Set the shipment and payment milestones
Confirm the purchase terms
Record the supplier's country, the goods' origin, invoice currency and delivery obligations. This guide covers EUR payments; other EU currencies are outside its scope.
Choose the payment route
Check whether the provider can use SEPA for the supplier's EUR account or will send an international transfer.
Review the documents
Check the invoice, transport document and any agreed origin or inspection documents before the relevant payment trigger.
Reconcile the total cost
Add the actual logistics, import and payment charges to the converted goods value. Label estimates clearly so they cannot be mistaken for final invoices.
Use this sequence to plan the order. Take the actual dates and release conditions from your contract and the provider’s quote.
Check the receiving account and route
SEPA Credit Transfer is a euro payment scheme used by participating payment service providers. Access for a US customer depends on the provider and account arrangements.
The EPC says the beneficiary receives the original SCT payment amount, while each customer's own provider charges its fees separately. Allow for any funding and currency-conversion costs as well.
Use ECB reference rates to compare historical periods. Get a provider quote for the rate available on an actual transfer.
Build the shipment budget
Use either the quoted customer FX rate or a reference rate with a separate markup. Applying a markup to a rate that already includes it would count the same conversion cost twice.
Keep internationally quoted freight and insurance separate from the customs value confirmed by the broker.
This guide gives no uniform tariff for EU goods or guaranteed freight schedule. Use the product's applicable tariff and the forwarder's quote.
Save the supplier amount, currency, quote date, total account debit and amount expected to arrive. Add the freight quote and customs assumptions to the same file.