Economical Money Transfer to USA

When you say "help him out with", does this mean you're covering only part of the cost of the laptop? If all of it, might not the simplest and cheapest way be to buy it using your credit card?

Otherwise PayPal might not be too bad.

Yep, he is 14 and has a good saving habit, so he is halfway to a super gaming laptop, this amount brings it within reach.

The simplest way might be to buy some dollars and give them to him when the family come over here in July, or maybe give the sterling to his parents to spend whilst they're over here, and let them give him the dollar equivalent when they go back. I'm sure he'll negotiate a good exchange rate. ;-) But his birthday has just passed...

Thanks I'll look at that.

If the family are coming here, I'm sure they'd appreciate spending money in sterling. No point in paying for 2 changes in currency.

At one time Western Union had the lowest commission. They get a bad press in not having the same terms and conditions as PayPal when you've been had through a fraudulent transaction. Also it's never been in eBay's interest to say anything good about alternatives to PayPal.

I don't use PayPal unless it is used when I'm buying online and the other party employs it.

I've received a ton of faked emails from "PayPal" over the years, some with a payload, some phishing, and it makes me a bit cautious.

Western Union is fine for sending money to family members. That's what it is designed for. You should not be using Western Union for any type of transaction because it is not designed for that. They themselves say that.

Thanks, bookmarked.

You can transfer through Paypal which is an instant and affordable solution to transfer money anywhere.