
Show HN: I built a site to compare fees and rates for sending money abroad - Rulero
https://transfr.io
======
d--b
Bottom line: they're all kind of the same, except TransferWise is generally
better... Plus they're customer service is _awesome_. I'm not a TransferWise
employee or shareholder, but been using the service since the start, and been
blown away by the quality of service.

My story is that I made a big transfer (400k+) on the day before the Brexit
vote (cause I thought that Brexit wouldn't happen, and the pound would bounce
back). Because of the trading volume on that day, TransferWise missed the
deadline. So I got in touch with them, they told me that they would give me
the best rate between the one that I had locked in and the live market rate
the next day. Basically I didn't lose 10k+ because they're decent guys.

~~~
thedanbob
Their borderless accounts are great, I needed to transfer some money from
family in Australia and through them it was super simple: local transfer ->
convert to USD -> local transfer.

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ivanstojic
USA to HRK, only one option - transferwise.

Are you sure you didn't build a transferwise clickbait? I know for a fact
there are other services that do this transfer.

~~~
Rulero
I have only implemented 3 providers - Transferwise, TransferGo and
Currencyfair. I started this project around a week ago and want to gather some
feedback as it's currently a proof of concept.

I am working on adding more providers. If you have any suggestions please let
me know.

~~~
ivanstojic
Western Union, IB, sendwave, bank transfers... there's all kinds of options
really...

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dmlorenzetti
A few minor UI comments.

\+ Failing to select an amount to send should raise a flag.

\+ Entering a negative amount to send should raise a flag.

\+ After viewing a result, if I hit `back` on my browser (say, to compare
results for a different transfer amount), it resets the currencies to their
defaults (for me, U.S. and Argentina). It would be nicer to remember my
selections.

~~~
Rulero
Thank you very much for your feedback, will get these changes implemented :)

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wwsculley
What inspired you to build this site? Who is your target customer?

I ask because I love the idea of building a search engine for payments, given
how fragmented and localized the money-transfer market is.

Also, I'm familiar with a few sites that are similar:
[https://www.monito.com/](https://www.monito.com/)
[https://www.fxcompared.com/](https://www.fxcompared.com/)
[https://www.saveonsend.com/](https://www.saveonsend.com/)

I'm curious about what gap in these services you're hoping to fill.

~~~
Rulero
I'm based in UK and we have a lot of comparison sites such as GoCompare,
MoneySuperMarket, etc. but none of these has the vertical I am targetting.
That's what initially sparked the idea.

In terms of the target audience, I would say it's quite broad because this is
something that quite a few people use on multiple occasions. Right now, I will
be targetting individuals who live abroad and remit money back to their
country and then start expanding further to individuals who travel,
individuals who want to purchase large assets abroad, etc.

Thanks for sharing those sites - I had never come across them and Monito
pretty much looks like where I would like to be in the future. I'm going to
have two angles a) for individuals and b) for businesses. After having a quick
look at the links you provided these sites only seem to cover (a). I would
like my site to be the go-to place for money transfers, for individuals and
businesses.

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throwaway9d0291
Two issues that I see as someone who frequently sends money abroad:

\- I live in a country where Revolut is available so I generally pay nothing
for international transfers. Perhaps this could be addressed by adding
"country of residence"?

\- When I need to transfer money between my own accounts, I often use my
Interactive Brokers account as it gives market rate conversions and a free
transfer every month. It has inactivity fees but if you happen to keep a large
amount of money there, it's "free".

------
solarengineer
1\. You may want to invite suggestions via the website itself so that visitors
don't get the wrong impression that you're just some affiliate for
transferwise.

2\. consider publishing a roadmap that you update with suggestions from this
HN discussion.

3\. Some way to report errors or surprises via the web site itself.

4\. A disclaimer that you are not vouching for any agency that you are
mentioning at your website.

~~~
jaclaz
>1\. You may want to invite suggestions via the website itself so that
visitors don't get the wrong impression that you're just some affiliate for
transferwise.

This.

