Methods of payment outside Germany

Question: I don't live in Germany, but I would like to order MakeCD. How can I get the money to you?

Answer: You have several options

Eurocheque in DM

This is probably the best method for everyone. Please don't make the cheque out in your local currency, but in DM. We can cash Eurocheques in DM with minimal costs, but Eurocheques in other currencies come hand-in-hand with extra charges.

Cheque drawn on a German bank

Our bank used to cash cheques from abroad without charging a fee so long as a German partnership was on the cheque. Now our bank charges at least 10 DM to cash such a cheque. That can be half of the fee! If you want to send us a cheque made out to a German bank, you need to add another 10 DM to cover our costs.

Money order (German or international)

You need to go to a post office and fill in the form to get the money in DM to us by post. This is a safe method. Try to send your registration form at the same time, but make sure you enter your full address and the purpose of the money on the money order -- just in case your registration form is lost in the post. Then we can still send you MakeCD if your letter goes missing. When sending money orders from abroad, please use an international money order with Germany as the destination country. Michael Habermann <drmike@peabody.jhu.edu> sent money from the USA. He wrote:

@sf I went to the Post Office. I filled out a form with my name and yours, enclosed a money order for $XX, but there were additional fees of about $7.50 for processing the transaction. The form and the money order were sent to International Money Orders in St. Louis, Missouri and they converted my USA money order into a German money order which you can cash at any bank. They mail it directly to you, and they say it takes about 4-6 weeks.

You are right, apparently not too many people use this service, even the Postmaster told me that, and the person at the desk gave me the wrong information: He said that in a few weeks International Money Orders would send ME the converted money order that I would then send to you! Reading the information on the form I had to correct the postal worker on this. So it is not an everyday transaction.

Not all USA post offices sell International money orders, although I think all of them sell regular USA money orders. You might inform your other customers of the procedure I followed.

Please note: although the money order was supposedly on its travels For 4-6 weeks, we had it within 1-2 weeks and were able to deal with it right away.

Cash

This is of course sent at your own risk. Simply go to your bank and get Some German bank notes. Some people send the money with registered post, but this does not guarantee 100% safety. But the money usually reaches us. We once had a letter from Italy with the money missing. We couldn't be sure, due to the nature of the envelope, if it had been opened by someone else. It's possible someone stole it.

Cheque from your bank

Cheques from outside Germany that do not fall under the above categories can cost us about 20 DM to cash. This amount is deducted by our bank from the amount you have written on the cheque. So in this case you need to add an extra 20 DM to the cheque. In your own interest, why not see if any of the above methods work out cheaper for you?

Buying from an AMIGA-Firm

A number of companies sell MakeCD. If you have a local supplier, this could the best option for you.

If you send a cheque, please write the name as "Schmidt" or "Frau Schmidt". This allows either Katrin or Angela to cash the cheque.

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