|
|
|
Tony M
France
Local time: 13:29
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Billing in foreign currencies | Jan 16, 2012 |
As a service to my foreign customers, I always quote my prices in my home currency (€), but agree to invoice in their home currency at the exchange rate prevailing on the day they place their order — that way, at least at that point they know exactly how much their job is going to cost.
Obviously I may gain or lose depending on just how the exchange rate moves between the order date and the final billing date; however, I feel it is only fair to share the risk with the cus... See more As a service to my foreign customers, I always quote my prices in my home currency (€), but agree to invoice in their home currency at the exchange rate prevailing on the day they place their order — that way, at least at that point they know exactly how much their job is going to cost.
Obviously I may gain or lose depending on just how the exchange rate moves between the order date and the final billing date; however, I feel it is only fair to share the risk with the customer in this way, and I have found this service is generally appreciated by my customers, who perceive it as a gesture of good faith.
In any case, however much I might worry about exchange rate issues, I have found that in practice it only involves a few tens of €, which, taking a broader perspective on things, isn't really all that important. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jaroslaw Michalak
Poland
Local time: 13:29
Member (2004)
English to Polish
SITE LOCALIZER
Tony M wrote:
I feel it is only fair to share the risk with the customer in this way, and I have found this service is generally appreciated by my customers, who perceive it as a gesture of good faith.
Actually, if the client is a big company, they might not face any risk at all - they both buy and sell in their home currency and in euro, so the exchange rate is irrelevant...
Nowadays currency subaccounts are dirt cheap in most banks, so it is worth opening them. That way you can save some funds for operations in that currency (e.g. buying books or software).
An interesting idea is a "community" currency exchange - basically it is an online service which matches those who want to buy a specific currency with thouse who want to sell it. Even though they charge a small commission, they rate looks quite attractive. I have not used such a service yet, though.
| | | | Alex Lago
Spain
Local time: 13:29
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Bank's are cheapest | Jan 17, 2012 |
Banks always offer the best exchange rates, for the simple reason that any other agency/service will have to take any currency they exchange to a bank.
I don't recommend using Paypal because they charge hefty fees and there exchange rate is usually low.
The best option I think is to open a bank account in the relevant currency and have your clients send payments into that account.
| | | | Jaroslaw Michalak
Poland
Local time: 13:29
Member (2004)
English to Polish
SITE LOCALIZER | Not really... | Jan 17, 2012 |
Alex Lago wrote:
Banks always offer the best exchange rates,
This is not true. There are currency exchanges (bureaus de change) where you might get better terms and negotiate them for larger amounts.
for the simple reason that any other agency/service will have to take any currency they exchange to a bank.
What having money in a bank account has anything to do with exchanging them?
| | |
|
|
|
Maria Dilena
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:29
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Currency conversion | Jan 17, 2012 |
Thank you all for your comments and tips. Much appreciated.
In much the same way as Stanislaw, I use PayPal or I am paid straight into my English bank account, however, as Tony states, with the lastly mentioned, I have no control over on which day payment is converted from Euros to Sterling, and often the exchange rate is not very favorable, added to the charges the bank then applies. I am looking into a Euro account as mentioned, which would resolve the issue of having no say as t... See more Thank you all for your comments and tips. Much appreciated.
In much the same way as Stanislaw, I use PayPal or I am paid straight into my English bank account, however, as Tony states, with the lastly mentioned, I have no control over on which day payment is converted from Euros to Sterling, and often the exchange rate is not very favorable, added to the charges the bank then applies. I am looking into a Euro account as mentioned, which would resolve the issue of having no say as to when payment is converted, as also mentioned by Annett with regards US dollars (i.e. account for different currency) and Alex. As far as I have gathered some banks apply monthly account charges for such an account, but for prolonged, sustained use, it probably works out better.
Tony, agreeing to invoice in the home currency appears a decent gesture, however, in my experience, this occurs on a few and far between basis.
Jabberwock, thank you for the suggestion of the community currency exchange, I will look into this in further detail. I must also agree with your comment on bureaus de change offering better exchange rates than banks – from what I have experienced, nine times out of ten, the banks provide a worse exchange rate than the bureaus de change.
I am however, fast coming to the conclusion, that it is quite a prickly subject, one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situations! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alex Lago
Spain
Local time: 13:29
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Please inform | Jan 18, 2012 |
Jabberwock wrote: Alex Lago wrote:
Banks always offer the best exchange rates,
This is not true. There are currency exchanges (bureaus de change) where you might get better terms and negotiate them for larger amounts.
Please send info on these as I exchange a lot of currency and to date bank's have always offered the best rate so any service offering better rates is interesting
Jabberwock wrote:
What having money in a bank account has anything to do with exchanging them?
I meant to say that normally the bureau de change take the currency the have exchanged to a bank, the traveller's cheques and bank notes are usually taken to the bank and the electronic transactions usually take place between bank accounts. Normally the bureau de change will exchange those currencies into their home currency using the bank to do so, I guess they could do it directly in the Forex market and in theory they could offer better rates than the banks but at least in my experience that is not the case so if you do know of specific services that do so I would be thankful as it would save money
| | | | Jaroslaw Michalak
Poland
Local time: 13:29
Member (2004)
English to Polish
SITE LOCALIZER
Alex Lago wrote:
Please send info on these as I exchange a lot of currency and to date bank's have always offered the best rate so any service offering better rates is interesting
I cannot recommend any exchange that would be suitable for you in Spain - for those you have to look yourself. In Poland you can have a look at these:
Online exchange:
http://internetowykantor.pl/
Community exchange:
https://www.walutomat.pl/
My bank rates:
http://www.aliorbank.pl/pl/o_banku/kursy_walut/kursy_walut_aktualne/main
Don't look at particular rates, just compare the spread: for EUR in the bank it's PLN 0.30, in the online exchange it's 0.03 and in the community exchange it's 0.001 between best offers (which might not be available, though, beside there is also a 1% commission).
Please note that these are just examples taken from the Internet - I do not know these companies personally and do not vouch for their honesty - they might be scammers for all I know. Bank exchange might not be the best in terms, but it is certainly the safest - with online exchanges you have to put up the funds upfront, so you really need to know you can trust them.
I meant to say that normally the bureau de change take the currency the have exchanged to a bank, the traveller's cheques and bank notes are usually taken to the bank and the electronic transactions usually take place between bank accounts. Normally the bureau de change will exchange those currencies into their home currency
It certainly does not work that way as it would have made no sense... To simplify things a lot, let's say the exchange has accounts for each of the major currency. Clients who want to exchange, say, EUR to PLN supply the EUR account and those who want to exchange PLN to EUR supply the PLN account. There is no need to exchange anything at the bank - if the customers came with cash, exchange could take literally the very same 100 EUR bank note given by the EUR-PLN customer and give it to the PLN-EUR customer... That's how it worked for years.
Of course, in reality it is much more complicated, but the general principle is the same - you receive funds in various currencies and you earn the difference between the purchase price and the sale price.
The same goes for big translation agencies: if some of their clients pay in USD and some in EUR, it does not matter for them if the translator wants to be paid in one or the other currency - no bank exchange is involved.
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Currency conversion | Wordfast Pro | Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
| | Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
