Bank transfer

[KevinS]

Nohero,

STOP!

Are you following VRBO's recommendations? Have you spoken with the villa manager/owner by telephone? If not, stop right now and make the phone call. VRBO has had issues where a villa-owner's email has been hacked, and rental payments have been made to thieves instead of the owner. A telephone call - but only to the number listed on the VRBO site - will give you better assurance that you're really renting from the owner.

GO!

OK, assuming that you've followed proper VRBO security protocols, yes, Bank Transfers are a normal form of payment. Checks written in US dollars are deposited on SBH, and can take many weeks, even a few months, to get credited to an owner's account. A dishonest renter can book, pay, arrive, and depart before a phony check is detected. A Bank Transfer is faster, and better protects the owner from fraud. Your US bank will price-gouge you on the transfer fee. Consider it a cost of doing business and move on.

To nobody in particular, and just because this year-old thread has resurfaced:

I repeat what I said in post #4 on this thread. You have to be sure that you know who you're wiring the money to. VRBO is very familiar with this problem, and has specific recommendations in place to help you to protect yourself. If you're renting through VRBO then be sure to follow them.

If the process of wiring money for a villa payment makes you nervous then perhaps you shouldn't be doing it, and should be renting through one of the well known SBH villa rental agencies instead. I would suggest that you do business with an agency with a US office to which you can mail a check. WIMCO, owners of this site, and St Barth Properties, a competing agency, are two that come to mind. Both are US-based, are well known, have been in business for years, and have good reputations.

 

[stbartslover]

My friend Kevin is right, no phone contact & confirmation = no deal.
In my case, I accept wires only rarely for rental payment, since it can be hard to track.
Foreign wire transfers pass through several institutions each way--- as when I wire to my own French account: my local bank, secondary bank (US), secondary bank (French) then to the beneficiary bank in France.
For me, it's typically a US or Canadian check, which I make a copy of, deposited to US bank.
Otherwise, I rely on Pay-Pal, which is clearly visible/trackable for both parties---I've found a lot of younger people prefer this method.
Note: I was recently informed by my French bank that the wire process has changed and now requires additional documentation such as the complete IBAN.

 

[Purplejeep]

My friend Kevin is right, no phone contact & confirmation = no deal.
In my case, I do wires (to the US only) rarely for rental payment, since foreign wire transfers often must pass through more than one bank each way.
Typically, it's a US or Canadian check, which I make a copy of, deposited into a US acct.
Otherwise, I rely on Pay-Pal, which is easily trackable for both parties---I've found a lot of younger people prefer this method.
Note: I was recently informed by my French bank that the wire process has changed and now requires additional doccumentation.

This may work if you are a US citizen, but many villa owners are not. It takes weeks for a US check to clear in a St Barth bank. We have had no trouble whatsoever with wire transfers, it now takes 2 days tops ( it used to take much longer)- in fact we use them almost exclusively. Since we use the funds in St Barth to pay expenses there, it makes the most sense to have rental payments sent by wire transfer. Paypal will not transfer US funds to a foreign account ( you would need to transfer to a US bank account and then do a wire transfer). The best advice is to know with whom you are dealing- I am always happy to speak to potential guests by phone and/or provide referrals. While I agree that caution and common sense should be heeded, please don't make it seem that anyone who asks for payment by wire transfer is running a scam.

 

[Petri]

.. to which you can mail a check.

Just curious as I've never used checks, what makes them secure? Can't anyone just go to a bank and cash it if they get hold of it?

PS. Last autumn I wired money to Uganda, Kenya and Botswana Surprisingly enough, they all arrived in less than a week.

 

[KevinS]

Petri, it's not so much what makes them secure, it's what people are comfortable doing. In the US the use of checks is an everyday thing. Most people in the US don't know what a wire transfer is, and will never use one in their lifetime.

 

[Petri]

Petri, it's not so much what makes them secure, it's what people are comfortable doing. In the US the use of checks is an everyday thing. Most people in the US don't know what a wire transfer is, and will never use one in their lifetime.

Ok, so it's like checks to me One of the benefits of euro has been the IBAN/SEPA things has been Euro-wide bank transfers, it doesn't make a difference if the recipient is in the same country or e.g. in France. The account number tells everything and the charges, if any, are the same.

The minus side has been the European version of the direct debit that has replaced the perfectly working national version, a bit clumsy and all privacy issues have made the e-invoices pretty annoying. But after some sweat and hard work I'm finally getting all my invoices directly to the online bank, they are paid automatically and I can check them out before they are paid. For example when American Express switches to e-Invoices, until October everything was direct debit (old style), in November everyone had to pay the bill manually, and from December it was e-Invoice and one could click it to be paid automatically.

 

[george]

...Paypal will not transfer US funds to a foreign account ( you would need to transfer to a US bank account and then do a wire transfer)...

Not sure what you mean, I use PayPal frequently for international transactions. Recepient has to have a PayPal account from which he/she can transfer money to the bank account...
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/country-worldwide

 

[Purplejeep]

I will look into it again - it has been a few years, but I remember Paypal saying that they could not connect our Paypal account to our SBH bank account. For instance, I can transfer funds directly from my Paypal to my US bank account, but I cannot transfer them directly to our SBH account. Not really a big deal, as mentioned we almost always use wire transfer. If we have guests who are not comfortable with that we always find a way to accommodate them.

Not sure what you mean, I use PayPal frequently for international transactions. Recepient has to have a PayPal account from which he/she can transfer money to the bank account...
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/country-worldwide

 

[Thibault]

As a French villa owner with 1 property on VRBO (no the St Barts one, but one in Bali), I know that wiring money can be scary to Americans, while it is the normal way in France.I agree that you should get the owner's name, google her/him, check their Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, etc. Seems crazy, but a business would do the same before wiring thousands of hard earned dollar to another company. Why shouldn't you do the same?Now, I also let people pay me through Paypal and use the new online secure payment that sites like Homeaway and VRBO offer.But in doubt, do get the owner on the phone. You can tell a lot by somebody's voice.

 

[stbartshopper]

I purchased several pieces of jewelry for a tidy amount for my wife from the store Donna Del Sol using a bank transfer and had no problems. Donna shipped them to me during a trip to the U.S. and they arrived safe and sound. I must admit I was nervous about it as the money is bye bye if someone wants to be nefarious with it. Donna assured me it is done all the time at her store. She would not accept a credit card over the phone, by email or fax.