Hi, this is a rehash of an old post I made a year or so ago on the old site. I have checked the details and they still hold true.
When you finally make that original art sale over the web (and it is not one of the many thousands of phishing emails sent out daily) then you need to be able to accept payment quickly and direct into the bank. Paypal is good for quick sales but most artists prefer to work with their banks direct.
SWIFT bank transfers are available worldwide so I am concentrating on this one.
IBAN is one single account to receive payments from Europe (whilst it still exists for us UK members) or worldwide for cross border EU payments.
All you need is IBAN, SWIFT or BIC code and Account number of the beneficiary you pay for.
EUROPEAN MEMBERS If you don’t quote your IBAN number and you submit only SWIFT code in the payment form, then the transaction will be considered foreign wire transfer and your bank will charge you the foreign transfer rate, even though it involves the banks in two neighbouring European countries.
Some banks will charge USD 45.- or EUR 20.- for initiating a foreign transfer, which indeed is very expensive say if you want to pay somebody just EUR 10 to a person in neighbouring EU country like from France to Germany.
USA MEMBERS use BIC or SWIFT
SWIFT stands for
Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication – a banking industry intranet for worldwide communications and funds transfer.
Basically this is the safest way for you to receive payments from overseas or even from your own country.
All you need is your number, which should be on your bank statement. If it is not then contact your bank and ask for yours. We all have one if we have a bank account.
The purchaser will then pay from their bank into that number. It is called a SWIFT transfer. It is immediate and it is bank secure.
This is the growing way to transfer money rapidly and safer than PayPal.That’s it…easy as that!
NEVER issue art before your customers payment has gone through
NEVER accept cheques from people contacting you on the web
NEVER allow them to say they will use their own shipping company. Always use be in charge of your own shipping.
NEVER answer emails that do not specifically name the piece in the initial correspondence, or from someone buying for someone whilst on an oil rig etc. If in doubt, put the email they are using into Google search. Or the words used. You will find most of the spam / phishing ones there
ALWAYS make sure you have added shipping costs to your price before asking for payment
ALWAYS be up front about all your costs and
ALWAYS pay for the insurances in case the work is lost
