Best Ways to Pay Overseas Suppliers

How to pay international vendors: methods, fees, and best practices

Working with suppliers overseas can open major opportunities for your business: better pricing, access to specialized materials, and a clearer path into new international markets. These advantages can meaningfully strengthen your supply chain and improve your competitiveness. But despite the upside, many businesses may discover that paying international vendors is more complicated than expected.

High transaction fees, inconsistent settlement times, and limited payment options can turn a straightforward invoice into a multi-day administrative challenge. Relying solely on traditional payment methods can make these challenges worse, offering limited flexibility and adding extra fees and delays when transfers pass through multiple banks. So, as your vendor network grows across borders, choosing the right payment infrastructure becomes crucial.

This guide breaks down the most effective methods for paying overseas suppliers and outlines the key criteria finance teams should use when evaluating international payment platforms. You’ll learn how different payment methods work, when to use each option, and how modern financial tools can simplify overseas supplier payouts.

If you want a system that can simplify how you send money to suppliers abroad, Slash provides dynamic international payment options to help meet your suppliers’ needs: SWIFT-based bank wires, global ACH transfers, and stablecoin on- and off-ramps that enable fast, USD-denominated payments without traditional FX fees.4 You can automate payouts directly from the dashboard, sync transactions to QuickBooks for AI-assisted invoice matching, and gain clear, real-time analytics into supplier spending trends.

What are international payments and vendors? Key concepts

An international payment is any transfer of funds between parties located in different countries. Businesses rely on global payments to buy materials, outsource production, work with specialized manufacturers, and expand their global supply chains.

A vendor or supplier can refer to any business or individual located outside your home country who provides goods or services. Paying these suppliers often involves navigating foreign banking systems, compliance standards, and currency conversions.

When transferring funds overseas, especially for recurring or high-value payments, there are several elements your business should consider ahead of time:

• Payment processing time: Settlement speed varies across methods like money orders, SWIFT wires, global ACH, or blockchain-based transfers.
• Foreign exchange rates: Most international bank transfers involving incur foreign exchange rate(FX) markups or currency conversion fees that increase the total cost of payment for the sender.
• Recipient bank account details: Vendors may require the bank’s name and address, IBAN, BIC/SWIFT code, and information about any intermediary banks involved.
• Cross-border compliance: Payments must meet Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), sanctions screening, and other regulatory documentation requirements.
• Additional transaction fees: Payments that route through intermediary banks, institutions that connect the sender’s and receiver’s bank accounts when no direct relationship exists, may settle more slowly and accumulate added processing fees.
• Security measures: Different payment methods offer varying levels of fraud protection and data safeguards. Businesses that require strong intellectual property (IP) protections may need additional controls when working with overseas partners.
• Compatibility with existing systems: Payments can be more easily reported and managed if your international payment system syncs with existing accounting, procurement, or ERP tools.

What are the methods for making payments to international suppliers?

There are many different types of payment methods available for sending international transfers to suppliers. Each comes with advantages and disadvantages, ranging in their settlement speed, exposure to fees, and accessibility for recipients. Below are the most common payment methods businesses use today:

Cashier’s checks

Cashier’s checks are payments backed by a financial institution’s funds rather than a personal account, and they’re signed and guaranteed by a cashier or teller. They’re more reliable than standard checks because they can’t bounce. However, because they’re still paper instruments sent through the mail, using them for international payments is slow, inefficient, and carries the risk of being lost in transit. As a result, they’re rarely practical for international vendor payments today.

International wire transfers

International bank wire transfers move funds between bank accounts across borders, typically using the SWIFT network, and are widely accepted for large or time-sensitive vendor payments. They offer strong security and predictable routing; however, costs can add up due to intermediary bank fees and FX costs. Settlement times may also vary, especially if the sending and receiving banks don’t have a direct relationship.

Global ACH payments

Global ACH transfers begin as domestic ACH payments and settle through foreign clearing systems like SEPA (in the EU) or BACS (in the UK). They are a lower-cost alternative to international wires, and they work well for recurring, lower-urgency supplier payments. Although fees are typically much cheaper, availability varies by country and settlement can take several days. With Slash, you can schedule and automatically approve international ACH transfers, giving you the cost benefits of global ACH without risking missed payment deadlines.

Cryptocurrency and stablecoin payments

Blockchain payments rely on a decentralized network of validators to record and confirm transactions, eliminating the need for an international bank to move funds. Stablecoins are a non-volatile cryptocurrency that are pegged to a currency, like USD or Euros. As adoption grows, more businesses and individuals are turning to these rails because they offer fast settlement and avoid FX and conversion fees. With Slash, companies can use stablecoin on- and off-ramps to send USD-pegged transfers in USDC, USDT, or USDSL.

