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Show HN: I built a site to compare fees and rates for sending money abroad
- davchana 7y agoAbout, FAQ, Contact links are not working..
- Rulero 7y agoI haven't got round to populating that content as I have only been working on this for around a week - it's a proof of concept. I am planning on adding a lot more content to the site, including reviews within the next 2 weeks.
- danpalmer 7y agoYou could drop the links for now, it was quite frustrating trying to figure out why the FAQ link wasn't working, whether it was my ad blocker (often the case).
- jes81 7y agoInteresting concept, I was chewing on something similar a few months ago and excited to see someone put this into action. Looking forward to following your growth. - JS
- jermaustin1 7y agoUS to UK returned no results. US to ARG returned only transferwise.
- pighive 7y agoUSD to INR results only two quotes.
- Rulero 7y agoI have only implemented 3 providers at this point considering it's a proof of concept and I want to validate the idea before spending more time on it.
- wglb 7y agoMissing a pretty substantial player: https://www.sendwave.com/ https://www.sendwave.com/
- Rulero 7y agoThank you so much, will get them added :)
- ivanstojic 7y agoUSA to HRK, only one option - transferwise. Are you sure you didn't build a transferwise clickbait? I know for a fact there are other services that do this transfer.
- Rulero 7y agoI have only implemented 3 providers - Transferwise, TransferGo and Currencyfair. I started this project around a week ago and want to gather some feedback as it's currently a proof of concept. I am working on adding more providers. If you have any suggestions please let me know.
- ivanstojic 7y agoWestern Union, IB, sendwave, bank transfers... there's all kinds of options really...
- simtel20 7y agoIn addition to some other suggestions, xoom was bought by paypal a while ago - before transferwise and before they were bought by paypal, they were my go-to for international transfers.
- antigirl 7y agoThe UX should display all service providers in the header - on search result page and grey out the ones that are not applicable.
- axaxs 7y agoThis seems heavily weighted reliant on transferwise. I picked a combo where I'm familiar with the many options, and it only listed Transferwise. Stopping short of making unsavory correlations here, I'll just say you should research adding more options before advertising it.
- Rulero 7y agoThanks, I have only been working on this for around a week and I'm looking to add more countries and providers. Could you let me know the combinations you searched so I can get those implemented at some point?
- d--b 7y agoBottom line: they're all kind of the same, except TransferWise is generally better... Plus they're customer service is _awesome_. I'm not a TransferWise employee or shareholder, but been using the service since the start, and been blown away by the quality of service. My story is that I made a big transfer (400k+) on the day before the Brexit vote (cause I thought that Brexit wouldn't happen, and the pound would bounce back). Because of the trading volume on that day, TransferWise missed the deadline. So I got in touch with them, they told me that they would give me the best rate between the one that I had locked in and the live market rate the next day. Basically I didn't lose 10k+ because they're decent guys.
- thedanbob 7y agoTheir borderless accounts are great, I needed to transfer some money from family in Australia and through them it was super simple: local transfer -> convert to USD -> local transfer.
- sarp 7y agoI don't see Turkey on the list :(
- kdlmm 7y agoTransferWise has a dedicated team working on a pretty similar tool to compare fees and rates for sending money abroad. They have a lot of banks and other fintech companies: https://transferwise.com/gb/compare/ https://transferwise.com/gb/compare/ Are you just using their data and adding your affiliate link to it?
- Rulero 7y agoNo. I have built my own API for this. If you observe closely from that list most of the companies that are on there are banks. They don't really include competitors because they know that their rates will always beat the banks.
- Sschellbach 7y agoIs bitcoin an option worth comparing
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- alexpetralia 7y agoI would highly recommend Interactive Brokers! You trade on the spot market and avoid all the fees except a $2 flat trading fee.
- chipuni 7y agoOnly one result for US to Mexico? You should look at other companies...
- Rulero 7y agoThanks for the feedback. I am working on adding more providers, if you have any suggestions on companies please let me know.
- altmind 7y agoNo Russia, Ukraine, Belarus in the countries list. Obviously, they have at least western union and moneygram.
