Sterling- Online purchases

ruddy1987

If anyone is buying anything online I would advise them to compare prices with the UK €1 currently buys 0.906711. I would advise people to use there revolt card and shop on UK sites!

Using the iPhone as an example

apple.ie

32 GB €779
128 GB €889
256GB €999

apple.co.uk

32 GB €658.75
128 GB €768.45
256GB €878.36

Both direct from apple.

snubbleste

Where's the bargain?

kellsred

snubbleste wrote: »

Where's the bargain?

The iPhones listed in the op

2smiggy

in fairness the opening post was edited after he asked where the bargain was, there was no mention of iPhones in original post, only stating uk sites were cheaper, and to buy in sterling

kellsred

2smiggy wrote: »

in fairness the opening post was edited after he asked where the bargain was, there was no mention of iPhones in original post, only stating uk sites were cheaper, and to buy in sterling

Fair enough.
But thanks op, I wasn't aware of the massive difference in the price of sterling since yesterday so have converted euro to sterling in my revolut account.
Bargain for me was buying sterling, can use it on anything now!

snubbleste

kellsred wrote: »

Fair enough.
But thanks op, I wasn't aware of the massive difference in the price of sterling since yesterday so have converted euro to sterling in my revolut account.
Bargain for me was buying sterling, can use it on anything now!

Because you could not before

maik3n

snubbleste wrote: »

Because you could not before

You could, but we were hovering around the 85/86p mark over the last few months so it wasn't great value.
Now it's hit 90p. That, together with sterling prices for things generally being cheaper should mean some good bargains for us.

I'm looking to do a spot of shopping on amazon and have been watching the exchange rate closely before taking the plunge.

ThisRegard

kellsred wrote: »

Fair enough.
But thanks op, I wasn't aware of the massive difference in the price of sterling since yesterday

There has been a 'flash crash' messing up sterling.

robyntmorton

The difficulty at the moment is in deciding if sterling has further to fall or not.

That said, even at the current rates it opens up interesting options for bargains.

ohnonotgmail

i wouldnt be rushing out to buy in sterling using a credit card just yet. rates may have crashed overnight but that does no guarantee that the CC companies will immediately adjust rates. also, if you buy today and the payment isnt settled for a few days the rate might have rebounded.

banchang

snubbleste wrote: »

Where's the bargain?

Cheap currency.

runawaybishop

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

i wouldnt be rushing out to buy in sterling using a credit card just yet. rates may have crashed overnight but that does no guarantee that the CC companies will immediately adjust rates. also, if you buy today and the payment isnt settled for a few days the rate might have rebounded.

revolut is instant and free, 0 commission at intra bank rates.

BorneTobyWilde

Where would the best place be to convert a piggy bank of coins to sterling /?

banchang

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Where would the best place be to convert a piggy bank of coins to sterling /?

Any bank ?

BorneTobyWilde

banchang wrote: »

Any bank ?

Would that be best rate though.?

dan786

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Where would the best place be to convert a piggy bank of coins to sterling /?

At the moment , the best conversion option is Revolut. I just converted a few grand as going there next month and will come in handy.

Banks have their own exchange rates so wouldn't be as good as mentioned above.

So take them coins to a shop, turn them into notes and then sign up to Revolut and convert the amount to sterling.

ohnonotgmail

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Would that be best rate though.?

ignore. misread

BorneTobyWilde

dan786 wrote: »

At the moment , the best conversion option is Revolut. I just converted a few grand as going there next month and will come in handy.

Banks have their own exchange rates so wouldn't be as good as mentioned above.

So take them coins to a shop, turn them into notes and then sign up to Revolut and convert the amount to sterling.

Do you need a smart fone to have Revolut , do you need a bank account.
I only have credit union account.

dan786

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Do you need a smart fone to have Revolut , do you need a bank account.
I only have credit union account.

Yes you need a smartphone and a bank card.

Amirani

ThisRegard wrote: »

There has been a 'flash crash' messing up sterling.

It's not just an anomaly - nobody was buying at original price post crash. Still down like 3% on the day. What's messing up Sterling are inflation expectations and projected trade imbalances.

JimsAlterEgo

rate applied generally wont be todays one but one from a few days time, widely discussed after Brexit.

