UK Customers Buying Online / Cheapest way to do it

[gm89uk]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted a thread for UK buyers to see how to best financially purchase from diamonds online from the US. I'm not talking about customs 20% + 2.5% import charges. I'm talking about the actual cheapest way to buy at the time of purchase.

I know the Halifax Credit Card offers 0% charge on transactions but as far as I know it is impossible to do a bank wire charge. Where as the bank wire price is usually carries additional premium when using most current / saver accounts.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience found the cheapest way to buy diamonds in the US! Due to being short on time when I purchased my stone I paid 2.99% supplementary charge as was standard for my bank but now I have quite a few friends wanting to buy from the US, and I'm not sure how to best advise them to pay (time is our hands).

HSBC offer fee free transfer to foreign accounts but it requires a premier account which is unfeasible for most. Can things like travelex be used to pay for jewellery? Do US companies accept these sort of payments. I've found these extra charges can stack up to almost £400 on a ~£5000 purchase

Many thanks!

 

[LJsapphire]

I don't know whether it's relevant to jewellery but I have a travelex supercard (from the trial run) that they've just relaunched. It's changed from Visa to Mastercard but it means you get the best commercial mastercard rate (higher than most credit cards) with 0 fee. You can attach it to your own credit and debit cards so it's not a separate credit account as such.
I've used it to buy things on holiday and occasionally things from the US. Saves a few quid.

 

[pr0pel]

Call me naive but can't you pay with western union? Maybe you can work out something with a US vendor to accept it.

 

[Elepig]

Doesn't Western Union have limits?

 

[Snowdrop13]

The last time I put through a purchase my bank only charged a flat £10 fee on my online wire transfer- I thought that was pretty fair and certainly the cheapest way that I've done it. However, the rates of exchange are probably the most important factor which means that buying now (for me, anyway) will be a no-no at present

 

[LJsapphire]

I'm travelling to Vegas in August, I wish I'd bought my dollars before yesterday

 

[Sagefemme]

LJSapphire it's so sad to have made travel plans and then the vote goes the way it did! Hopefully there will be some recovery in the pound before you come.

 

[gm89uk]

Thanks a lot guys for all the advice.

Snowdrop13 would you mind telling me which bank charged you £10 for a wire transfer? I was with Barclays and now Santander that have considerably higher costs!

Although I made this topic with the exit polls in favour of remain but I don't anything any of us will be buying from the US anytime soon

When I bought my diamond the exchange rate was £1 to $1.58, only a year ago, now it's $1.36! That would have been a difference of £750 pounds based on exchange rate alone. Last week it was $1.46. Hopefully with some plans in order and stability over the next few months the sterling will creep back somewhat.

I also went to some local jewellers that stated prices may go up on their next stock due to increased import charges. But life goes on

LJSapphire, all the best with your travels, I'm also travelling quite a bit in the next few months and was due to buy euro the day before but the page timed out and I was too lazy to fill the form out again..

 

[LJsapphire]

Thanks both, my fiancé said he nearly changed some currency for me last week but some of the websites stopped doing it online because of the volatility before the referendum boo.

 

[dk168]

I'm travelling to Vegas in August, I wish I'd bought my dollars before yesterday

Same boat hear, travelling to LA at the end of July/early August.

However, I did make some significant purchases shortly before 24 June, so I cannot complain.

Hopefully, it is just a knee-jerk reaction to the shock and unexpected result, and the Sterling will bounce back soon! I live in hope!

DK

 

[gm89uk]

Hopefully what you lost in exchange rate you'll win on the tables!

 

[jenniann]

Hi! I use a company called Global Reach Partners and have been pretty happy with them. I live overseas now so quite often send funds back and forth and have used them for all my USD / GBP purchases. They also charge GBP10 per payment but the exchange rates are MUCH better than the banks. In the past have also used a company called HiFx but I think Global Reach are better and easier to deal with. There are other companies out there that do the same sort of thing.

 

[RosieR]

Hi Gm89uk,
I'm not sure which vendor you are working with but my next jewellery purchase is coming from IDJ in NY. IDJ have a PayPal account, so once my order and all the details have been decided on, they send me a bill and I'm able to pay without bank transfer fees. I'm sure you would be able to use a credit card without problems.
I hope this helps, and good luck with your purchase!