"Cheques are archaic and unecessary"

One difference is that with a cheque you give/post it to the payee, who then takes/posts it to his bank, which then posts it to your bank, which then sends the money to the payee's bank,

whereas with a transfer form, you take/post it to your bank, which then sends the money to the payee's bank.

Another difference is that the payee can take the cheque straight to your bank and be given cash, so does not need to have a bank account. With a transfer form this is not possible.

For smallish value B2C transactions, cheques have already been abolished by a lot of UK traders.

The big problem, from a current UK point of view, of the German system is that it is uneconomical to make smallish B2C purchases from Germany, even though (for amateur radio) German companies have spares and accessories that are just not available from UK suppliers. Because they won't take plastic, or PayPal, one has to use a bank transfer, which costs GBP 15 to 20 for an item that may only cost GBP 25 (i.e you get hit for customs processing charges if you get it from the USA).

(Fortunately, in the case in question, I found another German supplier that did take plastic.)

Also, note that card holder not present can be done by post, as well as phone and online.

For mail order, I would expect the bank transfer to be done in person, at a branch, or online to the bank's web site.

Note that some UK traders will accept bank transfers, but most are reluctant to publish account details. I don't know if there is something about UK banking that particularly exposes one to fraud if one's account number is known.

Citibank currently have a Euro current account which does free SEPA transfers to Eurozone countries. But they're imposing a 10 pound fee on such transfers in a week or two so it's now a waste of time.

Does anyone else do similar accounts without fees?

I can't see why. It's on the bottom of every cheque!

The main useful property about cheques is that once you have one in your hand you can fairly sure you'll get the money. Maybe not from someone you've never heard of before, but the risks that a friend or a local business are passing dud cheques are quite low.

And it works offline. An instant bank transfer requires that you're both near computers or phones to check it's gone through. And if someone says they'll do a transfer because they're offline (perhaps they've come round to buy some flowerpots from your allotment - hardly a high risk purchase), you have to pester them until they actually do it or not release the goods until it happens. That might mean them taking another trip - at which point the transaction becomes more hassle than it's worth (or they use cash).

Even if everyone has online secure banking on their phone with universal reception, handing over a piece of paper is so much simpler!

Theo

Halifax Spain might work out cheaper

Thanks, looks interesting. They don't actually mention anything about transfers, but it might be worth enquiring.

Theo