I tried some random tests and often Transferwise was the only result, so at
first sight I had that impression.

Maybe you could add a "detail" drop down menu (or _whatever_ ) where you list
all the services you considered with "service not available from country A to
country B".

As a side note, it seems to me like the "engine" has only a small subset of
states/countries.

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jscholes
Love this idea. I'm currently looking for a way to be sent money from Mexico
(to the UK), and was disappointed that the site currently had no suggestions.
On that note, it's probably better to show an error message instead of an
empty table when that happens.

I also have some accessibility suggestions; if you're looking to improve
things on that front hit me up.

~~~
Rulero
Thanks, will send you an email shortly.

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axaxs
This seems heavily weighted reliant on transferwise. I picked a combo where
I'm familiar with the many options, and it only listed Transferwise. Stopping
short of making unsavory correlations here, I'll just say you should research
adding more options before advertising it.

~~~
Rulero
Thanks, I have only been working on this for around a week and I'm looking to
add more countries and providers.

Could you let me know the combinations you searched so I can get those
implemented at some point?

------
davchana
About, FAQ, Contact links are not working..

~~~
Rulero
I haven't got round to populating that content as I have only been working on
this for around a week - it's a proof of concept.

I am planning on adding a lot more content to the site, including reviews
within the next 2 weeks.

~~~
danpalmer
You could drop the links for now, it was quite frustrating trying to figure
out why the FAQ link wasn't working, whether it was my ad blocker (often the
case).

------
srameshc
This is great !! You should target the expats from each country in US and that
will help you a lot in understanding how to market. There are some sites which
are popular in certain expat communities, like sulekha.com for Indian expats,
where you could advertise. This is a common problem for many people and this
could certainly become a must tool before every transfer. I have bookmarked it
for further transfers :)

------
jasongrishkoff
Your data for Transferwise seems to assume the worst-case scenario of fees
with a wire transfer. For example, you say US$100 to GBP nets $6.85 in fees.

But looking right now from my dashboard, if I send with my balnace, the fee is
$1.18. With ACH its' $1.73. With credit card it's $4.81. With debit card it's
$2.27. The worst and most-cumbersom option is wire transfer, but that's what
your system defaults too?

~~~
Rulero
That's a decision I made during development in order to get this proof of
concept out as quickly as possible and gather some feedback. This price is
what I am getting from their API and for bank transfers.

I am glad you picked up on this because I thought of placing a button which
says "More Info" which will have a popup and display all options and fee.
You've just validated my assumption and it's something I will be working on
adding.

------
shartshooter
Remitly has been a great resource for sending money abroad, I'd love to see
that included but it looks like they don't have an API

~~~
Rulero
I will contact them, who knows... if you don't ask you never get! Thanks :)

------
kdlmm
TransferWise has a dedicated team working on a pretty similar tool to compare
fees and rates for sending money abroad. They have a lot of banks and other
fintech companies:
[https://transferwise.com/gb/compare/](https://transferwise.com/gb/compare/)

Are you just using their data and adding your affiliate link to it?

~~~
Rulero
No. I have built my own API for this.

If you observe closely from that list most of the companies that are on there
are banks. They don't really include competitors because they know that their
rates will always beat the banks.

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alexpetralia
I would highly recommend Interactive Brokers! You trade on the spot market and
avoid all the fees except a $2 flat trading fee.

~~~
voiper1
How do I use them for currency conversion? I add a bank account in each
country, one for inbound and one for outbound?

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anotheryou
There was one interesting alternative way to send money through a network of
some honest man. For some I believe middle-eastern countries it at least used
to be the only way. Does anyone know what that was? I got told by a film crew
that found this to be the only way. It all worked out for them.

~~~
afrnz
You probably mean the Hawala system that has been around for a few centuries.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala)

~~~
Havoc
The fact that it endures long term is probably the most fascinating part.
Internet...wars...globalization...