- Rulero 7y agoI will get those added within a day or two. If you have any more suggestions or feedback please let me know. This is only a proof of concept and I am very keen on improving it further.
- dgudkov 7y agoI like the concept. Looking forward to see more countries and services.
- Rulero 7y agoThank you very much. If you have any suggestions regarding more providers or services please let me know as I am keen in improving the site.
- dmlorenzetti 7y agoA few minor UI comments. + Failing to select an amount to send should raise a flag. + Entering a negative amount to send should raise a flag. + After viewing a result, if I hit `back` on my browser (say, to compare results for a different transfer amount), it resets the currencies to their defaults (for me, U.S. and Argentina). It would be nicer to remember my selections.
- Rulero 7y agoThank you very much for your feedback, will get these changes implemented :)
- jscholes 7y agoLove this idea. I'm currently looking for a way to be sent money from Mexico (to the UK), and was disappointed that the site currently had no suggestions. On that note, it's probably better to show an error message instead of an empty table when that happens. I also have some accessibility suggestions; if you're looking to improve things on that front hit me up.
- Rulero 7y agoThanks, will send you an email shortly.
- shartshooter 7y agoRemitly has been a great resource for sending money abroad, I'd love to see that included but it looks like they don't have an API
- Rulero 7y agoI will contact them, who knows... if you don't ask you never get! Thanks :)
- solarengineer 7y ago1. You may want to invite suggestions via the website itself so that visitors don't get the wrong impression that you're just some affiliate for transferwise. 2. consider publishing a roadmap that you update with suggestions from this HN discussion. 3. Some way to report errors or surprises via the web site itself. 4. A disclaimer that you are not vouching for any agency that you are mentioning at your website.
- jaclaz 7y ago>1. You may want to invite suggestions via the website itself so that visitors don't get the wrong impression that you're just some affiliate for transferwise. This. I tried some random tests and often Transferwise was the only result, so at first sight I had that impression. Maybe you could add a "detail" drop down menu (or whatever) where you list all the services you considered with "service not available from country A to country B". As a side note, it seems to me like the "engine" has only a small subset of states/countries.
- pgt 7y ago"Enter amount, e.g. 2500" <- What currency is this?
- Rulero 7y agoCurrency from the country you are sending from. However, point noted. Will add something to make this more obvious.
- jasongrishkoff 7y agoYour data for Transferwise seems to assume the worst-case scenario of fees with a wire transfer. For example, you say US$100 to GBP nets $6.85 in fees. But looking right now from my dashboard, if I send with my balnace, the fee is $1.18. With ACH its' $1.73. With credit card it's $4.81. With debit card it's $2.27. The worst and most-cumbersom option is wire transfer, but that's what your system defaults too?
- Rulero 7y agoThat's a decision I made during development in order to get this proof of concept out as quickly as possible and gather some feedback. This price is what I am getting from their API and for bank transfers. I am glad you picked up on this because I thought of placing a button which says "More Info" which will have a popup and display all options and fee. You've just validated my assumption and it's something I will be working on adding.
- wwsculley 7y agoWhat inspired you to build this site? Who is your target customer? I ask because I love the idea of building a search engine for payments, given how fragmented and localized the money-transfer market is. Also, I'm familiar with a few sites that are similar: https://www.monito.com/ https://www.monito.com/ https://www.fxcompared.com/ https://www.fxcompared.com/ https://www.saveonsend.com/ https://www.saveonsend.com/ I'm curious about what gap in these services you're hoping to fill.
- Rulero 7y agoI'm based in UK and we have a lot of comparison sites such as GoCompare, MoneySuperMarket, etc. but none of these has the vertical I am targetting. That's what initially sparked the idea. In terms of the target audience, I would say it's quite broad because this is something that quite a few people use on multiple occasions. Right now, I will be targetting individuals who live abroad and remit money back to their country and then start expanding further to individuals who travel, individuals who want to purchase large assets abroad, etc. Thanks for sharing those sites - I had never come across them and Monito pretty much looks like where I would like to be in the future. I'm going to have two angles a) for individuals and b) for businesses. After having a quick look at the links you provided these sites only seem to cover (a). I would like my site to be the go-to place for money transfers, for individuals and businesses.
