eBay

ecumsecumguy · ‎10-09-2023

I m a Canadian Ebayer but have a US credit card drawn on a US bank ( a US division of a Canadian Bank RBC) . The billing and shipping address is in the US as well. I have noticed that when I buy something on eBay in US funds that my US account is being charged considerably more than the purchase amount. As an example a recent purchase of $1688 US PayPal charges my US account $1833 US. I'm getting the run-around on this extra cost. My bank is very clear that they are giving PayPal the requested funds in US dollars, and eBay says it is only charging for the auction amount and it is PayPal's issue. I called PayPal and they said it is an eBay issue. They said they believe that they charging a conversion fee as the eBay sellers are requesting payment in Canadian funds and they charge to convert back to US dollars, although the complete transaction ( including shipping to my US address) is entire completed in the States with no involvement of the Canadian banking industry. I cannot believe most US sellers would request payment in Canadian dollars to begin with! Why am I paying a PayPal fee to have my US eBay purchases converted to Canadian dollars, then back to US dollars, and then extracted from my US account. I'm paying twice for the dollar conversion as I have to pay off my US bank balance in Canadian Funds. This seems bizarre. Is this an issue with me being a Canadian Ebayer even tho I'm am essentially American for the financial transaction? Any ideas?

marnotom! · ‎10-10-2023

This does appear to be a case of double currency-conversion, although I can't explain why it's happening except that it probably has something to do with the cardholder being in Canada. There's a thread from a few years ago started by a user with a Canadian-issued US dollar credit card that has a possible explanation attached to it; you may want to give it a read (it's not long):

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buying-on-eBay/Using-a-US-Dollar-credit-card-from-Canada/qaq-p/448550

I'm curious about why you're using PayPal to make a purchase with a US dollar credit card, though. Does Managed Payments not support a direct payment from a Canadian buyer with a US dollar credit card? In other words, do you really need to use PayPal for your US dollar eBay purchases? You do have buyer protection through eBay, although it doesn't extend for as long as that of PayPal.

ecumsecumguy · ‎10-10-2023

Interesting. I have always use PayPal because of buyer protection. I not familiar with .snagged payments but will definitely look into this. PayPal has not been able to explain why they are administering this fee. It is very frustrating.

ecumsecumguy · ‎10-10-2023

eBay said it is not their issue, but they said I should change my account status so that I am no longer identified as a Canadian Ebayer even tho it is an entirely US transaction. The bank blames PayPal, PayPal blames eBay and eBay blames PayPal. Quite the circular flow. I have been bumped to senior customer service representatives at both eBay and Paypal and they cannot answer this. PayPal has said it appears to them that the seller is requesting funds in can$$, and suggested contacting the sellers to determine if this is true. I sent a message to recent sellers but have not heard back from them, I'm not sure what can be done with the answer anyway.

marnotom! · ‎10-10-2023

If you're not having this issue when you purchase from other US-based sites that don't offer PayPal as a payment method, then I'd conclude that this is a PayPal issue and it would be best to bypass them when making purchases from eBay. While eBay still accepts PayPal payments, PayPal no longer processes payments for eBay sales and it's not set up to have sellers use PayPal to receive payments anymore.

As a buyer, you're not really expected to know anything about Managed Payments except that it's now how payments are being processed for sellers. It's run by a company called Adyen, for what it's worth. Your purchases are covered by eBay's Money Back Guarantee. It works similarly to PayPal's buyer protections, but there are a few differences, particularly in the available timeframe for filing claims:

https://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?...

Also keep in mind that you should have protections available through your card issuer.

I'm not surprised that you can't get much of an answer from PayPal on your issue, actually. I mean, how many Canadian buyers pay with a US dollar credit card issued by a US-based bank? It's not a situation they're going to run into that often.

While you're likely getting hit by some currency conversion fees, they'd be built into the exchange rates used to convert your payment, just as they would be if you were exchanging currency at a bank or letting your credit card do the conversion. To complicate things, because currencies have "buy" and "sell" rates that aren't the same, you end up paying more because of that.

When you view the transaction summary on PayPal, does it show any hint of currency conversion?

By the way, sellers who accept a payment from outside their country may also be subject to an "international transaction fee" depending on the buyer's country and if eBay is being used to forward the item out of the country. I'm wondering if your US sellers--if they're not using "eBay International Shipping"--are subject to this fee when you purchase from them? I'm guessing yes.

ecumsecumguy · ‎10-11-2023

Thanks I appreciate the response.
I have had much online conversation and phone calls with PayPal, what an elusive and evasive bunch! I finally threw in the towel. This appeared to be very much like a Monty Python skit at the end, and indeed the parrot was dead.

You are right this is a bit of an extraordinary circumstance and it was very difficult to get them to understand the issue - they kept blaming it on the US bank which I knew already had no part of this.
Basically, what it comes down to is this I'm afraid. I registered on eBay as a Canadian years ago, and when I make a purchase it automatically assumes that I will be paying by accessing Canadian funds, and asks PayPal for payment in Canadian dollars which will need to be converted back to US funds to pay for the purchase. PayPal charges quite a hefty fee to do this, an apparently also adds on a " buyers fee" of some sort as well ( although this was badly explained by the PayPal rep). This accounts for a $1688 USD purchase being transformed into a $1833 USD charge against my US bank, even tho Canadian currency has not entered at all into the equation.

eBay advised me to stop using PayPal and also to change all of my settings that may identify me as an Canadian . I must fully "Americanize" myself apparently, although I'm a tad skeptical of this. This may be the only way to link my eBay account to my US bank account without extraordinary fees being involved.
Alternatively, PayPal suggested I resign myself to the conversion fees and abandon the US bank and draw on my Canadian bank for eBay purchases to avoid the double conversion. Interesting, as I took out an account in a US bank to avoid excessive conversion fees up here in the north, at the advice of my Canadian bank who owns the US branch.

Americanizing myself may also be necessary to avoid the same problem if I link my US card directly to my eBay account. I've got to unlink from poutine, ketchup chips and maple syrup.

Such are the convolutions of the eBay and PayPal systems. It has been both an illuminating and unwanted investigation. Much time and patience wasted.

ypdc_dennis · ‎10-11-2023

In paypal what do you have set as your Primary currency? Canadian or American?

https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/money/

If using a credit card to pay directly (not through paypal) when checking out, ebay.ca will give you the option of paying with your home currency (ebay converts) or in the currency the seller is using (your credit card does any converting).

I have ebay charge my credit card in US$ for .com purchases.

My credit card is charged in US$ (my bank then converts to Canadian$ since it is a Canadian$ card).

You should have no problem paying directly in US$ with your US$ credit card with no unexpected surprises. You just have to remember that ebay has a shorter dispute time range.

-;-

marnotom! · ‎10-11-2023

@ypdc_dennis wrote:

If using a credit card to pay directly (not through paypal) when checking out, ebay.ca will give you the option of paying with your home currency (ebay converts) or in the currency the seller is using (your credit card does any converting).

For what it’s worth, I was given that option as well for my last US dollar purchase on eBay and I was using PayPal with a Canadian dollar credit card. I think it was PayPal giving me that option rather than eBay, though.