eBay

tomstone607 · ‎10-26-2004

With the recent uprising of the Canadian dollar, I'm taking a beating on the currency switch over, since I sell in USD. So I opened a US Dollar account today with my bank, added it to my debit card, and away I went. I got home to try and add my new USD account to my PayPal account, this way I can transfer my USD into my US account, and convert it at a much better bank rate. Turns out, you cannot do this on PayPal. I called the PayPal #, and after being on hold for 17 minutes of long distance call, I was told that it was impossible to add a USD account to a Canadian PayPal account.

There's got to be a way around this. My question, then, is what are my possible options of depositing my US balance from PayPal into a USD account? I thought I heard someone say something about transferring it through some middle-man company... but I don't recall all the details.

What do all you other sellers do? Do you deposit Canadian Dollars into your accounts, and take the currency exchange hit too?

josephine · ‎11-23-2004

Same here. Seems like RBC Centura is best option now as they actually have a website especially for Canadians doing US banking. Now if only I can wake up before the branch closes ...

bh542 · ‎11-25-2004

I applied for RBC Centura US bank account 2 weeks ago. Guess what? I got nothing but a mail with PIN only from US today. It's weird.

Andrew

josephine · ‎11-25-2004

So does this mean you have to call to get your bank info for entering into Paypal? I'm wondering how long it takes to set up.

imagi.nation · ‎11-25-2004

Andrew:

You'll probably receive another mail from them in a few days with more information. From my experience, banks send PINs in separate mails and with no other information for security reasons.

Ernie.

discountlabelsupplies · ‎11-26-2004

I remember when I opened up the TD waterhouse bank account. It took about 1 month to get it opened, every item I needed (paperwork, pin, card) all came in different mails. Worth the wait though! Once its opened you will be able to accept US money orders. NICE

josephine · ‎11-26-2004

Finally signed up for the RBC Centura account! It really sucks that there's no more TD Waterhouse for us. Really wish I had found out about this just a few weeks earlier 😞 Was there at the local RBC branch for an hour and a half to set up the account because the guy was new and had never set up a Centura account before. He had to ask his colleagues a dozen different questions. Oh well. At least he was nice and definitely better than not asking enough and making mistakes. I was told there might be a delay in processing my account because they are currently busy and I'm guessing because all the other US banks recently discontinued their services. Thanks for the useful thread guys!

bh542 · ‎11-27-2004

I called the rep of RBC and she was on the second vacation in 2 weeks. I had to go to the RBC branch and tried to see if they had the package. The other guy took over the case and told me I was supposed to receive the package. He called RBC Centura (Nov 25) and was told the bank is closed due to Thanksgiving. He promised to call them the next day and call me back but never did---I am not suprised. More than 80% call back promises in other words are "take care yourself---don't ask me". I guess I have to wait for the package or packages.

It's weird I received the PIN first. Usually the PIN would be mailed much later than other things. Maybe this is the American style.

I'll update when something happens---good or bad.

Andrew

josephine · ‎11-27-2004

hmm ... that's funny. The rep who signed me up told me I should expect a quick turn-around time since this RBC Access USA account is new and they want a good reputation or something like that. When I heard that I thought about this thread and how people reported having to wait, and wait .. 🙂

By the way, as mentioned I signed up for the cheapest account which is free with $700 US min. balance in your account at all times. That's around $800 CDN with today's exchange rates. Otherwise, it's $3.95 US service charge. Cheques and tell transactions are free, and I was asked whether I would like cheques right away.

The last and only other bank I looked at was HSBC which does have banking worldwide but seemed not as popular as the RBC Centura I guess. Now that I think about it, I should have looked at it more, esp if it has completely free banking with no minimum balance. On the website it shows you get a free gift when you open a chequing account also. All the other banks like ScotiaBank, TD, Bank of Montreal, etc. are out of luck for US banking.