- maz1b 7y agoThis is a cool idea! US > Pakistan doesn't work. US > India took quite a while too.
- Rulero 7y agoMaybe none of the providers I work with the support that route. I will be adding a few more integrations in the upcoming week or two - hopefully we should be able to get some results for US > PK.
- nikolay 7y agoPlease, add Bulgaria, too!
- Rulero 7y agoOf course :)
- jlizzle30 7y agoThis is great! Would have definitely help me out when I moved to the US. People don't realize the fees banks charge for currency conversion is not the entire story. My bank offered me 'no-fee' CAD to USD transfers but were giving me a 5% worse exchange rate than competitors. Be careful out there!
- Scoundreller 7y agoFor larger amounts, look into “Norbert’s Gambit”. Basically, but a stock that trades in Toronto with CAD, call your broker to move it to the US side, then sell it for USD. Convert any amount for 2 brokerage charges (2x$10 for me). Yes, it exposes you to stock market fluctuations for that stock for a few hours or days (depending on your broker), but at least you get to stay in the market instead of the money being “dead”. Arbitrageurs keep the prices exactly in sync several thousand times per day.
- jlizzle30 7y agoGreat idea; thanks!
- astrosloth 7y agoWhat's the difference between this and Transferwise
- srameshc 7y agoThis is great !! You should target the expats from each country in US and that will help you a lot in understanding how to market. There are some sites which are popular in certain expat communities, like sulekha.com for Indian expats, where you could advertise. This is a common problem for many people and this could certainly become a must tool before every transfer. I have bookmarked it for further transfers :)
- anotheryou 7y agoThere was one interesting alternative way to send money through a network of some honest man. For some I believe middle-eastern countries it at least used to be the only way. Does anyone know what that was? I got told by a film crew that found this to be the only way. It all worked out for them.
- afrnz 7y agoYou probably mean the Hawala system that has been around for a few centuries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala
- anotheryou 7y agoexactly, fascinating! Thanks!
- Havoc 7y agoThe fact that it endures long term is probably the most fascinating part. Internet...wars...globalization... ...trust & honor prevails.
- anotheryou 7y agowell I guess it's a bit less mystical with trust and honor. Probably you are not trusted with huge transactions at first and there are sanctions against you and your familie und the loss of this job when you break the "contract".
- Havoc 7y agoPlease add Xendpay (for GBP to ZAR)
- MuffinFlavored 7y agoWas the entire idea behind Libra (from Facebook) that the entire "sending money abroad" market would get revolutionized over night? (Faster, less fees, less regulations, easier to do?)
- ars 7y agoBug report: When you hit back after looking at a quote, it puts the countries back at the default of Argentina.
- html5web 7y agoAdd all countries that are available in the APIs you are using.
- trance1100 7y agoYou should verify that the amount entered is not a negative number. Noticed that it took those in.
- arisAlexis 7y agothere is a good one, cheap borderless and you don't need a "provider"
- throwaway9d0291 7y agoTwo issues that I see as someone who frequently sends money abroad: - I live in a country where Revolut is available so I generally pay nothing for international transfers. Perhaps this could be addressed by adding "country of residence"? - When I need to transfer money between my own accounts, I often use my Interactive Brokers account as it gives market rate conversions and a free transfer every month. It has inactivity fees but if you happen to keep a large amount of money there, it's "free".
- kochikame 7y agoWhy are some major countries e.g. Japan not represented?
- Rulero 7y agoAdded. I'm adding them based on demand.
- ddtaylor 7y agoWould you consider adding cryptocurrency exchanges as an option?
- Rulero 7y agoPotentially, in the future, it has crossed my mind. If people ask for it, it will definitely happen.
- mariushn 7y agoWould love to see a similar listing for bank fees on transfers. Some banks have free transfers, others charge a fixed sum, others charge a percentage.
- orangetang 7y agoNeed the hawala option!