Are buyers fees charged by eBay or PayPal?

[rodzrodz]

I live in Canada. Every time I've won an auction or completed a "buy it now" transaction I've noted that the Cdn dollar amount that I'm ultimately charged is more than the Canadian dollar amount that is listed in the auction. Friends have suggested it is because of the changes to the US/Cdn dollar exchange rate.  However, the increase happens even when the purchase is made in the evening or on a weekend when the markets are closed.

I'm assuming that eBay or PayPal must have a buyers fee.  Can anyone confirm this?  I recently bought two items totaling $75.82 Cdn (as listed on the auction).  However, when I received my PayPal e-bill, I was charged $77.94, a difference of over $2.  Some months ago, I purchased 3 books, but the amount I was charged by PayPal was nearly $10 more than the Cdn dollar amount listed at the seller's auction site when I won the auction. Am I missing something here. It is not the shipping because in these instances the shipping was free.  Can't seem to pose this question directly to either eBay or PayPal. Hope someone can shed some light. Thanks.

[femmefan1946]

The markets are never closed.

If you listen to the financial reports on CBC morning shows, they will give you the Japanese, Hong Kong, British and New York market news every day that they are open, and often other markets as well.

And the rate changes from minute to minute, not once a day.

The rates given are not very useful, since they are actually the rates paid between banks for multimillion transactions.

If you go to two different banks you will likely get two different rates on the same day.

Yes, Paypal charges a fee for exchanging your money. I think it is 2.5% but I could be wrong. About the same as the bank would if you were changing money there.

[pierrelebel · Accepted solution]

"I'm assuming that eBay or PayPal must have a buyers fee. "

There is a currency conversion fee involved in all transactions completed in a foreign currency (US$ or £ or €) whether you are the buyer or seller.  There is no "buyer's fee as such.

The rate charged by PayPal is more or less in line with the rate charged by most credit card issuers or Canada Post when converting currency = 2.5% over and above the wholesale currency exchange rate at the time.

The converted rate shown by eBay in listings does not include the conversion fee.  In effect buyers pay 2.5% more and sellers get 2.5% less give or take a small fraction for daily fluctuations.