Update: Well, went on the HSBC website and gave them a call. Apparantly there are no fees and no min. balance for their US banking account. I should have went for that instead 😞 They said the only options of opening a US account from Canada is to visit the branch at Niagara Fall, New York (fastest) or by mail. So I opted for them to send me the sign up package. They say it will take 10-14 days to process your documentation. Likely same time as RBC Centura. The only downside some people may not like is that all deposits must be mailed in since no CDN branch can process them as the systems are different. I actually prefer it this way since the branches always close too early for me anyway. Here is the link to the account (no online sign up for us) :
http://us.hsbc.com/personal/checking/freechecking.html?code=web1

So now I've called RBC and left the guy a message to cancel my RBC Centura account, less than 24 hours after signing up. What a hassle. I think I'm out of luck for my CDN account at RBC since I'm guessing they already did a credit check if the account is already open and on the system. So make sure you know clearly which account you're applying for and if any fees or min. balance is involved, and don't make the same mistake as me.

bh542 · ‎11-29-2004

I got the RBC Centura ATM card today, no other package.

Andrew

abcit · ‎11-29-2004

opened my TD warterhouse account several weeks ago using the online application procedures.

josephine · ‎11-30-2004

Do you have the exact date? Which website did you apply for your account?

Because according to here ... https://www1.tdwaterhouse.com/oao-web/tradingPlatformSelect.jsp

It says this right at the bottom :
"Customers residing outside the U.S. should contact a TD Waterhouse representative at 212-344-2525."

And the online form was made for US addresses only. Maybe you were lucky and got it just before they shut us out.

bh542 · ‎12-02-2004

I got a form and check books from RBC Centura today (20 days after my application). I need to sign the form (W-8BEN) and return it to them. I am not sure if my account is activated or not. I'll call them...

They said it's activated and they setup online banking for me over the phone. It's done. Totally 20 days.

Andrew

bh542 · ‎12-02-2004

Sorry, not done yet. I can't transfer funds at this time. I signed in online banking and found out there's another step---they will mail me an activation code. After I submit the activation code I can have full access. Now I can only view my balance.

Andrew

josephine · ‎12-04-2004

wow, so much work. After HSBC sent me the package (which was very fast, by DHL) I have to sign a whole stack of papers, plus include a certified cheque and a reference letter from my current bank and 3 months of statements. That costed me $7 and $16.50 respectively from my bank (PC Financial). Did TD Waterhouse make you include all this? It wasn't this much work when applying for my RBC Centura (which I hope they were able to cancel before the credit check).

shoplineca · ‎12-04-2004

No TD Waterhouse didnt have those requirements. I can only assume that HSBC is not dealing in the US with a bank that they own, rather with an affiliate bank.

Malcolm

josephine · ‎12-04-2004

Actually HSBC has banks worldwide. At least that's what I was told.

shoplineca · ‎12-04-2004

josephine
So do alot of Canadian Banks however how they practise in each country depends on the banking rules of that country and even though you may find branches with the name of the bank on the building, in many countries the foreign banks cannot own a majority of stock in the bank.

In Canada there are different Charters for Banks and the Charters set out the rules that they are permitted to do business. Charters set out who can operate retail branches and handle cash transactions amongst individuals, or which banks can negotiate and facilitate structured financial deals amongst corporations etc.

I'm not going to go into detail here nor should you try to learn all about it unless you want to take a course in International Banking and you find it that facinating.

Malcolm

javax.swing · ‎12-10-2004

Andrew...

I had to call Centura and ask them for my information to get it. It's not a very good process to get started, but once you get it all setup, you can do Online banking with Centura and all that so it does indeed get better.

Plus, you no doubt have an RBC Canadian account as well...you can add Centura as a tab in your Canadian Online Banking so you can manage both accounts from one portal...and transfer funds instantly between Centura and your Canadian based US$ account.

scouttech-outfitters · ‎12-13-2004

Too bad TDwaterhouse no longer accepts Canadian customers as this was the ultimate in banking for US/CDN

Now I need to route my Paypal money to my us bank and then transfer that to my Canadian US acct

what a pain!