# How to pay international vendors, and what each way costs

URL: https://www.orla.finance/en/pay-suppliers/international
Markdown twin of that page. Append `.md` to any Orla page URL to get one.

Paying a supplier abroad has five common routes. Here they are with the fees from each provider's own page on 23 October 2026, what the supplier pays at their end, and the checks that keep a wrong payment from leaving.

### Four things a supplier abroad changes

The fee on the screen is the smallest of them.

#### Somebody converts the currency

An invoice in euros paid from a dollar account is converted by your bank, by a transfer service or by the supplier's bank, and each prices it twice: as a fee you can see and as a rate you have to check against the mid-market rate. Bank of America charges no wire fee on an international wire sent in a foreign currency and says on the same page that exchange rate markups apply. Decide who converts before the first invoice, and write it into the terms.

#### Who pays which bank

A wire passes through your bank, sometimes one or two intermediary banks, and the supplier's bank. The charge code on the wire decides who carries their fees: OUR means you pay all of them, SHA means each side pays its own bank, BEN means the supplier carries them. With SHA, an intermediary's deduction lands on the supplier, and the invoice arrives back short. Agree the code with the supplier, then use it every time.

#### Their bank details, checked once

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center describes business email compromise as a scam aimed at businesses that work with suppliers and regularly pay by wire. Its usual shape is an email, from the supplier's real or lookalike address, with new bank details. Take the details once, check them by calling the supplier on a number you already had, and treat any later change as a new payee. The page on [duplicate and fraudulent invoices](https://www.orla.finance/en/bills/duplicate-invoices) has the rest of that playbook.

#### The paperwork at both ends

A US business paying a foreign company usually asks for Form W-8BEN-E; a foreign individual gives W-8BEN. The supplier's country has its own rules for receiving money from abroad and for the invoice itself. None of this is tax advice; it is the shape of the problem, and the call is your accountant's.

### Each way: what it costs you, what it costs them, and how it sits in Orla

Fees as each provider's own page stated them on 23 October 2026.

#### 1. A bank wire over SWIFT

Bank of America charges $45 to send an international wire in US dollars; in a foreign currency there is no wire fee, but exchange rate markups apply. An inbound wire may cost the receiver $15 at that bank, and an outbound international wire typically arrives in 1 to 5 business days. Wells Fargo lists $30 for a wire sent online and $40 from a branch, and says it makes money when it converts currencies. Mercury lists $0 for international wires in US dollars and a 1% currency exchange fee on the rest. Swift says nearly 60% of payments over Swift GPI are credited within 30 minutes and almost 100% within 24 hours. A wire is right for one large payment, a goods order with a deposit, or a supplier whose bank nothing else reaches.

In Orla the payment is proposed, passes the rule and leaves from your bank. Where the space has the connection switched on, a connected Mercury account gets it as a request in Mercury's own approval queue, in US dollars only, with non-US payees paid by international wire; from Slash, an international wire is sent in Slash itself, because it needs a purpose code from the payee's bank.

#### 2. Wise Business

Sending money abroad costs from 0.23%, the fee varies by currency, and Wise says it does not inflate the mid-market rate. Opening the business account is a one-time 31 USD. It is right for regular invoices in many currencies, paid into the supplier's own local account. Orla does not connect to Wise: the payment is proposed and signed in Orla as your record, then made in Wise by whoever holds the Wise login, and the Wise statement for the month is imported against that account, so the bill still closes on the money that left. The signatures are your rule on paper here, not a lock on Wise.

#### 3. A multi-currency business account

Airwallex lists free domestic transfers in US and Canadian dollars, $15 to $25 for a SWIFT transfer (SHA and OUR), and conversion at 0.5% above interbank rates for major currencies and 1.0% for the rest, with an Explore plan at $0 per user a month. The point of a multi-currency account is to pay a euro invoice from a euro balance you already hold, with no conversion on the day. In Orla each currency pocket of a connected Airwallex or Revolut Business account is its own account. Where a space has Airwallex payouts switched on, Orla prepares the payments as a draft batch in Airwallex; Revolut gets a draft once Orla has seen your Revolut IP allowlist hold. Either way someone on your team submits and approves them there; Orla asks Revolut only for the right to read and to prepare, never to send.

