“We wired ten thousand dollars (illustrative) — why did you receive nine nine fifty?” Every exporter takes this call eventually. Nobody swallowed the money; it just traveled a toll road — and every toll booth is an intermediary bank whose name you have never heard.
SWIFT carries messages; money moves in relays
First misconception down: SWIFT is not a transfer system — it is the encrypted messaging network between banks. Funds move leg by leg through correspondent accounts banks hold with each other. When the buyer’s US bank has no direct correspondent relationship with your Taiwanese bank, the payment relays through one or more intermediaries. You do not choose the path; the correspondent network does — and the same buyer at the same bank can take different paths on different days.
Why arrivals come up short
Every intermediary in the chain may deduct a handling charge from principal (amounts per bank and agreement), plus your own bank’s inward fee (per its schedule) — so receipts land almost always slightly under invoice. The buyer wires 10,000; you receive 9,950 or 9,975 (illustrative), and the shortfall differs every time. It is structural, not an error.
The practical counter is agreeing the difference up front: many exporters write into the contract and PI that bank charges are the buyer’s and the seller must receive invoice value in full. Whether the clause works depends on one checkbox in the buyer’s wire.
OUR, SHA, BEN: one field decides who pays
The SWIFT message carries a charge-bearer field with three options:
- OUR: all charges borne by the remitter — you receive full value in theory. Best for the exporter; the buyer pays more, and individual routes can still surprise
- SHA (most banks’ default): the buyer covers the sending end; intermediary and receiving fees come out of principal — the main source of short arrivals
- BEN: all charges deducted from principal at the start — worst for the exporter, decline it explicitly
The one-sentence practice: print “Please remit in full with OUR charges, quoting invoice number” on the PI — cheaper than chasing tens of dollars monthly.
Arrival times: quote ranges, never dates
Taiwan-US wires run about 1–3 working days clean; multiple intermediaries, holidays, or a compliance screen (AML, sanctions scanning, purpose queries) stretch it past a week. The common snags: a beneficiary name that does not exactly match the account registration (one comma, one missing “Ltd”), a mistyped SWIFT code or account number (a round trip costs a week), or remark-field wording that trips a manual review.
Reconciling the MT103
When a payment is disputed, ask the buyer for the MT103 — the wire’s registered mail receipt. Check three things: the amount sent versus received (locating which leg deducted what), the charge option actually selected (was OUR honored?), and the value date (did the delay happen in banking or before the wire ever left?). Short arrivals then sort into categories: structural intermediary fees (reconcile against the PI clause), the buyer under-wiring (a commercial conversation), or a stuck compliance review (supply the requested documents and wait).
Payment-term strategy and wiring mechanics are two halves of getting paid; SKYCARGO INC designs collection into the logistics flow where the lane allows. Talk to us. (Personal shipments: Shiptw.)
Bank fees and routing follow each institution’s current schedules and agreements. No bank recommendations; general reference only.
