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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
kilometerage?
Thomas E. Witte, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Cincinnati | OH | USA | Posted: 4:30 PM on 10.24.10 |
->> I was just prepping an invoice for a German client when A: I realized it's probably not called "mileage" over there and B: it might be higher than the current $0.34 I charge ($0.55 ÷ 1.6 = 0.34).
So to my EU brethren, what is the proper term for it and what is the going rate? |
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Jock Fistick, Photographer
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Brussels | Belgium | | Posted: 5:15 PM on 10.24.10 |
->> Thomas:
On my invoices I list it as a line item - Distance Traveled: Brussels to Cologne 400km round trip.
And the fee can vary from .30 to.50 depending on the client. I usually charge .50/km and rarely have it questioned. But then fuel is less expensive in the U.S. :-) |
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Thomas E. Witte, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Cincinnati | OH | USA | Posted: 6:58 PM on 10.24.10 |
->> Jock-
That's true on the fuel being cheaper, which is why I figured it would be more beneficial for me to charge a kilometer rate versus a mile rate. I am after all charging all other rates and expenses in to Euros. It just for some reason never hit me until today. |
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Jock Fistick, Photographer
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Brussels | Belgium | | Posted: 4:38 AM on 10.25.10 |
->> Thomas:
You mentioned that you are making your invoice in Euros - just wondering if your client will pay you in USD or in Euros? And if they will pay in Euros - do you have a Euro account in the US?
One thing you might want to check on if you haven't already done so is that most European companies that do business abroad on a regular basis - have a US bank account and can easily pay you in USD - eliminating all the foreign exchange fees and speeding up wire or check based transactions.
The reason I mention this is that the banks rape you on the exchange rate conversion. There is the official FED or ECB rate and then there is what the banks charge.
Generally speaking - when you use a credit/debit card to withdraw money abroad or to make a purchase - you get the best bank exchange rate and then of course they add on their fees for a foreign transaction - and/or for using an ATM that isn't your banks etc... but despite all the charges, it is still the best exchange rate you can get from a bank.
If you walk into a bank in the US or in Europe and want to exchange USD for Euros or vice versa - you will pay about 5¢ on the dollar/euro above the official exchange rate set by the central banks.
But if you either send or receive a wire transfer in foreign currency, this is where they kill you on the exchange rate. I just had to send a USD transfer to someone in France and saw how much my bank BOA was charging if I wanted to send the money in Euros versus USD and almost fell off my chair. It was about 14¢ higher than the official exchange rate - and this is before they impose their fee for making or receiving the transfer.
At the time I made the transfer the official rate was .81 and I needed to send 500 Euros. According to the official central bank rate - it should have been $615 = €500 - but BOA said that if they converted my USD to Euros and then sent the money it would cost me about $750 and then an additional $35 for the transfer fee!!! So, I opted to send $650 with the hope that the receiving bank in France would use a more favorable exchange rate when converting the USD to Euros. And for that, BOA charged me a $45 wire fee. So, what should have cost $615 actually cost $695 and I haven't heard yet what that translated to in Euros.
The point to all this is that I opened a USD account here so that my US clients can simply send me USD to my USD account - and then I can call my bank here and negotiate a sane exchange rate between my USD and Euro accounts which saves a lot of time and money.
And finally, the worst thing is to receive a check drawn on a foreign bank and in a foreign currency. Here, the banks hammer you on checks. The processing fees are huge and the time delay for the check to clear can take weeks and sometimes months. Not sure if the same holds true in the US - but for this reason I won't accept USD checks drawn on a US bank.
Sorry if this is all old news to you - but hope you or others here might find some of this info helpful! |
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