Work out what a transfer really costs you, on your corridor, at your amount. This page hands you the method and the worksheet rather than a table of other people's prices we cannot stand behind.
WHAT YOU ACTUALLY PAY
A transfer has four costs, not one.
Comparing two providers on the advertised fee alone is like comparing two flights on the price of the seat and ignoring the bags. Price all four lines or you have not compared anything.
01
The advertised fee
The number on the poster. It is the only part most people compare, and it is usually the smallest part of what you pay.
02
The exchange-rate margin
The gap between the mid-market rate and the rate you were actually given. On a large transfer this quietly dwarfs the fee, and a zero-fee offer has to recover its costs somewhere.
03
Deductions on the way
Correspondent and lifting charges taken out in transit, plus whatever the receiving bank, wallet or cash agent keeps at the other end. Nobody quotes these to the sender.
04
Time, and the rate you are locked to
How long the money is in flight, whether the rate was fixed when you pressed send, and what happens to the difference if it moves.
FIVE RULES
How to run the test fairly.
01Same amount. Fees and margins both move with size, so a comparison at one amount says nothing about another.
02Same minute. Quote every provider inside the same few minutes or you are measuring the market, not the provider.
03Same payout method. Bank, mobile wallet and cash collection are three different prices wearing one name.
04Same destination. A corridor that is cheap into one country can be the most expensive into its neighbour.
05Ask what lands. Confirm the received amount with the person at the other end, in their currency.
WHY THIS PAGE NAMES NOBODY
We will not publish a rival's price we cannot cite.
No competitor figures on this page
Comparison tables age badly. Fees change, corridors change, promotional rates expire, and a table screenshotted in good faith becomes a false statement about another company within a month. We are not willing to publish a number next to somebody else’s name unless we can point at where and when we read it.
So this page gives you the method instead of the verdict. Take a real amount, a real corridor and a real moment, run the worksheet below against any provider you like including us, and you will have a comparison that is true for your transfer today rather than true for somebody else’s last year.
COMPARE LIKE FOR LIKE
The worksheet, with the columns left to you.
Fill the right-hand columns from each provider’s own confirmation screen. Our column is left in the same state until a published fee schedule can be cited here, because a number we cannot source is worth no more from us than it is from anybody else.
Cost line
80eight
Provider A
Provider B
Amount you are sendingPick one figure and use it everywhere.
your amount
your figure
your figure
Advertised feeThe transfer fee shown before you confirm.
fee schedule
your figure
your figure
Rate you were quotedThe rate on the confirmation screen, not the one in the advert.
live quote
your figure
your figure
Mid-market rate at that momentSame minute, from a source neither provider controls.
reference rate
your figure
your figure
MarginThe gap between those two rates, as a percentage of the amount.
derived
your figure
your figure
Deductions in transitCorrespondent or lifting charges taken before it arrives.
corridor dependent
your figure
your figure
Receiving-side chargeWhat the bank, wallet or cash agent keeps at the other end.
corridor dependent
your figure
your figure
Time to arriveQuoted, and then actually observed.
corridor dependent
your figure
your figure
Amount that landsThe only line that matters. Ask the recipient, do not assume.
derived
your figure
your figure
Dashed orange marks a figure this site will not assert. They are filled in from a live quote or a published schedule, never from memory.
HOW WE PRICE IT
Priced on the screen, before you press send.
One rate, shown before you send
The rate and the fee are on the confirmation screen. Nothing is quoted at a counter and discovered on the statement.
The total, not the headline
What leaves your account and what is expected to arrive are both stated up front, per corridor.
It fails or it lands
A transfer that cannot complete is returned rather than parked. You are told which, and when.
Because we have no citable source for them and will not publish a price for another company from memory. A stale or wrong figure next to somebody's name is a claim we would have to defend, and you would have no way to tell it was out of date.
Then how do I know you are cheaper?
Run the worksheet. If a provider is better than us on your corridor at your amount, that is a useful thing for you to know and a useful thing for us to fix.
Where do I find the mid-market rate?
Any independent market source, read at the same moment you take each quote. The comparison only works if all the rates come from the same few minutes.
Why are your own figures shown as placeholders?
Because fees are per corridor and per payout method, and this page will not hard-code them. The live number appears in the app before you confirm, and it is the one that applies to your transfer.
Compare on what lands.
Open 80eight, take a live quote, and put it next to anyone else's on the same amount at the same minute.