I need to send a small amount of money to the US. Where can I get an international money order or bank draft in Taipei? Does anyone know how much one will cost?
Thanks
I used to just get checks in US dollars at a bank, the fee was very small, say about NT$100 or $150. Of course you will pay something on the exchange rate when you change NT to dollars, but you would have to pay that anyway.
I can’t remember specifically which bank I used. Obviously it would have to be one which was approved to do foreign exchange transactions, but I would imagine that most would probably fall into that category these days (gone are the days when you could only change money at the Bank of Taiwan!)
The other option would be to find a friend with a checking account in the US, give him some NT dollars, and have him write a check for you. Cheaper and neater if you figure the guy really does have money in the account. 
Also check out “Paypal” which now offers services in Taiwan. You can send money to quite a few people using this Internet-based service. Most banks also have some kind of “electronic bill paying” service which would allow you to send money to virtually anyone (not just power companies, the phone company and the like).
Terry the Paypal suggestion is brilliant. I’ve signed up already and am going to test it later next month with my sister in Canada. From what I could gather from the website (and their help section is unfortunately not as clear as I’d like) the fees are small for overseas transfers (1%). As there appears to be no other fees for the sender (and none for the recepient) it is as cheap if not cheaper than a bank draft when you add the cost of mailing the draft registered. Anyway, as I said I’ll be trying a transfer later and will let everyone know how it goes and what the costs are.
Feel free to test your account by transferring money to mine.