Choosing & Paying for Furniture & Services

Once you have made te final decision to purchase - whichever supplier you ultimately choose - the issue of payment becomes important in moving things forward. At this stage, the method of payment you chose will affect the total cost to a lesser or greater degree. 

Here are a few things to remember when buying in Turkey.

• Always buy locally, or if buying on the internet always ensure that a local supply presence exists
• DON'T consider buying in the UK / Europe and shipping to Turkey. This is beset with problems, transportation costs, hidden charges and more, For example, on top of the cost of furniture expect to have to pay additional VAT, shipping charges, customs duty, handling fees and transportation costs in Turkey.
• Ask for referrals - if a company is doing a good job then they will have real customers than can back up their claims
• Ask for a payment schedule - this minimises your risk. Consider transferring the total amount into a high interest Turkish Lira account and then use this to pay the supplier or suppliers.
  
• Use Moneycorp or HiFX to transfer your funds- - they are considerably cheaper than a high street bank.
• DON'T use a credit card to pay unless you are happy with the costs associated with it - see below.

CREDIT CARD: The cost of processing your payment will differ from merchant to merchant and will depend on the card provider. Expect processing charges of between 1.5 - 3%. Since you are paying in GBP or Euro there will also be an exchange loss. This loss is greater for credit card companies than for specialist transfer agents such as Moneycorp or HiFX. For example, the tourist rate from HSBC for today (18/05/09) is 2.24 while the actual bank to bank exchange rate is 2.375.

As an example, and taking these rates into account, you might expect that for a £5000 purchase that the costs will be somewhere between £380 and £450.

The benefit of using a credit card is that your purchase is generally protected although you need to check to ensure that purchases in Turkey are specifically protected. In all cases, always buy from a business with recommendations and referrals available. Companies that also provide management services alongside furniture packages are also more likely to have the right support mechanisms in place to be abe to provide you with high levels of support and quality control.

DEBIT CARD: Again, the cost of processing will vary from merchant to merchant and will depend on the card provider. Here, because the money is taken directly from your account there will be a fixed fee for the transaction plus exchange rate losses. As with using a credit card, the exchange rate loss is greater for banks than for specialist transfer agents such as Moneycorp or HiFX.

Using the above rates as an example, you might expect that for a £5000 purchase that the costs will be somewhere around £305.

BANK TRANSFER: Bank transfers are an effective transfer mechansim for sending money to and from suppliers. Again the bank will apply a charge for the transfer and again you will have to carry the exchange loss when you convert GBP or Euros to Turkish Lira. Using the same example as above, you can expect to pay around £330 to transfer £5000 in GBP to Turkish Lira.

Money transfers using Moneycorp, HiFX or similar: This is a cheaperway to transfer funds as the exchange loss is smaller than for mainstream banks and there are no tranfer charges. However you must have an account to use this service (if you don't have an account you can click here to sign up with Moneycorp).  Because these companies work specifically in the foreign exchange markets they buy and sell currency on tighter margins. This means that the cost of transfering money from your GBP account into Turkish Lira is much less espensive. Based on the above example, transferring £5000 to Turkish Lira might cost you somewhere in the region of £100 with Moneycorp although you need to addon the cost of transferring from your bank to Moneycorp account. 

IN SUMMARY: The cheapest method of paying for your furniture or services is to use a transfer agent such as Moneycorp. We also recommend that you transfer money into your own bank account in Turkey and then use this to pay for furniture / services. You can earn 11% upwards on a Turkish Lira account. Finally, negotiate a payment schedule.

Some companies selling via the internet, for example Spring Blue and Furniture Worldwide Direct here in the UK have misrepresented there businesses and de-frauded buyers so always ensure that you know who you are dealing with, where they are located, and how they will protect your money. Beware of any companies located or registered in Spain as this is a safe haven for many disreputable businesses  selling furniture over the internet.