BorneTobyWilde

I have a real fear of money that is just a number on a screen of a smart fone. How safe is revolut, if one was to lose their fone, or if a fone was to fail and was left in for repair, how safe is it.

Francie Barrett

If you have a Sterling bank account, I suggest you use Currencyfair.com to transfer any Euro's to get the best rate. It gives the market rate minus a £2.50 fee.

fdevine

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Would that be best rate though.?

Lodge coinage in € to your account
Use resultant additional funds to load your Revolut card in £ at interbank rates

fdevine

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I have a real fear of money that is just a number on a screen of a smart fone. How safe is revolut, if one was to lose their fone, or if a fone was to fail and was left in for repair, how safe is it.

You can request a physical card from Revolut but you can use the details of your virtual card online anyway, without needing your phone.

yosser hughes

Francie Barrett wrote: »

If you have a Sterling bank account, I suggest you use Currencyfair.com to transfer any Euro's to get the best rate. It gives the market rate minus a £2.50 fee.

Well they don't actually offer the best rate.
Revolut do and charge no fee.

reni10

Stuck £200 on my Revolut card for a trip to the UK next month, will use the physical card when I over there to take out the cash so happy days!

theteal

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

rate applied generally wont be todays one but one from a few days time, widely discussed after Brexit.

If you exchange within the revolut app the rate is exact to the time of day that you actually do the transfer. You can see the rate fluctuate while you wait to press the "commit" button.

Either way, it looks like we're screwed for our Xmas trip home

JimsAlterEgo

theteal wrote: »

If you exchange within the revolut app the rate is exact to the time of day that you actually do the transfer. You can see the rate fluctuate while you wait to press the "commit" button.

Either way, it looks like we're screwed for our Xmas trip home

I was referring to traditional credit cards.

slave1

Francie Barrett wrote: »

If you have a Sterling bank account, I suggest you use Currencyfair.com to transfer any Euro's to get the best rate. It gives the market rate minus a £2.50 fee.

I do a fair bit of Sterling purchasing so shop around, UKForex rate right now is 0.9035 versus CurrencyFair 0.8953 and there is no fee of £2.50.
Probably not worth setting up another account for small sums but larger sums would make it worthwhile

cruhoortwunk

fdevine wrote: »

Lodge coinage in € to your account
Use resultant additional funds to load your Revolut card in £ at interbank rates

Do you get better £ rate from Revolut if you top up in £ then? It warned me any time I tried it

dan786

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

Do you get better £ rate from Revolut if you top up in £ then? It warned me any time I tried it

It warned you as its the wrong way of doing it. If you top up in £ from a Euro bank account , the bank would apply their conversion rate. So you get the banks rate which wouldnt be as good.

cruhoortwunk

dan786 wrote: »

It warned you as its the wrong way of doing it. If you top up in £ from a Euro bank account , the bank would apply their conversion rate. So you get the banks rate which wouldnt be as good.

Cool, I thought so

beardybrewer

FYI the pound is further expected to fall and reach parity with the euro. So further patience on your Sterling purchases may pay off another sizeable discount.

https://www.google.ie/search?q=forex+sterling+pariry+euro&rlz=1C1GIGM_enIE686IE686&oq=forex+sterling+pariry+euro&aqs=chrome..69i57.9968j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=forex+sterling+parity+euro&tbm=nws

dan786

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I have a real fear of money that is just a number on a screen of a smart fone. How safe is revolut, if one was to lose their fone, or if a fone was to fail and was left in for repair, how safe is it.

I have spent over 20000E through it so far and have over 5000E in the account at the moment. I wouldn't risk that much if it was not safe.

Please see the below forum for more info on Revolut:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057481488

bk

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I have a real fear of money that is just a number on a screen of a smart fone. How safe is revolut, if one was to lose their fone, or if a fone was to fail and was left in for repair, how safe is it.

Shrug, no different then a "normal" bank account. After all your money in the bank is just a number in a database after all.

You don't think banks actually keep your money in a safe do you? No bank keeps even a fraction of it's accounts in cash. Most of it is lent out as loans for mortgages, investments, etc.

And if you really think about it, what is cash? In the end it is just a number on a piece of paper. It isn't even backed by gold any more. Really it has no more real world value then the number in the database.

