Michael; I THINK if you check BofA's web site you will find that domestic wire transfers are $25 and international transfers are $35. It doesn't say anything about 'in person' or 'on the internet'. But my next international transfer is in December and I will now try the internet to see if the cost is a bit lower.
If true I was given the wrong information, although it was clear that I wanted to send euros to Europe since the same person gave me BofA's exchange rate.
PayPal seems to be gaining in popularity as a way to transfer money overseas. I just looked at the site, and they say you can send $1000 to France for $5.00 @$1.31/Dollar.
XE says the exchange rate at the moment is around $1.276 for the Euro.
I'll ask, but I doubt that a building contractor who normally deals with French clients will use PayPal. I'm actually toying with the idea of seeing if he accepts credit cards, although that would mean that he would boost his price to cover his side of CC charges.
Perhaps you could use a card that has no exchange charges, such as the Capitol One card I use. Sachs, I think, is another. I used mine to pay a couple grand deposit on a rental, and the landlord made no quibble about her charges. I have no idea what those charges may be, but think they are only a couple of percent.
I finally chose XE.COM which charged me 1.34% to convert the dollars to euro and make an electronic transfer to a French bank. BofA refused to consider a change in its rates even though the French bank was BNP and we are not charged for withdrawals from BNP; one would think it goes both ways.
A word of advice for anyone going this route: When specifying a bank in France, use "France" and not "Metropolitan France" as the identifying country. If the latter designation is used, the transaction will be denied even though the bank is in Metropolitan France, i.e. France located in Europe. It is also possible that electronic transfers from savings accounts are not allowed.
Interesting day trips from Lyon, France?