BitFloor and international wire transfers

[Abdussamad]

So I signed up with bitfloor and looked into depositing some money with them via SWIFT wire transfer. Turns out that they rely on the amount of the deposit to determine which bitfloor account to credit. The problem with this is that with SWIFT transfers correspondent/intermediate banks can deduct an arbitrary amount without either the sender or receiver consenting to it. So there is no way to guarantee that the amount the sender sends will be the exact amount the recipient gets.

Other exchanges like bitcoin-24 rely on the note/reference field of the wire transfer to determine which account to credit. That is more reliable because it does not get changed.

What do you guys think?

[qxzn]

Your bank should be able to ensure that the specified amount of money makes it to the destination. They should deduct the fees from your bank account balance, not from the transaction amount. Wire transfers are used to close on real estate deals, can you imagine how much of a pain it would be if you couldn't count on your bank to get the proper amount of funds to destination?

[Abdussamad]

Your bank should be able to ensure that the specified amount of money makes it to the destination. They should deduct the fees from your bank account balance, not from the transaction amount. Wire transfers are used to close on real estate deals, can you imagine how much of a pain it would be if you couldn't count on your bank to get the proper amount of funds to destination?

I am talking about SWIFT based international wire transfers not domestic US wire transfers or SEPA wire transfers within Europe. With SWIFT correspondent banks come into play and they can deduct their own fees at will.

[moni3z]

Your bank should be able to ensure that the specified amount of money makes it to the destination. They should deduct the fees from your bank account balance, not from the transaction amount. Wire transfers are used to close on real estate deals, can you imagine how much of a pain it would be if you couldn't count on your bank to get the proper amount of funds to destination?

I am talking about SWIFT based international wire transfers not domestic US wire transfers or SEPA wire transfers within Europe. With SWIFT correspondent banks come into play and they can deduct their own fees at will.

Swift uses BEN, SHA or OUR tell your bank you want to pay OUR charges and then no correspondent takes any. OUR is always a gigantic stupid fee I'd just send it regular SHA and hope they don't shave too much off. 

[Abdussamad]

Your bank should be able to ensure that the specified amount of money makes it to the destination. They should deduct the fees from your bank account balance, not from the transaction amount. Wire transfers are used to close on real estate deals, can you imagine how much of a pain it would be if you couldn't count on your bank to get the proper amount of funds to destination?

I am talking about SWIFT based international wire transfers not domestic US wire transfers or SEPA wire transfers within Europe. With SWIFT correspondent banks come into play and they can deduct their own fees at will.

Swift uses BEN, SHA or OUR tell your bank you want to pay OUR charges and then no correspondent takes any. OUR is always a gigantic stupid fee I'd just send it regular SHA and hope they don't shave too much off. 

Thanks for posting a genuinely knowledgeable answer. I could use SHA except that bitfloor determines which bitfloor account to credit with an incoming wire transfer by referring to the amount of the wire transfer. So if the amount is different from the one that bitfloor requires your bitfloor account does not get credited. Other bitcoin exchanges rightly use the note/reference field to determine which account to credit.

[moni3z]

That's just for automatic funding, so you would send the wire as usual, and then just contact their support and they'd manually credit your account if it doesn't automatically fund. Keep in mind their bank will convert whatever funds you send in to USD, probably at a huge 3% bank rate. It may be cheaper to use XEtrade or Transferwise.com instead, and they probably have their own correspondent banks so no money taken off.

[Abdussamad]

That's just for automatic funding, so you would send the wire as usual, and then just contact their support and they'd manually credit your account if it doesn't automatically fund. Keep in mind their bank will convert whatever funds you send in to USD, probably at a huge 3% bank rate. It may be cheaper to use XEtrade or Transferwise.com instead, and they probably have their own correspondent banks so no money taken off.

Oh I have already contacted their support and I gathered that they don't understand how international wire transfers work. The support rep kept insisting that I had to send the exact amount they specify as if I could magically alter how the SWIFT system works.

I already have USD so there won't be any currency conversion charges.

[moni3z]

That sucks, you'll have to phone your bank to put in a transfer and tell them it has to be OUR transfer, which is typically 0.375% fee min. USD$61.00 and max. $USD 422.50 for an OUR wire transfer, plus get zinged by the $15 fee Bitfloor charges when they receive the xfer so you're looking at $76 total to send up to $16k USD

You could try Bitcoin24 or Bitstamp. You should also read this:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=167122.0

4. Stay away from Bitfloor they are insolvent, owing over 25 000 BTC to customers. Eventually one of their customers is going to get tired of the entire facade and file to force them into bankruptcy.