transferring money from US relative

My mom in the states wants to buy us a gift.  She tried on Amazon.co.uk, but they wouldn't let the transaction go through because she had a US credit card, and they said it needed to be in the UK.  She asked about sending a check, but we told her that wouldn't work here.  She asked one of the small bank branches about sending an international money order in Pounds Sterling, but they said they didn't know how to do that.  I'm trying to save her the expenses of wiring money.  She's only sending about $100, and it's a one-time deal.  Does anyone know a good way for her to get the money to me here so I can buy a B-day gift?

When my family send my brother in Canada small amounts of cash for his birthday, we just put notes in the post (international recorded), slipped between the pages of a card.  This might be the most cost efficient way.


Vicky

Western Union though they do charge a fee.

Paypal works well. I am surprised she had trouble with amazon.uk--my relatives always give us amazon uk gift certificates that they buy in the US and I know I shopped there when I was in the US.

I too am surprised that she had trouble with amazon.co.uk. We registered there for our wedding specifically b/c they allowed US credit cards, and a number of our US guests bought us presents there with no issue.

I just went through a similar situation myself...my mom offered to buy us a new vacuum for Christmas. My husband found the best price at a place that didn't take US cards. So what we ended up doing is taking the money out of my US bank account from an ATM to pay for it, and then she just ended up depositing a check into my US bank account to cover the amount. Maybe something like that would work?

I too am surprised that she had trouble with amazon.co.uk.

Me three...my parents bought me my birthday gift in November from amazon uk using an American Express card with their US billing address.

Paypal should work if that's not too much hassle...and I like kate_mate's idea of withdrawing money from your US account.  I would stay away from Western Union unless it's a last resort- they're pretty expensive and not worth it for a small amount of money/non-emergency, IMO.

Amazon.co.uk shouldn't have a problem processing a US credit card. Your mum just has to enter your UK address as the shipping and her US address as the billing. I did that when I was in the UK for 3 months last year and ordered some books, I just put in my UK shipping and US billing.

I work for Amazon.com in the US, so if you're still wanting to use Amazon.co.uk for your mum to purchase a gift, just call their Customer Service number and they should be able to sort it out.

thank you all.  I remembered that I had an Amazon.co.uk gift certificate that a friend in the states bought me a couple months ago (and I hadn't used yet).  I used that as proof for my mom that she must be misunderstanding something and walked her through the process of making an online purchase with Amazon.  This time she managed to buy me the gift certificate and I just made the purchase myself (then I threw in the wedding gift certificate and added a multi-region DVD player so DH and I can finally watch my DVDs I brought from the states!)

I'm not sure what she did to make it not work.  I'm guessing that she entered her billing address as a shipping address without realizing it and then was stopped b/c they wouldn't send the gift she was getting for me to a US addy.  I guess I was ready to accept that she couldn't do the ticket b/c I was stopped online by Delta Airlines last month for purchasing a ticket with my husband's debit card.  They wouldn't let me do it without bringing him to the counter to verify it (which I couldn't do), and they cited new online purchase security rules.  I guess I figured Amazon was doing something similar, but now I'm guessing it was my mom's error.  It wouldn't be the first time, she isn't always the brightest when it comes to computer stuff. 

glad it all worked out in the end!

At least your mom is computer literate enough to figure it out. My mom can't even TURN ON a computer!    She constantly sends me little U.S. $ checks for small amounts like $20, $10, etc.  I keep telling her I don't have any easy way of cashing them, so she started sending me 7-11 money orders!  Also, not easy to cash cheaply.  So now whenever I get these checks, I send them to my bank in the U.S., Bank of America, which has a fantastic Bank-by-Mail scheme. When I mail checks to their Florida address, they are usually deposited into my US bank account within 7 days after I send them! And then I can withdraw in Sterling from any Barclays bank for no charge. 

At least your mom is computer literate enough to figure it out. My mom can't even TURN ON a computer!    She constantly sends me little U.S. $ checks for small amounts like $20, $10, etc.  I keep telling her I don't have any easy way of cashing them, so she started sending me 7-11 money orders!  Also, not easy to cash cheaply.  So now whenever I get these checks, I send them to my bank in the U.S., Bank of America, which has a fantastic Bank-by-Mail scheme. When I mail checks to their Florida address, they are usually deposited into my US bank account within 7 days after I send them! And then I can withdraw in Sterling from any Barclays bank for no charge. 

I gave my mom some of my bank by mail envelopes so when she wants to send me a small check she can send it right to my US account instead of sending it here for me to simply mail back to the US. It works well (although now that my dad discovered paypal--paypal is even nicer ;-) )