...trust & honor prevails.

~~~
anotheryou
well I guess it's a bit less mystical with trust and honor.

Probably you are not trusted with huge transactions at first and there are
sanctions against you and your familie und the loss of this job when you break
the "contract".

------
jlizzle30
This is great! Would have definitely help me out when I moved to the US.

People don't realize the fees banks charge for currency conversion is not the
entire story. My bank offered me 'no-fee' CAD to USD transfers but were giving
me a 5% worse exchange rate than competitors. Be careful out there!

~~~
Scoundreller
For larger amounts, look into “Norbert’s Gambit”.

Basically, but a stock that trades in Toronto with CAD, call your broker to
move it to the US side, then sell it for USD.

Convert any amount for 2 brokerage charges (2x$10 for me).

Yes, it exposes you to stock market fluctuations for that stock for a few
hours or days (depending on your broker), but at least you get to stay in the
market instead of the money being “dead”.

Arbitrageurs keep the prices exactly in sync several thousand times per day.

~~~
jlizzle30
Great idea; thanks!

------
altmind
No Russia, Ukraine, Belarus in the countries list. Obviously, they have at
least western union and moneygram.

~~~
Rulero
I will get those added within a day or two.

If you have any more suggestions or feedback please let me know. This is only
a proof of concept and I am very keen on improving it further.

------
MuffinFlavored
Was the entire idea behind Libra (from Facebook) that the entire "sending
money abroad" market would get revolutionized over night? (Faster, less fees,
less regulations, easier to do?)

------
dgudkov
I like the concept. Looking forward to see more countries and services.

~~~
Rulero
Thank you very much.

If you have any suggestions regarding more providers or services please let me
know as I am keen in improving the site.

------
jermaustin1
US to UK returned no results. US to ARG returned only transferwise.

------
jes81
Interesting concept, I was chewing on something similar a few months ago and
excited to see someone put this into action. Looking forward to following your
growth. - JS

------
mariushn
Would love to see a similar listing for bank fees on transfers. Some banks
have free transfers, others charge a fixed sum, others charge a percentage.

------
wglb
Missing a pretty substantial player:
[https://www.sendwave.com/](https://www.sendwave.com/)

~~~
Rulero
Thank you so much, will get them added :)

------
ars
Bug report: When you hit back after looking at a quote, it puts the countries
back at the default of Argentina.

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trance1100
You should verify that the amount entered is not a negative number. Noticed
that it took those in.

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Sschellbach
Is bitcoin an option worth comparing

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maz1b
This is a cool idea! US > Pakistan doesn't work. US > India took quite a while
too.

~~~
Rulero
Maybe none of the providers I work with the support that route. I will be
adding a few more integrations in the upcoming week or two - hopefully we
should be able to get some results for US > PK.

------
pighive
USD to INR results only two quotes.

~~~
Rulero
I have only implemented 3 providers at this point considering it's a proof of
concept and I want to validate the idea before spending more time on it.

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arisAlexis
there is a good one, cheap borderless and you don't need a "provider"

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ddtaylor
Would you consider adding cryptocurrency exchanges as an option?

~~~
Rulero
Potentially, in the future, it has crossed my mind. If people ask for it, it
will definitely happen.

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html5web
Add all countries that are available in the APIs you are using.

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pgt
"Enter amount, e.g. 2500" <\- What currency is this?

~~~
Rulero
Currency from the country you are sending from.

However, point noted. Will add something to make this more obvious.

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kochikame
Why are some major countries e.g. Japan not represented?

~~~
Rulero
Added.

I'm adding them based on demand.

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astrosloth
What's the difference between this and Transferwise

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chipuni
Only one result for US to Mexico?

You should look at other companies...

~~~
Rulero
Thanks for the feedback. I am working on adding more providers, if you have
any suggestions on companies please let me know.

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sarp
I don't see Turkey on the list :(

~~~
Rulero
Will get that added for you within the next few days :)

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Havoc
Please add Xendpay (for GBP to ZAR)

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nikolay
Please, add Bulgaria, too!

~~~
Rulero
Of course :)

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orangetang
Need the hawala option!

