Sorry about doing this in English, but it's probably better in good English rather than bad Dutch.
The United Kingdom and bank transfer (overschrijving).
I can read a lot of Dutch, and there is a lot of confusion on these boards regarding bank transfer to the United Kingdom. The solution to making bank transfers to the UK is actually very simple, send Euro! 🙂
UK bank accounts do not need to be held in Euro for you to do this. You send the money in exactly the same way as if you were making a payment to Germany or France.
Euro,IBAN and BIC, shared charges. 🙂
What does this mean for you? You will send at the normal cost, nothing in Belgium.
What does this mean for the seller? Seller will see Pounds arrive in his bank account and will pay only a very small conversion fee, less than paypal take!
What if you send Pounds? NO! 😮 :-(If you send Pounds you will have a large fee to pay, plus the cost of the exchange to pay! And it gets worse! Not only will you have to pay, but the UK seller may well have to pay a large fee as well! There would be no fee for the seller if Euro is sent.
Why is this? It's because EU regulation on bank transfer in the Euro currency applies to all EU countries even if they do not use the Euro.
Problems? Two problems. Most UK people are absolutely convinced they cannot give you their bank details safely and may react very badly at being asked for them. Yes, it is crazy but that's the way it is, so be careful asking for bank details.
Second problem is it does not make sense to most UK people that it is better for them to take Euro than Pounds, but it is! They may well get a nasty shock if they receive Pounds, a 7 Pound fee for one! 😮
In short, always make bank transfer payments to the UK in the same way you would to Germany, for the benefit of BOTH buyer and seller.
Note that of all the UK banks, National Westminster bank and Royal bank of Scotland both charges 1 Pound to send a stupid letter of advice to their customer advising them that they have received a bank transfer. I know, ridiculous.
