First TD order - Wise/Bank Transfer query (UK)

[SteinwayBotherer]

Hi!

I'm a new member from the UK. I've been into watches for a long time, but so far I've only managed to accrue 3 gens, and with the best will in the world, I just want to experience a bit more stuff on my wrist, so .... hello reps!

I'm painfully conscious that forums like these are full of people not reading threads, barging in, asking questions and never being seen or heard from again, so I do hope not to follow in that well-trodden path! My biggest takeaway so far is that patience is key!

I'm hoping to source an Explorer 124270 to begin with and dip my toe in the water (although I've just been perving at pictures of members' self-build 1016s on another thread and OH MY GOD I need one of those in my life at some point! But much to learn before tackling something like that!)

I'm hoping to become a proper subscriber before I pull the trigger - having read around for the last 24 hours, this is an *amazing* resource and I really do feel fortunate to have accidentally stumbled on it rather than the myriad of scams online when googling around!

Having read up on the available models, I'm tempted by the BP or EWF models, and it looks like TDs JTime and TheOneWatches both have these and are well respected on here.

I've signed up to Wise for payments, but I'm a bit confused as to whether I need to actually get one of their cards or not - is it ok to just do it all through their online app? TheOneWatches lists 'Transferwise' as a payment method - is that the same thing as Wise?

The other payment method I could do is a bank transfer. I was just wondering if anyone had experienced any issues transferring funds from a UK current account. Usually, when I make an online transfer from my bank, I have to state what sort of payment it is. Should I call it a 'gift', rather than the 'goods and services' option? The bank transfer route seems easier to me, although obviously I'll have to pay handling fees to my bank to send it in USD. I presume I just need to make sure that the amount I send ends up being a few cents more than the purchase price once they've deducted their fees.

If there's anything anyone thinks I should be specifically aware of with ordering into the UK for the first time, I'd be *exceptionally* grateful if you could give me a heads up on it!

Thanks so much for any and all help you're able to offer, and my sincere apologies if in the course of this post I've accidentally done or said anything which is frowned upon on these pages!

 

[eBoy]

Wise has a actually become a pretty versatile financial app over time. You can send funds to other users over their own system, you can send money to bank accounts from Wise, Wise can act as a virtual bank account with your own IBAN to which others can send funds to from their regular bank accounts, you can set up virtual credit cards, apply for a physical card and so on... And I think that's not even everything it offers.

I have personally send money to TDs, who have EU bank accounts, from my own EU bank and found that very convenient as I didn't have to figure out how to do it with Wise. I have done it with Wise, but have sometimes encountered difficulties in the past when sending money to China.. It's easy to choose the wrong settings for the funds to not go through without issues and one time it didn't go through at all because of the Wise algorithm falsely picking up money laundering signals..

So, if you have the opportunity to send a TD payment to an IBAN account from your IBAN account, i.e. if the TD offers that, I'd use it to keep things simple. And in that case, I'd just leave the reference or purpose field empty and if it insists on entering something, I'd enter "consulting fees". A TD with a Lithuanian bank account told me to enter this and it worked without issues.

 

[SteinwayBotherer]

That's really good info - thank you very much. I think maybe keep things as simple as possible on my first venture and go with a straightforward bank transfer if possible

 

[Feefo]

Hey welcome! Your post reminds me of my first rwi days. I was also on the lookout for an explorer. If I were you, I'd go with the "budget" version BP, best dial around, ETA clone movement, a great buy for 300$.

Concerning payments, @eBoy already gave you sound advice. Re bank transfer, EU banks have a field to be filled with the reason of the transfer, but it goes through in any case if you don't fill it. I usually just write the order number. Some TDs have European accounts, not sure if dead/supermirrors together with his UK stock has a UK bank account,too. Transfer there may be easier...

 

[Karbon74]

I found that Revolut is a good method too.
Within EU, there is no fee for bank transfer and all TD I have dealt with had an EU account upon asking

dunno about UK though, but it should not be very expensive