How to Send Money to Macedonia at the Best Exchange Rate

Paying attention to the exchange rate is the most important thing to do if you frequently send money abroad. Most of the money transfer services make their profits by monetizing the differences in the exchange rates and by keeping these charges hidden. Even if you think that your transfer amount is too small for a big service fee or that sending money to a country like Macedonia won’t cost you much, check out the tables below.

The most popular money transfer companies do send money to Macedonia but you need to draw careful comparison and assess the scope of the charges.

 

Table 1: Sending $1000 from the US to Macedonia
Transfer method	Receiving Currency Option	Fees to send $1000 USD	Hidden currency conversion cost	Total fees	Time for the transfer to arrive
Paysera	USD	$4	$0	$4	1-3 days
Ria Money Transfer (slow)	USD	$5	$0	$5	3-5 days
OFX (previously USForex)*	EUR	$0	$7.5	$7.5	1-2 days
Ria Money Transfer (fast)	USD	$15	$0	$15	Minutes
XE Trade	USD	$0	$25	$25	3-5 days
Western Union (slow)	USD	$25	$0	$25	4-6 days
MoneyGram (slow)	USD	$25	$0	$25	3-5 days
Payoneer	USD	$3	$28	$31	3-5 days
Wire transfer		$25-55	$10-30	$35-85	3-5 days
Skrill	EUR	$42	$30	$72	3-5 days
Western Union (fast)	USD	$81	$0	$81	Minutes
MoneyGram (fast)	USD	$81	$0	$81	Minutes
Payza	MKD	$71	$25	$96	3-5 days

Note:

• Minimum transfer of $500 for OFX (previously USForex).

Table 2: Sending Money from Several Countries to Macedonia. The Total Cost Including Hidden Currency Exchange Fees.
Transfer Method	Receiving Currency	From the US	From the UK	From Canada	From Western Europe	From Australia
Ria Money Transfer (cheap method)	USD	0.5%	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Global Web Pay	GBP	Not available	0.7%	Not available	Not available	Not available
Azimo	USD	Not available	2%	Not available	1.7%	Not available
First Remit	USD	Not available	2.5%	Not available	Not available	Not available
Payoneer	USD	3.1%	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
OFX (previously USForex)	USD, GBP, EUR, AUD	0.75%	0.75%	0.75%	0.75%	0.75%
XE Trade	USD, GBP, CAD, EUR, AUD	2.5%	2.7%	2.6%	2.4%	3.8%
Wire transfer		2.5 – 5.5%	2 – 4.5%	2.5 – 5.5%	2 – 4.5%	3 – 6.5%
Paysera	USD	0.4%	2.9%	3.3%	1%	3.4%
Exchange4free	EUR	Not available	3.1%	3%	Not available	3%
Western Union (cheap method)	USD & EUR	2.5%	3%	6.7%*	0.6%*	5%
Small World FS	EUR	Not available	3.6%	Not available	Not available	Not available
Skrill	EUR	7.2%	6.3%	6.2%	6.2%	6.2%
MoneyGram	USD & EUR	2.5%	11.8%	7.9%	3.6%*	11.7%
Payza	MKD	9.6%	9.4%	10.1%	9.6%	10.1%
Send Money 24	USD	Not available	12%	Not available	Not available	Not available

Notes:

• All the percentages marked as ‘*’ are actually the transfers that you can make in Euro.
• Through Payza you will get amount in Macedonian Denars and through Global web pay you will get the amount directly in GBP(pounds).
• Minimum transfer of $500/£500 for OFX.
• OFX is a good option for sending larger amounts of money and their exchange rate fee goes down for larger amounts.
• The companies may provide you the option to choose a different receiving currency option, but for that purpose you may contact directly to the company and ask them all the charges related to the transaction.