BTW No, the money isn't on your phone. Your account information is stored in the same types of databases that the banks use. What you see on the app is just a display of this information from the database, no different from a "normal" banks website or app. Revolut sends you a Mastercard debit card that you can use to redraw your money if you lose your phone and you can use it to shop online even without your phone. You can also install the revolut app on a new phone and access your account from there.

screamer

so if you sign up do you get a virtual credit card number you can use straight away once you top up?

slave1

bk wrote: »

You don't think banks actually keep your money in a safe do you? No bank keeps even a fraction of it's accounts in cash.

bk

screamer wrote: »

so if you sign up do you get a virtual credit card number you can use straight away once you top up?

Yes. Fundamentally all credit/debit card numbers are "virtual". Money isn't actually stored in any credit/debit card, your account balance is always stored in the banks database. The credit/debit card just has the "virtual" number printed on it and also stored in it's chip.

Just think about how when your credit card expires, you get a new card, with the same number, just a different expiry date. Or how you can get a second credit card on a joint account (partner) with the same number on both cards.

It is the number that is the important bit, the card is just a short cut physical reminder of the virtual number.

screamer

bk wrote: »

Yes. Fundamentally all credit/debit card numbers are "virtual". Money isn't actually stored in any credit/debit card, your account balance is always stored in the banks database. The credit/debit card just has the "virtual" number printed on it and also stored in it's chip.

Just think about how when your credit card expires, you get a new card, with the same number, just a different expiry date. Or how you can get a second credit card on a joint account (partner) with the same number on both cards.

It is the number that is the important bit, the card is just a short cut physical reminder of the virtual number.

thanks I know this. I just wondered if you get the number straight away or have to wait for the card to arrive but you've answered my question so thanks for that.

dan786

screamer wrote: »

so if you sign up do you get a virtual credit card number you can use straight away once you top up?

The virtual card is generated as soon as you sign up so can be used straight away. The physical card takes a few days to arrive.

BorneTobyWilde

Just a number on a screen. I agree.
There are people out there with big big numbers on their screen, same people never held more
than 1000 euro in cash in their hands.
It scares me, I know it's foolish. I need to get use to a number on a screen.

twinsen

Question is would apple.co.uk ship new iphone 7 to Irish address?

Creamy Goodness

twinsen wrote: »

Question is would apple.co.uk ship new iphone 7 to Irish address?

No, needs to be a UK based address but ParcelMotel and the likes will save you here.

zarquon

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I have a real fear of money that is just a number on a screen of a smart fone. How safe is revolut, if one was to lose their fone, or if a fone was to fail and was left in for repair, how safe is it.

There are several security features. Mine is fingerprint protected so even a stolen phone is noting to be worried about. I have spent about €6000 on it since last december without any issues and i have saved an absolute fortune. It is by far the most life changing app i have ever used.

GBX

Any ££ bargains ???

runawaybishop

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

No, needs to be a UK based address but ParcelMotel and the likes will save you here.

Addresspal use a mainland uk address, motel and wizard use NI. Just in case they only ship to mainland uk.

pilly

ruddy1987 wrote: »

If anyone is buying anything online I would advise them to compare prices with the UK €1 currently buys 0.906711. I would advise people to use there revolt card and shop on UK sites!

Using the iPhone as an example

apple.ie

32 GB €779
128 GB €889
256GB €999

apple.co.uk

32 GB €658.75
128 GB €768.45
256GB €878.36

Both direct from apple.

What's a revolt card?

yoshimitsu

I use revolut for great FX rates and general reluctance of using my other credit card (with a €6.000 monthly spending limit) on dodgy and less-dodgy eCommerce sites.
Have converted a few hundred Euros between y'day and today to take advantage of the cheap GBP rate at the moment.
Personally I wouldnt load thousands of euros on this card/account as they are not FCA regulated, their partner is (Paysafe group) but nowhere on their T&Cs does it say that if Revolut goes belly up, Paysafe is responsible for your deposits with them: https://revolut.com/terms
I also recently posted on the Revolut thread about missing credits for returned merchandise. Not saying that these things cant happen with regular banks (they absolutely do) but be particularly vigilant with these guys.

Creamy Goodness

runawaybishop wrote: »

Addresspal use a mainland uk address, motel and wizard use NI. Just in case they only ship to mainland uk.

They don't

basillarkin

looking to buy an item from the north over the weekend that will be 7000e plus, will i be able to use this much in one transaction with the card, would say me big bucks on bank charges?