XEtrade acct active - How do I transfer USD to GBP?

Alright, I've scanned the existing forums and I'm still confused.
My XEtrade account is finally active.  I added my US account under EFT bank account.  I added my new UK account under Wire Beneficiary.  Is this correct so far?

I clicked on Basic Trade, said no to third-party (I am sending to myself, not others), and I want to buy 500 GBP and sell USD.

Where it says."To Be Delivered by", do I select Wire?  Because the only other option is Draft.
Where it says "To Be Paid to Us", I select Electronic Funds Transfer.

Assuming it's a Wire  on the UK side, I select the UK account to wire funds to.
For EFT account, I select my US account.

It says DELIVERED BY WIRE TRANSFER. It says You Wish To Sell To Us: 1021.65 USD, plus a Wire Fee of 24.52 USD, with a total cost of 1046.17 USD, to be paid to us by EFT (my US account). Exchange rate is horrible at 2.043!  I went to a UK bank the other day (RBS) and pulled out cash with my US ATM card and got an exchange rate of 1.99, plus only a $10 exchange fee (confirmed by logging into my US account online and checking it).

Let's STOP right here.  Why is XEtrade charging me a Wire Fee of $25 dollars?  I thought this fee is waved if it's EFT on the US side.  Am I missing something here?  I am holding off until I hear from others that I'm doing this correctly and/or if there is a better option.

There are two transactions involved: from your US account to XEtrade, and then from XEtrade to your UK account. The first transaction is via EFT and does not incur a fee. The second is via wire, for which XE charges a fee.

If it is of any interest to you, there is a link from my company website to a company who can do this exchange for you, and almost certainly at a better rate than XE.

Vicky

Does anyone have other companies that they have worked with?  I see that transfermate is possibly one of them.

Vicky, are you referring to worldwide?  Any experience with them?

They are the only firm who we link to from our website, and we wouldn't do so unless we were sure that they are good.  We take these kinds of referrals very seriously, and I honestly think they are at least worth chatting too.

Vicky

I'll second that. They just gave me a rate that was significantly better than XE.

Okay, it's a been few months (Oct 2007!) since I did my first XE Trade 'transfer', but I don't remember paying a fee AT ALL.  What I think you do is go into your online banking and do a 'payment' to the bank details that XE Trade provides, which is free of charge.  This is then EFT-ed to your US account.

The confusing thing is that the XE Trade system calls it "wire transfer" no matter how you get them the money.  You CAN do a costly wire transfer to their Custom House account or you can do the freebie online payment via your online banking.  I think it possible takes a couple days longer, but is far cheaper.  (no comment about the rates...I'm no guru, I just use what's fast and easy and reasonable)

Okay, it's a been few months (Oct 2007!) since I did my first XE Trade 'transfer', but I don't remember paying a fee AT ALL.  What I think you do is go into your online banking and do a 'payment' to the bank details that XE Trade provides, which is free of charge.  This is then EFT-ed to your US account.

The confusing thing is that the XE Trade system calls it "wire transfer" no matter how you get them the money.  You CAN do a costly wire transfer to their Custom House account or you can do the freebie online payment via your online banking.  I think it possible takes a couple days longer, but is far cheaper.  (no comment about the rates...I'm no guru, I just use what's fast and easy and reasonable)

It depends on which way you're exchanging. From a UK account to a US account you can avoid all the charges by using BACS and EFT. From a US account you can use EFT for free, but there's no free electronic option to get the money into your UK account. (As far as I know...)