Transferring foreign currency from an overseas bank account

Maintaining a foreign currency bank account internationally allows businesses to pay vendors in their local currency, reducing FX markups and smoothing ongoing supplier relationships. This approach can speed up settlement and create a more predictable payment experience for both parties. However, opening and maintaining accounts in multiple jurisdictions can be expensive and administratively complex. It’s most effective for companies with consistent, long-term vendor activity in specific regions.

Peer-to-peer payments and digital wallet services

Digital wallets move money across closed-network rails, enabling faster transfers and more transparent pricing than many banks. These platforms are easy to use and often popular with small or mid-sized vendors who want quick access to funds. That said, they may impose transfer limits, have inconsistent availability by country, or delay withdrawals depending on local banking rules. They’re a strong choice for smaller, frequent payments—not necessarily for large invoice settlements.

Credit cards, debit cards, and virtual cards

Credit and debit cards let businesses pay suppliers quickly, track expenses easily, and benefit from built-in protections and rewards. Still, not all suppliers accept cards, and some may add processing or FX fees, making them better suited for day-to-day international spending or smaller purchases rather than large B2B invoices. With the Slash Visa® Platinum Card, a corporate charge card with low FX fees, you can issue virtual cards to employees and suppliers worldwide and earn up to 2% cash back.1

What are the best practices for paying international vendors?

With the broad range of considerations involved in paying suppliers overseas—from selecting the right payment method, to maintaining strong vendor relationships, to staying compliant with global regulations—businesses benefit from using tools and processes that make international payments easier to manage. Here are a few best practices to streamline and strengthen your cross-border payment workflows:

• Automate recurring payments: Scheduling automatic transfers for predictable invoices reduces manual work, helps avoid late payments, and keeps long-term supplier relationships running smoothly. With Slash, you can schedule and automatically execute payouts or assign virtual cards to specific vendors, ensuring that your payments are organized and on-time.
• Negotiate payment terms: When you consistently pay on time, you may be able to negotiate better terms, extended deadlines, or reduced fees with your suppliers.
• Monitor transaction fees: Regularly reviewing transfer fees, FX markups, and intermediary charges ensures you’re choosing the most cost-effective payment method for each region. Consider paying through low- or no-fee options like stablecoins, digital wallets, or corporate cards when applicable.
• Use providers with high transfer limits: Higher limits allow you to process large invoices in a single transaction without splitting payments or incurring additional charges.
• Ability to send diverse payment types: Working with a platform like Slash that supports international wires, global ACH, business cards, and stablecoins gives you the flexibility to meet suppliers’ payment preferences and optimize for cost or speed as needed.
• Leverage accounting tools: Inconsistent recordkeeping, mismatched invoices, and manual reconciliation across currencies can slow you down and produce unnecessary work. Slash's Quickbooks integrations eliminate much of this friction by syncing payment data and matching transactions to invoices using AI-assisted tools. This can also ensure that every cross-border payment has a clean audit trail, reducing compliance risk.

Simplified global banking starts with Slash

Slash gives businesses the infrastructure they need to operate confidently across borders. From one dashboard, you can access international wire transfers to 160+ countries via the SWIFT network, schedule global ACH payments, or send USD-denominated stablecoin transfers using USDC, USDT, or USDSL, allowing you to bypass traditional FX fees and settle payments in minutes.

Slash Global USD accounts offer an easy way to hold and transact in USD-pegged stablecoins without needing a U.S. LLC. Non-U.S. entities can pay global suppliers in dollars without conversion delays or currency risk, making it a powerful option for distributed teams and multinational operations.

Slash also supports day-to-day spending through the Slash Visa® Platinum Card, which earns up to 2% cash back and includes powerful spend controls like customizable limits, category restrictions, and real-time transaction insights for improved cash flow oversight. These features help businesses give teams flexibility while keeping oversight tight, especially when employees and partners make purchases in multiple countries.

Reduce fees, speed up payouts, and centralize your global AP with Slash.

Frequently asked questions

How long do international wire transfers typically take?

International wires usually take 1–5 business days, depending on the banks involved and whether the payment passes through intermediaries. International money orders are the slowest option, while stablecoins and some digital wallets can settle transactions much faster.

How do I minimize transaction fees when sending money overseas?

Comparing different payment rails and choosing options with lower FX markups or fewer intermediaries can help reduce costs. Using Slash’s stablecoin payments allows businesses to send USD-denominated transfers without traditional foreign transaction fees.

How do exchange rates affect the total cost of paying foreign vendors?

Exchange rates determine how much your payment is worth in the vendor’s local currency, and fluctuations or markups can raise the overall cost. Monitoring FX rates or using USD-pegged stablecoins through Slash can help reduce exposure to these variations.