I work for a small company that is seeing an increase in international
sales.    Historically we have found that international sales require
a greater degree of effort to execute.  Slowly we have improved our
methods to take down some of the barriers to overseas trade, but I am
interesting in further refining these aspects of our operations.

The specific issue I would like to explore is payment from international sources. 
Currently we require foreign companies to wire money directly into our
Bank of America account.  This results in transaction fees in the
$25-$100 range that are normally subtracted from the payment amount. 
This seems particularly high in comparison to the Free(or low monthly
fee) Electronic Funds Transfer(EFT) method that is available for US
customers.  It is very difficult to bill our customers for these fees
because we see a transaction fee for every additional invoice they
pay.  I suspect there are better options for payment.

The question:
What are the best options to receive timely payment from international customers?

I would like a list of payment methods and approximate price or price
range for each.

Our end requirement is for funds to be in our BofA account.   If the
listed method requires an additional step for the funds to end up in
our account please list what this step is.


I do not want to hear about Credit Card payment.

There are quite a few avenues open here for you 

a. open foreign currency accounts in the currency your customers pay
in (however never forget to hedge these accounts or with a certain
shift in currency value you may end up holding the short end of the
stick)


b. open bank accounts in the countries your clients reside (just don't
forget to tell the tax authority you have them)

A and B also have the advantage that if you need to pay a foreign
client/vendor that you do not have to swallow the additional costs of
the exchange rate)

c. open bank accounts with large affiliated international 'trade'
banks (see list at the bottom)

d. use letters of credit 


Over the years I have noticed that american firms prefer to have their
money 'state side' for no other reason then that they feel it is
'safer'
there is no reason whatsoever for any company to transfer all its
money to one bank account in one specific country unless you are using
tax havens (like the bahamas and the cayman islands)


INTERNATIONAL BANK WEBSITES

ANZ Bank Aust. www.anz.com 
Bank of America US www.bankofamerica.com/index.cfm 
Bank of Tokyo Japan www.btm.co.jp 
Bank One US www.bankone.com/international 
Barclays Bank UK www.barclays.co.uk 
Bayerische Landesbank Germany www.bayerischelandesbank.com 
BNP Paribas Group France www.paribus.com 
Canadian Imperial Bank Canada www.cibc.com/ 
Chase Manhattan US www.chase.com 
Citibank US http://gcbweb.citibank.com 
Comeica Bank US www.comerica.com 
Credit Lyonnias France http://www.creditlyonnais.com/english/home/home_en.jsp 
Deutsche Bank Germany http://public.deutsche-bank.de 
Dresdner Bank Germany www.dresdnerbank.com 
Fleet US www.fleet.com 
Fuji Bank Japan www.fujibank.co.jp 
HSBC HK www.asiapacific.hsbc.com 
HSBC Bank USA UK www.banking.us.hsbc.com 
Imperial Bank US www.imperialbank.com/home.asp 
LaSalle Bank US www.lasallebank.com 
Maybank Malaysia http://www.maybank.com.my/ 
National City Bank US www.national-city.com 
Sanwa Bank Japan www.sanwabank.co.jp 
Siam Commercial Bank Thai www.scb.co.th 
Societe Generale France www.socgen.com 
Southern Bank Berhad Malyasia http://www.sbbgroup.com.my/ 
Standard Chartered Bank UK www.standardchartered.com 
State Street Bank US www.statestreet.com 
Thai Farmers Bank Thai www.tfb.co.th 
Toronto Dominion Bank Canada www.tdbank.ca/index.html 
Sumitomo Mitsui Bank Japan http://www.smbcgroup.com:8080/ 
UBS AG Switzerland www.ubs.com/e/index 
Union Bank of California US www.unionbank.com 
Wells Fargo US www.wellsfargo.com/inatl/ 
WestDeutsche Landesbank  Germany www.westlb.de

Sorry hit post before i was done

Companies should also expect their financial institution to be able to
provide products through a web-enabled delivery portal.  Many of the
best trade banks are already doing this.

Additionally, your international bank should also be able to offer
information on the following  value-added trade products and services
such as:

Prepayment and structured pre-export facilities: these services
finance pre-   export fabrication and provide export financing for a
country?s key exports.

Export receievables financing. 

Government-backed insurance and guarantee programs: These are
available from government bodies such as Eximbank or private insurers
and can help your company spread the risk.

Programs offered by regional development banks and institutions: the
IFC, ADB, World Bank, and other institutions  support international
sales by providing guarantees as credit support or enhancement.

Linked exports and import financing: In some countries the export
contract can act as security for essential imports.  For example, in
some countries that export value-added products, if imports (generally
but not always raw materials) do not flow into the country then
value-added exports stop.  An international bank can credit-enhance
the deal by using the export contract as security thus allowing
country imports to continue.

Global trade management: This allows you to out-source the trade
documentation preparation to others who are more familiar with it and
who work with these forms daily.

Option-linked financings for commodities: Again, these are risk
spreading options.  Examples are trade finance solutions that have
interest rate, foreign exchange, and commodity-hedging options.  These
can be made part of the transaction if desired.

Counter-trade transactions: commodities, durable and other goods are
essentially bartered.

Forfeiting: This is a provision of medium-term trade finance where
trade contracts are  sold into the secondary market.

Multinational inter-company structured trade/tax facilities.

I have suppliers in the USA that I pay either with VISA or through a
Western Union Transference. I have used in the past also Traveler
Checks.
Depending on the amount per transaction maybe one of the mentioned
methods can be usefull to you.

Turry