Currency Exchange Fees

[300sflyer]

So I have been a Paypal / Ebay customer here in Canada for the better part of 20 years. I do more buying than selling. I have a Canadian bank Visa Card in US dollars, linked to my Paypal Account. For years this has worked just fine, as most of my Ebay purchases were in the US, and I simply payed with Paypal, and Paypal would take those fees from my US dollar credit card. No exchange fees charged.

Recently, I have come to learn that Paypal now converts my Ebay purchases in US funds to Canadian dollars, and then charges my US dollar credit card. My credit card company then converts the charge back to US funds, and puts it on my statement.

My most recent purchase was for $763.45 US, which Paypal converted to $979.92 Canadian, which my credit card company then converted back to US funds at $819.08. This purchase alone has cost me an extra $55.63 US! I have come to find out this has been going on for several years, and has cost me at least an extra $500.00 US!

I have spoken to Paypal about this both on the telephone, and through their message system, and got nowhere... Their response was that because I live in Canada, that is the way it has to be... What a bunch of BS!

Frankly, I think they are just raking in the extra money because they can!  I am still looking at other options to try to get my money back.

This is warning to other Canadians, who use a US dollar credit card!

[300sflyer]

So I have been a Paypal / Ebay customer here in Canada for the better part of 20 years. I do more buying than selling. I have a Canadian bank Visa Card in US dollars, linked to my Paypal Account. For years this has worked just fine, as most of my Ebay purchases were in the US, and I simply payed with Paypal, and Paypal would take those fees from my US dollar credit card. No exchange fees charged.

Recently, I have come to learn that Paypal now converts my Ebay purchases in US funds to Canadian dollars, and then charges my US dollar credit card. My credit card company then converts the charge back to US funds, and puts it on my statement.

My most recent purchase was for $763.45 US, which Paypal converted to $979.92 Canadian, which my credit card company then converted back to US funds at $819.08. This purchase alone has cost me an extra $55.63 US! I have come to find out this has been going on for several years, and has cost me at least an extra $500.00 US!

I have spoken to Paypal about this both on the telephone, and through their message system, and got nowhere... Their response was that because I live in Canada, that is the way it has to be... What a bunch of BS!

Frankly, I think they are just raking in the extra money because they can!  I am still looking at other options to try to get my money back.

This is warning to other Canadians, who use a US dollar credit card!

[marnotom!]

When it comes to foreign currency transactions paid by credit card, PayPal gives users the choice of having it do the job of currency conversion for credit card payments or having the credit card issuer do the job.  It may work similarly if you have a credit card in US dollars but you live outside of the US.  See if the procedure outlined on this page helps:

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/05/save-money-by-changing-paypal-currency-setting-for-invoices/

Since this seems to be a toggled setting and you tacitly agreed to having PayPal do this currency conversion, I don't think there's any way for you to recover the money you paid PayPal for doing the job of converting currencies, even if this work was unnecessary.

[ypdc_dennis]

The work around is to use the shopping cart when buying.

Select your credit card to pay directly, then (for ebay.com purchases) make sure the checkout currency is set to US$ to avoid any conversion cost with your US$ Visa card. Then pay.

...

The only time I use PayPal these days for US$ purchases is if I have a paypal balance in US$ available. That can be used without additional conversion, but I do double check that the US$ balance is the first payment choice.

-..-

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@ypdc_dennis 

 I've had it happen in the past(pre MP) with an order cancelled by a seller because they couldn't find the item. The amount I paid was NOT the amount refunded. Throw Bank accounts into the formula going forward, this is going to get really messy any time a refund...Partial or full is involved. From the explanation I got from PayPal at the time, the window for 1 to 1 refunds is very short. Another reason why being able to paid in 2 currencies seamlessly would be most helpful with a 1 week float.(payouts)

-Lotz