Needing to send money to friends and family has been around probably as long as money itself. It is pointless having money if you can’t do anything with it and so at some point you need to give it some-one else. It is not always possible to do this in person and that’s where money transfer services play an important part. They are the middle person between the sender and receive.
PayPal was one of the most successful early ways to send money online and after being purchased by ebay they continue to growth and expand their services. There are also a multitude of other online money transfer services that differentiate themselves from the big ones by focusing on niche markets. Whilst sending money online is easy, there are still the old fashioned alternatives that have been in business since way before the internet was even invented.
Take Western Union for example. They were founded in 1851 and still exist today. Their model is different and they have agents around the world to facilitate the transfers. Basically you can go to an agent and hand over your money and give the recipient’s details and they can be somewhere around the world and walk into their local agent and receive the money. This is just one alternative to email money transfer places.
Banks also offer money transfers or bank wire transfers to their customers. These aren’t limited to transfers between customers and you can transfer money to an account at practically any bank around the world. Of course you need a few extra details for these such as the bank name, branch, international code, account number, account name etc. That’s why sending money by email is much easier because you don’t need all those details. Most time just an email address!
Another alternative money transfer service is money order/postal orders. These are similar to a check/cheque only more security. You by the money order and send to the recipient who can then go in with appropriate identification and exchange it for money. Often these are available from post offices so there are always plenty of places to redeem them.
All of the above have there place within our lives or they wouldn’t exist today. The reason so many people are continuing to join the services that allow them to send money online is because of the convenience. Combine that with the lower fees (no agents or offices/shops to staff) and you have a winning combination. Be all means have a look at the other services just to make sure you get the best value for money when you are purchasing goods or sending money back home to family or any other reason you have to send money.