Why are the money rates of US Dollars and CAN Dollars different from the current rate?

[zdil2264]

Recently, I bought an item from a new ebay seller ( an iphone 4 case). It says that 1 CAD is equal to 0.738... US Dollars but the current US Dollars is 0.761976. Basically, I paid more than what I should've have and this item comes with FREE SHIPPING too. Is there something I'm missing? What should I do?

[ypdc_dennis]

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@zdil2264 wrote:

Recently, I bought an item from a new ebay seller ( an iphone 4 case). It says that 1 CAD is equal to 0.738... US Dollars but the current US Dollars is 0.761976. ... Is there something I'm missing?

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Currency exchange has a buying rate and selling rate (which changes with the currency markets) PLUS companies making the exchange take some of the money for making the deal (paypal is around 2.5%).

Paypal includes their transaction fee in the rate they quote.

Aug 4 (3:30am) the paypal rate to buy US$ is: 1.00CA$ = 0.7406US$

which is it up from this week's CAD/USD low, but way down from the exchange rate at the start of the year.

[femmefan1946]

The rates published on sites like xe.com are based on bank to bank transactions,,usually in millions of dollars/yen/euros/rupees/ renibi.

They are a helpful guide but not what the consumer pays retail.

They also change constantly. From minute to minute. It's actually a specialty profession within international banking.

Go to your bank. Ask for the buying and seller rate for $100USD

Go across the street to another bank. Ask for the buying and seller rate for $100USD

Go to the nearest credit union. Ask for the buying and seller rate for $100USD

Go to the mall and ask the Foreign Exchange booth for for the buying and seller rate for $100USD

You will likely get a different price at each.

[pierrelebel]

"What should I do?"

There is nothing for you to do but accept the currency conversion reality.

Basically, eBay and PayPal have always used two different conversion factors.

1) if a listing is in US$ and the viewer reads the listing on eBay-Canada, eBay will offer an approximate converted value (from US$ to Cdn$) using the wholesale conversion rate available that morning.

2) when the transaction is settled through PayPal, it will be settled using the retail rate which includes a 2.5% premium (spread) to convert from one currency to another.  The rates used by PayPal will vary during the day as they are updated regularly based on market action.

[marnotom!]

Something else to keep in mind that the exchange rates used by eBay and sites such as xe.com are actually mid-market rates, which are between the "buy" and "sell" rates on currency markets.  (The two rates are not the same.)

eBay listing pages do state that their converted prices are "approximate."