Powtran contacted me yesterday to say that as from July 1 their cost to use PayPal for small number VFD purchases will increase by ~US$35 per transaction which obviously puts a large hit on the purchaser of 1 or 2 VFDs.

The reasons are complicated and I can try and explain it if anyone wants to know, but what I wonder is if it has something to do with deteriorating US/China relations.

The remaining option is to use Western Union (WU) Transfer. This will be a few $ more expensive than the current PayPal arrangement for the purchase of a single small VFD, about the same if you purchase 2 small VFDs, and cheaper if you purchase more than 2 small VFDs.

I have explored the WU payment portal and it is a bit more complicated than using PayPal, unlike PayPal it does not guarantee the the receiver will receive a specific amount.

There is also the slight concern that WU is not as secure as Paypal and would be interested in hearing from anyone that has used WU on-line transfers recently and what their experience has been.

I am in ongoing discussion with Powtran to see if this can be resolved.