#### 4. PayPal

For the supplier who invoices through PayPal. On PayPal's business fees page a commercial payment received from another market adds 1.50% to the supplier's own receiving rate. Currency conversion costs 3.00%, or 4.00% when paying for goods or services in a currency other than the one they are listed in, and on a payout the recipient receives in another currency. PayPal Payouts abroad cost 2% of the amount, capped at 20 USD for a US dollar payout. So a PayPal invoice is convenient and rarely the cheap way; ask whether the supplier takes a bank transfer too. In Orla a connected PayPal Payouts balance is an account you pay from, and an approved payout leaves on a press.

#### 5. Stablecoins (USDC, USDT)

For the supplier who asks to be paid on chain. Etherscan's gas tracker at 01:09 UTC on 23 October 2026 priced a USDT transfer on Ethereum at $0.006 at 0.044 gwei. On TRON the latest confirmed USDT transfers used 64,285 energy to an address that already held USDT and 130,285 to one that held none; at the network's energy price of 100 sun a unit, a wallet without staked energy burns about 6.4 or 13 TRX, roughly $2.11 or $4.28 at that hour's TRX price. The real cost sits with the supplier, turning tokens into money through an exchange and a bank. A transfer cannot be recalled, and the issuer can freeze an address. In Orla the run sends every approved payment of one wallet in one sitting, offers to screen any address with no check from the last month (each check is paid for), and puts the transaction id on the payment. Which coin to use is its own question: [USDC vs USDT](https://www.orla.finance/en/pay-contractors/usdc-vs-usdt).

### The five ways on one table

Checked on 23 October 2026, on each provider's own page or on chain.

| Way | Your fee | The supplier's side | Arrival | Can it be undone |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bank wire (SWIFT) | $45 in US dollars at Bank of America; $30 online at Wells Fargo; $0 in dollars at Mercury, 1% to convert | Their bank may charge; Bank of America may charge $15 on an inbound wire | 1 to 5 business days at Bank of America | A recall is a request, not a right |
| Wise Business | From 0.23%, by currency; 31 USD once to open | Their own bank's charges, if any | Varies by currency | As a bank transfer |
| Multi-currency account (Airwallex) | Free local USD and CAD; SWIFT $15 to $25; 0.5% to 1.0% over interbank to convert | Their own bank's charges, if any | Varies | As a bank transfer |
| PayPal | Payouts abroad 2%, at most 20 USD on a dollar payout; 3% to 4% to convert | 1.50% more on a commercial payment from abroad | Into their PayPal balance | By PayPal's own rules |
| USDC or USDT | $0.006 on Ethereum; about 6.4 to 13 TRX on TRON without staked energy | Their exchange, withdrawal and bank | Minutes | No |

Prices change, and a rate markup never shows on a fee line: compare what the supplier receives, not what you were charged.

### Which way for which supplier

#### One large order

A wire in the supplier's currency, with the charge code agreed (OUR if the invoice must arrive whole), or a conversion in a transfer service first and a local payment second. On a large amount the rate matters more than the fee: half a percent on 50,000 is 250.

#### Many small invoices in a few currencies

A transfer service or a multi-currency account. A flat $45 wire on a 400 invoice is more than 11% of it; a percentage fee is not.

#### A supplier who invoices through PayPal

Pay through PayPal if that is the only way they take, and know that both of you pay a percentage. Ask once whether a bank transfer works.

#### A supplier who asks for USDT or USDC

A stablecoin transfer costs cents to a few dollars and arrives in minutes. Pay the address the supplier gave you on the network they named, screen it, and remember that nothing can be recalled.

#### Asking a provider for a quote

Ask five things and compare the answers side by side: the fee per payment, the rate against the mid-market rate on a named day, who pays intermediary banks, how long a payment takes to the supplier's country, and what the supplier receives for an invoice of a size you actually pay. A quote that answers only the first one is a quote for the cheapest line on the screen.

### Where the bill, the details and the signatures live

Orla does not replace the way you pay. It is where the bill arrives, the payment is signed and the record is kept, whichever account the money leaves from.

#### The bill arrives once

A bill comes in as a draft read from the supplier's PDF, mailed in or uploaded, or is typed in by hand. Entering the same supplier and invoice number twice is refused, whichever way each one arrived, because one supplier invoice is one debt.

#### Bank details live on the supplier, not on the bill

Bank details are never asked for or stored on a bill; paying it reads them from the supplier's contact card. A bank rail is a form with a scheme, SEPA and IBAN, UK sort code, US ACH, or SWIFT for everywhere else, and an IBAN or a US routing number with two digits swapped is refused as it is typed. Instead of copying details from an email, you can send the supplier a link where they type their own: it works once and for seven days.

