US money orders

Money Order available via

Daniel

that's for auction payments only now, which is a shame as it came in quite handy.

What about Paypal?

Roland.

I believe the times I sent money to the states previously it was via a money order (from barclays) "IMO"= International MOney Order , IIRC. I'm sure most banks would be able to do this.

How much is it for? If its for a small amount & personal (or not to a large business anyway) you may be much better off sending cash (US) or seeing if you can come to another agreement, such as buying an amazon voucher, because generally you would be asked to pay a minimum fee for one, IIRC Barclays charged about 10 for any value up to $1000 (or something in that region).

I had the same problem recently, other end suggested Western Union, would have used it if the local Lunn Poly (WU agents) were not so useless. Bear in mind they wanted £27 to send £202 (it was actually $350).

Gave up and phoned my bank, picked up a $ draft the next day from the branch and posted it to USA. Charged £12 if that helps.

Waq

Ray wrote:

It's for $300. I know I could do a bank transfer but I wanted something tangible to put in an envelope. I'm a bit wary about sending cash but I suppose that's what I'm going to have to do.

For $300, a tenner or so doesnt seem too high a price to pay for a money order, unless you dont have a bank account or one that does IMO's?? Depends how much trust you have in the receiving party and the post office, I dont suppose it would cost too much to fedex an envelope and you'd have an adit trail of it arriving?

Auction payments are the main purpose of the service, but can't it be used for other things as well? I don't see why you couldn't put 'other' in the auction site box any use the money order for any purpose you want.

I'm in the same position as the OP but as I only want to send $15 (or so) to someone in the US an IMO is probably a bit silly and cash seems the best way.

What's the easiest way to get a small amount of US currency in the UK? Will it need a visit to a bank / PO (a bit of a pain for me) or is there somewhere online I can order it from - without too many charges of course :-).

Go to somewhere with no comission charge, for example try Marks and Spencers (larger stores). Or ask around, you may have friends or relatives who have some lying around since a previous visit that it wasnt worth changing back.

Duh, why didn't I think of that - thanks for the suggestion.

One call to an aunt who visited Florida a couple of years ago and the problem is solved.

Thanks