SAAFE forum
General Category => Questions and Answers => Topic started by: MistressMorgana on 29 August 2016, 06:27:09 pm
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Has anyone accepted foreign currency? It's the Euro.
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Yes I would accept it once I've worked out the exchange rate plus any commission I'd need to pay to have it changed into ?'s. Not sure if your bank would do it for free.
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Yes, it's the commission I'm not sure about.
I'll check with the bank in the morning but money is money. I've never been offered foreign currency before :)
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A guy paid me in euros a few weeks back- I just went to my bank and they changed it to pounds for me free.
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I would quickly Google the exchange calculator and then round up a touch to cover the bother and commission of going to the exchange.
So I've just calculated 120 pounds to euros - it's 140.46. I would ask for 145 euros to cover the commission as well as the bother of exchanging (and the risk that something momentous happens in the few hours before doing so that sets the Euro plunging.)
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Make sure you know exactly what valid notes of any currency you accept look and feel like. Plenty of people have been given fakes or unusable 'old' money.
I'm reasonably sure I could go 'that's a legit Euro note', but I wouldn't touch anything else. And the ?:? exchange rate would be in my favour.
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This is interesting - I had a guy ask to pay me in Euros before but I refused because I just automatically assumed he was trying to pass fake notes, and I wouldn't be confident spotting them. (I'm pretty hot on spotting fake GBP.)
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My bank told me today's rate is 1.28, which is surprisingly good for the Euro.
I'll check tomorrow and will round up.
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Why not just send them around to the bank first?
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I occasionally accept dollars/euros/swiss franks from regular American/european/Swiss clients, but would never accept from a new client. Also makes sense for me as I travel to the us and Switzerland a lot and keep the euros for holiday.
I don't like Scottish or Northern Irish notes as I have never been to Scotland or N.Ireland and I don't know what a legitimate note looks like and definitely could not tell a fake.
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I've accepted euro's before, not had a problem. But the clients just had them on them, I would be wary of someone asking in advance if he could pay in another currency, especially if it was a large amount.
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That's a good point. Someone just arrived in London with only Euros on them at the moment I guess makes sense. But there's no reason he can't pop to a bank and make an exchange.
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That's a good point. Someone just arrived in London with only Euros on them at the moment I guess makes sense. But there's no reason he can't pop to a bank and make an exchange.
The bank could be closed, in my case it was on a Saturday afternoon and he offered to pay extra for taking photo's and another time on an evening when a client wanted to extend his booking but only had euros.
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If I am about to go on holiday within a few months I will accept foreign currency for the country I am going to.
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The bank could be closed, in my case it was on a Saturday afternoon and he offered to pay extra for taking photo's and another time on an evening when a client wanted to extend his booking but only had euros.
Cashpoints are always open. If a punter said "Yes but it'll charge me 5% transaction fee waaahhh waaahhhh" then I'd probably say I was going to charge them ?20 admin fee so it'd still work better to go and draw some cash!
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Personally I only accept UK pound sterling and state this on AW and my website. Not saying every client who offers to pay in Euros or whatever is a con artist, just prefer to make life easier for myself. Plus as someone else says how EASY is it just to go to a cashpoint!! Or exchange the damn money themselves.......
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Has anyone accepted foreign currency? It's the Euro.
I just up the euro a lot for my rate don't forget about the bank charge to change but the post office doesn't.
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I wouldn't have an issue with accepting euros or USA dollars but not anything else. But it wouldn't be at currency exchange rate it would be higher. This would be to justify myself going to bank with their shitty exchange rates and having to pay parking and well because I am wasting my time.
I don't need to pop into bank with sterling I can lodge in machines/cash points but only sterling, no other currencies.
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I wouldn't have an issue with accepting euros or USA dollars but not anything else. But it wouldn't be at currency exchange rate it would be higher. This would be to justify myself going to bank with their shitty exchange rates and having to pay parking and well because I am wasting my time.
I don't need to pop into bank with sterling I can lodge in machines/cash points but only sterling, no other currencies.
Exactly if they want me to mess around and do what they couldn't be bothered. They pay more for the extra service. :) I'm not doing this for nothing in my free time. I should tour the Republic.
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Most money exchanges will do it with no commission. Otherwise the euro is happily accepted in most visited countries.
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Ive took euros but I round it up to 150 euros for my hourly rate which is ?120
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Be very careful, there are a lot of fake Euro notes around. Personally, I don't see why they can't nip to the bank before their arrival. If they are genuine, some shops offer a straight exchange rate, such as TK Maxx, but I wouldn't really want to be limited in that way.
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I'd make them do it personally.
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No. I had a few guys in London tell me "oh but it must be easy for you to spend euros". Still no, I just told them I pay my rent and my groceries in pound sterling. And I'm sorry but cash points are everywhere.
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It would be a lot easier if people did a lot of things.
You are running a business that is based on convenience. People don't know where the nearest exchange is, they don't have time, they are here on meetings, have limited time where as you have lots of time. Not your problem, but if you are happy to lose work because you won't accept other currencies.. Pretty much anyone in a cash-based business would accept other currencies (that can be exchanged in the UK, not currencies that are hard to exchange), why create a negative barrier with someone that is wanting to give you money and business? You lose money via credit card transaction fees if you offer credit card payments, you get charged inward fees for international transfers from clients. All businesses have these expenses. The bank will exchange it for free or a small fee when you next do your banking.
It's all as valid as a pound. Just round up to the nearest 50 or 100. If you are charging someone 250 for some services and the exchange is 409, make it 450. If it's 470 just say 500.
Fake notes are very easy to spot. They generally aren't spotted as people are rushing and not looking (when they are used commercially). The paper never feels the same, even the really good ones.
Never had a single person argue when I say to round it up to the 50 or 100 (people understand there is currency conversion fees, and you are doing them a favour).
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If I'm about to go on holiday I will accept them.
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If fake notes were easy to spot, shops wouldn't be taking them. Unless an escort is familiar with a currency, I'd seriously advise that none of us ladies accept it. But to the rest of that, are you being serious? He can go to a bank, a currency exchange shop or a post office. It poses the question of why someone would even ask to book an escort with foreign money.
Also, it will cost a lot of us time and money to get it exchanged and buses and petrol stations don't accept the euro.
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Pretty much anyone in a cash-based business would accept other currencies
I disagree with this. If I walked into a pub or a corner shop and asked to pay with Euros I'd be told to do one. Maybe a taxi driver who works near an airport, sure, because he's going to be dealing with a lot of foreign visitors and if he accepts other currencies then he has an edge over his competitors. But for most people who accept cash, there's no way they are going to accept other currencies, and neither am I.
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I disagree with this. If I walked into a pub or a corner shop and asked to pay with Euros I'd be told to do one. Maybe a taxi driver who works near an airport, sure, because he's going to be dealing with a lot of foreign visitors and if he accepts other currencies then he has an edge over his competitors. But for most people who accept cash, there's no way they are going to accept other currencies, and neither am I.
+1