Wire Tranfers from US to non-US buyers

Safety concerning bank account numbers

[rkfrtsch]

I've been reading a lot lately about international shipping and wire transfers. As I understand, wire transfers are the safest form of payment for the US seller, since of once the money is there - it's there. My concern is not with the security of retaining that one deposit, but is instead with the security of giving away a check account number and routing number. Can these be used by anyone to pay for a credit card statement or utility? For example, my credit card has a site where all I have to do is enter in any bank account number and the correlating routing number to pay for a payment. There doesn't seem to be much security there and it has always made me wonder whether anyone with one of my checks could do the same, since that information is on every check. Now the concern never arised too much regarding my checks because I write checks out to a few local people at most. Giving a person 5000 miles away that information worries me a little more. Any thoughts or experiences?

[warrisr]

We have been accepting wire payments from overseas customers for a couple of years now with no issues. We don't post our banking details on our website however. Instead when a customer places an order on our site and wants to pay with a wire transfer we follow up with an email message that contains our banking details.

As a an additional precaution we also set up a separate bank account specifically for wire payments. We don't maintain a balance in that account and as soon as funds are wired in, we transfer them out to our regular business account.

To date not a single problem with hundreds of successful wire payments.

[rkfrtsch]

That's a very good idea to set-up a separate bank account for international wire-transfers. Keeping that at a minimul balance would essentially fully protect oneself from fraud withdrawls - Thanks

I would still like to hear from others on the feasibility of using another's account and routing numbers to pay for other goods such as credit card statements and utilities. It was such a shock to find how easy it was to enter in the two numbers and have the withdrawl commence from my account with no confirmation request from the bank.

[sun818]

It depends on the service processing the ACH. I know one service will actually generate a business check for processing. You receive this check with your monthly bank statement. Another service I use pulls from my bank account. I imagine level of security and verification will also vary based on the processor.

[topr8]

>>wire transfers are the safest form of payment for the US seller, since of once the money is there - it's there.

wire transfers can also be reversable (in cases of fraud)

[geekay]

wire transfers can also be reversable (in cases of fraud)

I really don't think it's appropriate to scare members with such extreme threats. I don't know inter-American banking, but we are discussing international transfers here. Do you imagine a US bank would take back money, already in your account, simply at the request of a foreign bank? Could there possibly be some exceptionally rare reasons?

First it has to be somehow established that fraud has occured. (I presume that you don't mean that YOU have been fraudulently soliciting transfers to your account... Still, you have to be convicted first.)

I've seen this issue coming up again and again for years in different US e-commerce forums. I'm in the European Union and couldn't understand why Americans were so afraid of giving out the very same information that is on every cheque they issue. Within the Euro currency area (doesn't include UK) wire transfers are free or nearly free and are usually executed by yourself, on your own PC. Everybody has an account.

In most EU countries cheques are virtually defunct. If I want to buy a foreign cashiers' cheque/bank draft I have to go to my bank in person and apply for one. I then collect it later, after the bank has checked that I'm not in the money laundring business etc. Finally I have to send it off by snail mail.

Then I learned about your ACH. In my country public utilities like electricity, water, telephone, as well as other multicustomer companies, can be authorized to automatically withdraw the invoiced amounts from your bank account. But first you have to go in person to your bank and sign a written authorization. However, I understand ACH could even be a verbal agreement. Still, your account details are on your cheques.

I sincerely hope more Americans would dare to accept wire transfers from abroad. The worst drawback is the costs. When I make a direct transfer to USA my costs are $15, but the US seller may have to pay up to $40 in different charges to his own bank. In any case, at least ask your bank how to take SWIFT-cheques from abroad.