Paypal

[Paddy]

I`m not sure if this is the way they make their profits but every time I purchase something from the states and you go through PAYPAL their $ conversion is always less than the rate of the day.Todays rate is close to 92cents but Paypals rate is 89cents. Is this the way they make a profit?

[Ned]

Yep!

[Jarro]

Paypal sucks arse !!!

[henno]

It's not just paypal that does that; almost every financial business has some sort of loading on their currency compared to the spot rate. If you pay by credit card directly you can bet your bottom dollar that you won't get near the spot rate either, although it could be marginally (excuse the pun) closer than paypal's rate.

[markTHEblake]

Todays rate is close to 92cents

If todays published rate in the papers etc is .92 that doesn't mean you can convert at .92. more than likely the buy and sell rates are going to be something like .90 and .94 respectively.


but Paypals rate is 89centsif you use the credit card you will get very close to .92, as these are converted at wholesale rates through bulk overnight exchanges, but then they charge you about 3% fee on top. I have checked a few times and i found that my bank at 2.5% fee, meant that overall i was marginally better off not using Paypals exchange. But hey, we are talking pennies here unless you are buying stuff worth hundreds of thousands, and we dont do that on ebay.


Is this the way they make a profit? yep, them and every other money changer on the planet.

[3oneday]

You have the option to change the payment method, as Blakey said, to use your own credit card exchange rate. Depends on your card company then, but after their fees and conversion %% you might be OK with Paypal.

I have a Wizard credit card that does none of the above 8)

[Timbo]

I just had this problem. Exhange rate is about .90, Paypal used a rate of .875ish. I was pissed off enough to ring and the explanation I got was "we don't charge you a fee to make a payment, but we pass on a 2.5% fee that we incur to process the transaction".

[virge666]

Don't forget they charge a 4% fee to the vendor.

not bad making 6.5% on every purchase through eBay.

But wait . . . there's more.

Now add the 5% eBay final value fee and the original listing fee.

- - - Now go buy some eBay shares.

[MegaWatty]

Terrible that a business makes money!

[markTHEblake]

I just had this problem. Exhange rate is about .90, Paypal used a rate of .875ish.

The only other alternative is use your credit card, and that has a 2.5-3.0% fee, plus Visa/MC also charge a flat % above the wholesale rate (the exact amount is easily searchable online) but that is not charged to you seperately, so you dont see it.

[oncewasagolfer]

I get pissed of with all the fees and the shitty exchange rate when using paypal and ebay but what can you do at the end of the day you are still a lot better off than buying retail.

[Daves]

So it seems Paypal has implemented a new password strength algorithm and decided to invalidate any existing password that doesn't pass. I just bought something on the Bay and went to pay for it and my password kept getting rejected?? I doubled checked CAPS Lock etc and was sure it was right, but still wouldn't take. So I asked for a reset, and low and behold hit the Algorithm which wouldn't allow my old password because it was considered weak?? Then the penny dropped, A holes!

[Ferrins]

Took me 45 minutes on the phone with them to sort it out. Had to get the supervisor involved.

[mike]

So, I bought something yesterday and paid with paypal. $870 purchase. Got the payment confirmation email, message from seller saying thanks for payment and item has shipped, positive feedback received, checked my paypal account and saw that the transaction went ahead.

Everything as per normal except one thing. The account my paypal is linked to hasn't been touched.

wtf

[backintheswing]

Yeah I have had that recently. Takes 2 days sometimes and I have only noticed it the last couple of months.

[Steve57]

Yeah same for me. Credit card is immediate but savings account can take a couple of days.

[mike]

ok thought I might have got me a freebie.

[markTHEblake]

I spent a week arguing with paypay as every time I tried to make a payment resulted in an error, regardless of which attached account.
They told me it was because I was located in a different country to the one I originated in, (and I obviously am not) and that I should find another way to pay ebay seller, or try again another time. The wouldnt tell me which country i was apparently in either.

Follow up emails requesting to escalate to a manager were replied with "we already told you what to do"

Payments failed every day for a week, then worked again. And every email from support was signed off "thank you for choosing paypal"

[Daves]

The latest Paypal/Banks rip off.

I purchased a item off eBay using a Credit Card rather than my PP Account. The transaction was on Oz eBay in Australian Dollars for an item located in Australia. I wasn't aware of it, but the merchant was actually based in HK. PP processed the credit card transaction in HK in AUDs. My Card Provider has treated it as a foreign transaction and charged me an International Transaction Fee. PP did not disclose that they were going to process the payment offshore, and there was no reason to think they would. I have tried to get a straight answer out of PP, but they keep fobbing me off. I am now up to 6 different people replying to my messages. They want me to ring them, but I have told them I want their replies in writing.

Some googling has shown me this not a new issue. Choice did an article on it in 2015, and it appears that nothing has been done on the regulatory front to address it. I gather if you opt for PP to do the currency conversion it doesn't happen, but I don't recall ever being given the option in any case. They do the conversions through my PP account, not sure why that is not the case when using a Credit Card?? In any case the purchase/transaction was in AUD so the wasn't actually a conversion for my end of the transaction in any case. And there was no notice given that the transaction was going offshore.

I continue to harangue PP. Next stop ACCC.

[okitoki]

Well if it's any help, ING debit card waive a lot of the bank fees.
All I needed to do was transfer at least $1k per month into it and 5 transaction.

My ATM withdraw fees and international transaction fees while at recent Malaysia trip were all refunded.

Plus exchange rate was pretty close to what I was getting at money exchanges so I can just withdraw money from local ATM

[Daves]

Well if it's any help, ING debit card waive a lot of the bank fees.
All I needed to do was transfer at least $1k per month into it and 5 transaction.

My ATM withdraw fees and international transaction fees while at recent Malaysia trip were all refunded.

Plus exchange rate was pretty close to what I was getting at money exchanges so I can just withdraw money from local ATM

Thanks Oki,

I am aware of alternative card options, however in this case Paypal won't tell me why they processed the transaction offshore. I have asked point blank several times in emails and every Operator (and there have been seven different ones so far!@) tries to evade the question and change the subject. They tell me I need to ring them, I tell them I want their response(s) in writing, so it is a Mexican standoff so far.

Yes there is a bank fees issue here as well, but PP are being super sneaky with this and apparently have been doing it for a while;

https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/online-shopping/buying-online/articles/foreign-transaction-fees-when-shopping-online

[pt73]

It's just like "scam" when you're overseas and the retailer asks if you want to pay in AUD instead of their local currency.

If you pick AUD the processor converts from local to USD then back to AUD and you get stitched up.