#### New details hold the payment

When Orla sends or drafts a payment to a supplier you have paid before, on details they were never paid on, the payment waits, even with all its signatures, until someone confirms the new details. The person who proposed it cannot be the one who confirms, unless they are the only person who can sign; the check is a call to the supplier on a number you already had.

#### The same rule on every way

Payments above a threshold need the number of signatures the rule asks for, and whoever proposes a payment cannot sign it themselves. A payout run is checked on its total. On a rail Orla sends or drafts, the rule holds the payment; on a rail you pay by hand, it records who signed.

#### The send stays where the money is

Revolut Business gets a draft your team sends there, once Orla has seen your Revolut IP allowlist hold; PayPal Payouts sends on a press; a wallet sends from the run screen. Where a space has them switched on, Mercury gets a request into its own approval queue, Airwallex a draft batch your team sends there, and Slash sends ACH and domestic wires on a press and leaves international wires to Slash itself. Where a space has it (it is being switched on space by space, on paid plans), an account inside Orla pays a supplier's bank too: its bank details pay into USDC in your own wallet, a payment goes out in the currency the supplier's details are in, and before you press it shows what the supplier receives and each fee as its own line.

#### The record

Each payment carries who proposed and who signed, the bank's reference or the chain's hash, and the supplier's invoice number when it settles a bill. When the bank charge that paid a bill reaches the ledger with the same amount to the cent, the same currency and a payee that looks like the supplier, the bill closes on it by itself, so it is not paid a second time on its due date; a less certain match waits for you to pick it.

How to pick, in one line: choose the way per supplier by what they receive, then keep the bill, the details and the rule in one place, whatever the mix.

### Questions

**What is the cheapest way to pay an international vendor?**

The one that leaves the supplier with the most after both sides' fees and the rate. For regular invoices in the supplier's currency that is usually a transfer service or a multi-currency account; for one large payment, a wire in their currency with a rate you checked; for a supplier who asks for a stablecoin, a transfer that costs cents to a few dollars. The fees on this page are as of 23 October 2026 and change.

**How long does an international wire take?**

Bank of America says an outbound international wire typically arrives in 1 to 5 business days, depending on the currency and the receiving bank. Swift says nearly 60% of payments over Swift GPI are credited within 30 minutes and almost 100% within 24 hours, when the banks on the route use it.

**Who pays international wire transfer fees, me or the supplier?**

Whoever the charge code says. OUR puts every bank's fee on you, SHA splits them so each side pays its own bank, BEN puts them on the supplier. Intermediary banks deduct from the amount in flight, so under SHA the supplier can receive less than the invoice. Agree the code in writing before the first payment.

**What should I ask for in a quote for paying overseas vendors?**

The fee per payment, the exchange rate against the mid-market rate on a named day, who pays intermediary banks, how long a payment takes to the supplier's country, and what the supplier receives for an invoice of the size you actually pay. Compare the last number, not the first.

**Do I need a W-8BEN-E from a foreign supplier?**

If you are a US payer, a foreign company usually gives Form W-8BEN-E and a foreign individual W-8BEN. Whether and how it applies to your case is your accountant's call. In Orla the form can sit on the supplier's contact card under Documents.

**Can I pay a foreign supplier in USDC or USDT?**

Technically yes, in minutes and for cents to a few dollars. Whether it is allowed for your company and theirs is a question for a local adviser. In Orla the payment goes through the same rule and the same record as a bank payment, and the run offers to screen the address before it is paid.

### Read next

- How to pay international contractors, five ways: https://www.orla.finance/en/pay-contractors/international
- ACH vs wire transfer, and where SWIFT fits: https://www.orla.finance/en/glossary/ach-vs-swift
- How to catch duplicate and fraudulent vendor invoices: https://www.orla.finance/en/bills/duplicate-invoices
- USDC vs USDT: which one to pay in: https://www.orla.finance/en/pay-contractors/usdc-vs-usdt
- What a wire, Wise and a stablecoin cost, for your amount: https://www.orla.finance/en/international-payment-cost-calculator
- What Form W-8BEN is, and who signs it: https://www.orla.finance/en/glossary/w-8ben
- Pay bills on their due date: https://www.orla.finance/en/use-cases/pay-bills
- Paying from Airwallex: https://www.orla.finance/en/airwallex
- Paying from Mercury: https://www.orla.finance/en/mercury