Sad to see this still being the reality today.

I can totally understand that if you're dealing with relatively low amounts that you need to find an alternative. Aren't there any local exchanging services available? Usually they take a 1-2% cut, but that's well under what you would pay when wiring your money at a $45-$50 fee to whatever crypto exchange.

This makes me appreciate how much of a privilege we have here in Europe. I can send money to Bitstamp at no cost through my bank. We also have a wide variety of local exchanging services offering instant Bitcoin purchases.