Sterling falls to new low against the Euro

Our man in Havana

The Euro is now over 85p Sterling.

Excellent time to be hitting sites like Amazon.co.uk for all the blu ray bargains.

DonJose

Actually its just gotten better €1 = £0.865

admiralofthefleet

yes but will the exchange rate saving be passed on?

Our man in Havana

Yep. Credit cards will pass on the new rates automatically.

TheDriver

even down to buying in bigger items from UK e.g. satellite box, maybe tv from mainland retailer etc

psicic

Aww man.... any other time I'd be delighted.... but a UK etailer just credited £50 back to my credit card today.... I automatically lose on conversion rates.

Damn you, Boffer!

ScouseMouse

DonJose wrote: »

Actually its just gotten better €1 = £0.865

Where did you get that from? I have to get three grand sterling tomorrow !!

cozmik

Live rates at 2008.11.13 20:58:10 UTC

1.00 EUR = 0.864372 GBP

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi

MayoForSam

Excellent, wife is off shopping to Enniskillen on Sunday, family off on a pre-Xmas UK break week after next, lots of online shopping coming up, perfect timing.

This should continue at least until the next ECB interest rate drop.

ash2020

cozmik wrote: »

Live rates at 2008.11.13 20:58:10 UTC

1.00 EUR = 0.864372 GBP

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi

how much comm will you be charged??

Our man in Havana

You will be lucky to get 85p tbh.

Bluetonic

Bond-007 wrote: »

You will be lucky to get 85p tbh.

If the spot if .86 you'll be lucky to see this side of .83, very lucky, especially in the high street banks where they have been pushing out the spread recently, presumably because of the volatility.

....unless your changing large quantities (100s of k) and can shop around on the rate.

The EUR/GBP rate change isn't really significant unless your really planning to spend spend spend....

Jet Black

Would be nice if it was .86 to good to be true, thats the spot rate so no chance of getting it.

According to BOI website they are giving .8106 still a good rate. Did not want to buy any sterling until it got to .80.

Oracle

Interesting topic, but this is not a Bargain Alert.

Fnz

Oracle wrote: »

Interesting topic, but this is not a Bargain Alert.

I believe it's still relevant to bargain hunters - and it could be seen as a bargain to some.

ntlbell

Oracle wrote: »

Interesting topic, but this is not a Bargain Alert.

it is if your buying sterling

Super Sidious

Xe.com price doesn't represent the price you recieve in the bank/money exchange place...

If you have a friend who works in a bank ask them to change it for you, they get staff rates/ no commision...

muffler

Its a bargain if you're buying sterling.

Someone might want to open a thread in personal issues about the implications of selling it though

Victor

So that about IEP1.00 = STG1.09

muffler

Victor wrote: »

So that about IEP1.00 = STG1.09

That would be close enough Vic.

From a personal point of view there are 2 sides to the coin though (Jesus I just love the puns ). Its very handy for me and more so for her who must be obeyed to nip over the border into NI. and do a bit of shopping.

But only a few days ago I agreed to accept a sterling cheque from clients in England as payment of a fee. I rang the bank beforehand and got the exchange rate for that day and then told the clients what they owed me in sterling. Damn thing is that I haven't got the cheque yet and if it arrives tomorrow for example and I bank it I will loose somewhere between €50 - €60 from the originally agreed fee.

Its all too much for me so I just had to go and buy a couple of 1 litre bottles of Smirnoff in Strabane earlier tonight for £13 each.

ShaneU

So this means I get stuff cheaper from British sites? nice

Bluetonic

Victor wrote: »

So that about IEP1.00 = STG1.09

Not at all. Your looking at the valuation of IEP at a particualr point in time yet looking at GBP at it's current valuation.

If we were still operating the IEP it would be long since worth a lost less than it's static value.

Like it or loath it joining the EUR has saved our currency. We'd be fecked now if we still operated the IEP.

Bluetonic

muffler wrote: »

But only a few days ago I agreed to accept a sterling cheque from clients in England as payment of a fee. I rang the bank beforehand and got the exchange rate for that day and then told the clients what they owed me in sterling. Damn thing is that I haven't got the cheque yet and if it arrives tomorrow for example and I bank it I will loose somewhere between €50 - €60 from the originally agreed fee.

You really should be looking at a forward fx if your worried about fluctuations in the fx rate effecting your business.

Why didn't you lock in a rate from the bank at that rate?

muffler

Bluetonic wrote: »

You really should be looking at a forward fx if your worried about fluctuations in the fx rate effecting your business.

Why didn't you lock in a rate from the bank at that rate?

I was hoping that sterling would increase in value against the euro. Hold it a few days and then bank it.

Im not beat anyhow as I have heard of people having accounts in NI where they can lodge these checks

Adamcp898

muffler wrote: »

I was hoping that sterling would increase in value against the euro. Hold it a few days and then bank it.

Im not beat anyhow as I have heard of people having accounts in NI where they can lodge these checks

Except until the Tax man comes a knocking because it's still considered a little too far offshore

Placebo

what was it recently, before this ?

1 euro = gbp ?

johnfás

Placebo wrote: »

what was it recently, before this ?

1 euro = gbp ?

About a year ago €1 would get you about £0.67

Now €1 will get you about £0.84

So you are getting about 17 pence extra for every euro. Which is alot.

It won't last though. Everything is in a state of flux so you don't know where it will be in a week's time. Germany entered recession yesterday so expect a lack of confidence in the €uro to develop thereafter. A few weeks ago you could buy loads of dollars with your €uro but now it has weakened very considerably against the dollar.

ch750536

i work from home but earn in sterling (work for a UK company) so I keep a very close eye on exchange rates.

Things to note.

#1. Now is close to the best rate you are going to get. I may be wrong but I believe it is near the bottom though some experts are saying €1.14 = £1 is attainable. However, German data today is already having an effect.

#2. There is up to 3 days lag between purchase and rate calcualtion, meaning those buying 3 days ago are laughing. The lag depends on card/retailer and you never know.

#3. Dont forget to 2.5% forex charge.

#4. an obvious one but if doing it online make sure the retailer charges in sterling, some sites automatically charge in local currency.

#5. Do your sums first to make sure a bargain really is a bargain.

I lost a lot off my annual salary in the last year, this means there are bargains to be had in the UK right now, just not for me as I'm a bit skint.

Our man in Havana

Keep away from play.com who insist on charging in euro at a very poor rate.

sunnyside

Bond-007 wrote: »

Keep away from play.com who insist on charging in euro at a very poor rate.

I always choose play over amazon because of the free postage. Amazon postage is expensive.

Our man in Havana

At the moment amazon is working out better even taking postage into account.

I ordered some Blu Ray discs from amazon. Cost incl postage £75 which is approx €87. Play came out at €105 for the exact same items.