PayPal and exchange rates.

[2wheeljunkie]

Recently, I was making a purchase on some stuff on ebay and when I went to pay for the item I got a choice of either having PayPal do the exchange rate for me or have the credit card company do the exchange. Any idea which is better and are there fees associated with either?

2WJ

 

[tboy]

unlike the bank, the cc doesn't charge (I don't think) any service fees for purchases made in any currency. Least, I've never had to pay any.

For the record, paypal uses whatever the current rate is at the moment you make the purchase. if you want to confirm the rate, just open another window and go to a site like msn money.com to get the going rate. Whenever I made a purchase in US funds paypal's rate was better than the one on other money exchange sites......

 

[2wheeljunkie]

Doesn't PayPal charge like a small fee for the transaction like 2 or 3 percent? I may have seen that somewhere but I can't find it.

2WJ

 

[Gentle Ben]

Doesn't PayPal charge like a small fee for the transaction like 2 or 3 percent? I may have seen that somewhere but I can't find it.

2WJ

Paypal charges the seller, not the buyer, or the one recieving the money, not the one sending

 

[2wheeljunkie]

So they don't charge any fee for the conversion at all then?

 

[markvee]

I bought something on EBay recently.
A Canadian dollar bought about $0.97US that day but I was charged as if a loonie bought about $0.94US,
so PayPal did pocket a few percent on the conversion.

 

[tboy]

I bought something on EBay recently.
A Canadian dollar bought about $0.97US that day but I was charged as if a loonie bought about $0.94US,
so PayPal did pocket a few percent on the conversion.

It's entirely possible at the moment of the transaction the exchange rate was .945 as it does flucuate throughout the day.....I'm sure it said somewhere on their site how they caculate the rate.......

Man, it was so easy to find this out....why is it people who ask these questions can't just do an online search like I just did?

When are currency exchange rates calculated? Question : Answer : Currency exchange rates are calculated at the time that you:
Send a payment in a currency different from the currency of your funding source
Accept and automatically convert a payment to your primary currency (for Premier or Business members who have their Payment Receiving Preferences set in this manner)
Withdraw funds in a foreign currency to a bank account
Transfer funds between currency balances

When PayPal does your currency conversion, you will always be informed of the currency exchange rate before you complete a transaction, except when you have set your Payment Receiving Preferences to automatically convert a payment into your primary currency. In the latter case, payments received in your non-primary currency will be automatically converted to your primary currency based on the currency exchange rate at the time a payment is received.

For credit card transactions, if you choose to use the credit card association's currency conversion procedures, PayPal is not able to disclose the currency exchange rate to you.

from:

https://www.paypal.com/helpcenter/main.jsp;jsessionid=LbDNpYHJt9RL2K2Z57CkvtvDQlhyxBPqwDqk71yGJjk9Q42XLJjQ!492315654?locale=en_US&_dyncharset=UTF-8&countrycode=US&cmd=_help-ext&serverInstance=9003

 

[markvee]

As far as I can tell, a loonie bought no less than $0.97US on the day of the transaction and on the day before and after.
The purchase date was 31-Mar-2008 if anyone else wants to check.

 

[JumpingShark]

Recently, I was making a purchase on some stuff on ebay and when I went to pay for the item I got a choice of either having PayPal do the exchange rate for me or have the credit card company do the exchange. Any idea which is better and are there fees associated with either?

2WJ

Both charge "fees"

1. Credit Card usually 2-2.5% from the spot rate at the time of the transactions settlement ie 1 usd = 1.01 CAD then you will be charged 1 usd = 1.0302 to 1.03525 CAD depending on the bank/card

2. Paypall is usually more as they give you an unfavorable rate ie currently 1 usd = 1.0451384 or 1 cad = 0956811 where closing rate is 1.0194 a rate of approx 2.58%

the difference doesn't seem like much but who needs to give these companies more money for nothing!

 

[Meister]

You will never get the rate posted on TV from anybody. There always is anywhere from 0.5 to 4 or 5 point spread depending on amount and institution. I would think an amount less than 1000 will carry a 2 or 3 cent exchange cost per dollar, which is reasonable.

 

[tboy]

As far as I can tell, a loonie bought no less than $0.97US on the day of the transaction and on the day before and after.
The purchase date was 31-Mar-2008 if anyone else wants to check.

That is the going "rate" not what you and I could just walk into a bank and get on $100.00 say. As stated, it depends a lot on how much you have, where you're exchanging it, etc etc etc.

Again, whenever I've bought via Ebay and in US dollars, it has been at the quoted rate on msn money or better......

 

[herames]

Exchange rate is always fucked up with paypal, more so for the sellers then the buyers.

Transfering money from paypal to your bank, there is about a 2% (currancy conversion charge for canadians). So if the rate is 1 usd = 1.02 CAD you will get a dollar even.

Some scam shit from paypal

1) They will NOT let you transfer USD funds to a USA currancy account based in canada. "Because Paypal is not equiped to transfer funds at the moment to USD accounts in Canada" ( i guess because its a revenue loss)

2) They will not let you HAVE a bank account associated in paypal if it is in the same country as your residence. (So you cant have a direct deposit with elss fees buy owpening a bank account in the states, even if you have a citezenship)

3) Paypal will not send CANADIANS checks in USD, because "International Mail is not secure" (um ok) but they will send USd checks to some european countries in the middle of nowhere.. I had a List I cant find it right now though. (Most banks dont charge you a conversion fee if you go to the teller)

4) Now get this also... If I make all my ebay buyers ect.. send me ALL payments in CAD to beat the conversion rate then send to my Canadian bank, "Paypal is sorry that you have run into some issues with our withdrawl syste. Do to processing, we must convert your balance to USD then back to CAD before it may be deposited into your account. Sorry for any inconvinance" OMG! anything to get a buck. /rude

Too bad 70% of transactions on ebay are all paypal, I gotta put up with it and take it in the ball sack.


As for buyers.

1) Always pay with your credit card though paypal, you will get better rates

2) Use your bank account as a secondary because processing always happens 3-4 days later and the exchange can be + or - in your favor.

3) If you must have a balance in your paypal(ether you are a seller too, or you HAD to put a balance in your paypal)

*Add money when the US dollar is low if your funding to USD. Because you could lose a good %2 on top of it depending where the dollar is that day.

* If stocking your account with CAD, dotn do it, you get burned on conversion, and then if the dollar strength is different in the next few days or weeks.


Overall, credit card payments are the best rates, Bank accounts are a close second, Try to bank any PAYPAL balance as soon as possible(When rates are good) if your planning on purchasing, and if your going to use Paypal balance make sure its within the same day or 3.

so whats the conclusion...if you have a American Visa or Bank account..you get around the shafting in exchange with Paypal?