That is how I paid for my last-but-one purchase, with a guilders check drawn on
Rabobank (one of Hollands largest banks - sponsor of a Tour-de-France team).
Jaap was still not happy, but he accepted it, so perhaps the charges to him
turned out to be minimal or nil. The check cost me 50 DKK = 6 USD from my bank
in Denmark. But bank charges and credit card charges are not the same around the
world. In some countries, it seems to cost money to pay ANY check into your
account, even in native currency. And credit cards are another thing. Credit
card companies in Denmark are not allowed to charge shops anything for a
transaction (like the 2 1/2% that shops get charged in the US), otherwise cash
customers effectively pay towards credit card customers credit through increased
prices. Instead a Mastercard costs around $60 a year.
Paypal can also be a hassle in getting verified. My credit card statement does
not show the verification code on the 1 USD transaction that paypal sends to
verify the account; lots of problems....
mvh / regards
Roger Key
One option is to send a 'bank draft' or 'foreign draft' to him.
I did this to get a macrophoto stand, XD-E base and some other goodies
(thanks Rudy). I'm not sure where you live, but a reasonably large town
(250,000 in my case) should have a bank that can do one of these. I know of
another person that had to order one from another city.
Anyway, you take them cash (or check if you have an account), pay a fee
($10.00 in my case) and they will give you a check in whatever currency you
want (Guilders for you) drawn to a bank in the destination country. The
last part is important. You want it in the correct currency and from a bank
with an address in the Netherlands. That way it (should) be just like any
other check. Of course, I'm not sure it would be any different than cash.
i.e. I don't think they will replace the $, like a money order, if it gets
lost in the mail.
You can then send it registered/certified/under lock-and-key with signature
required....or just send cash.
Maybe it is different for Jaap, but it worked beautifully for Germany.
HTH,
--p.j.
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