About Keeping Canadian Dollars in Paypal for Shipping Labels

[sylviebee]

I rarely have Canadian dollars in my Paypal account but yesterday someone paid me in C$.

Is there amy benefit to keeping a C$ balance in paypal to use for shipping labels?

Anything to be gained by not converting $US.?

[aubreyclay56]

paypal will charge you to convert to us dollars nice tatic to get money from you

[ypdc_dennis]

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@sylviebee wrote:

I rarely have Canadian dollars in my Paypal account but yesterday someone paid me in C$.

Is there any benefit to keeping a C$ balance in paypal to use for shipping labels?

Anything to be gained by not converting $US.?

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Every time you exchange money you lose a few percent to cover the conversion cost.

So leaving the C$ in the account to pay for shipping is getting the most value from your money.

[femmefan1946]

If you don't use the money for shipping labels, at some point you may have $150 CDN in your PP account.

Then you can move it to your bank account with no further fees.

And if the good lord's willing and the creek don't rise, the loonie may be stronger then.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

If you don't have CAD in your account you can still use credit card to pay for shipping label. I always use credit card for the cash back.

[sylviebee]

Thank you.  It never occurred to me to use a CC for shipping.  

I always have a US balance in there and I don't believe I have that option.  Do I?

[rose-dee]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

If you don't use the money for shipping labels, at some point you may have $150 CDN in your PP account.

Then you can move it to your bank account with no further fees.

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I'm not sure about $Cdn balances in Paypal, but they stopped charging for withdrawals of $US balances under $150 quite a while ago.  It was a nice touch, seemingly totally unannounced.  Now even if I have $10 US, I can get at it without fees on top of fees.  

I don't generally keep a $Cdn balance sitting for long in my Paypal account because, for one thing, I sell almost exclusively in $US, and secondly, with the $Cdn dropping constantly, my greenbacks are worth more to me when it comes to buying shipping labels and other products in Canada, even taking into account the Paypal conversion fees.  

[mr.elmwood]

Three years ago we were at par. Now there is a 39.5% spread. 17 months ago it was about 1.06, now it is 1.39. I like Greenbacks.

[ricarmic]

I generally have US$, C$, Euro, GB pound balances. 

Normally I leave them in their native currency because over the course of time I need them for purchases/payments.

I normally maintain a minimum $$ balance in paypal to ensure I have $$$ to cover ebay fees, returns and spur of the moment purchases. Normally that amount is high enough that it allows me to leave the relatively minor amounts of non-US$ balances in their native currency.

If they get relatively high then I'll convert them, but aside from $C that rarely happens as I don't get a lot of Euros, and I regularly purchase stuff in euros which more than zaps that balance.

Personally I wouldn't transfer between currencies unless one has to as you lose the 2% or so each time it is converted....

[ricarmic]

Ooops I hit send too soon - my second sentence is probably misleading.

What I meant is that I leave the non-US$ balances in their native currency.

[sylviebee]

Then it does make sense to leave the C$ in there and use if for CPO?

I like the idea of using my CC to pay for shipping but I don't think that's possible because, like you, I keep at least a $500US balance in my account at all times for fees, returns, purchases etc.

[ricarmic]

Hi Sylvie!

With respect to $C I would never manually convert it to US$ unless you need it in US$, I'm assuming when you withdraw from PAYPAL you pull it out into your bank account, which converts the US$ to $C before it goes in your account. (I never manually move money between currencies in PAYPAL - if I have an order that is too big for my euros balance, I just pay the total bill in Euros - PAYPAL automagically pulls my euros balance and automagically pulls the rest from the US$ balance after it converts what it needs to Euros for the remainder of the bill.)

If you have $C you can just withdraw it anytime to your account, I don't know what the minimum amount is to avoid a special fee, I usually withdraw at least $500 so I've never worried about it. If femme is correct, as long as you have $150 there's no fee....to withdraw $C to your account directly.

Zee says you can use your CC even if you have a balance, I don't know the answer to that question, I use real stamps on my packages which I get from the PO or from collections, both of which go on my credit card, so I get the points a different way!

[pjcdn2005]

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@sylviebee wrote:

Then it does make sense to leave the C$ in there and use if for CPO?

I like the idea of using my CC to pay for shipping but I don't think that's possible because, like you, I keep at least a $500US balance in my account at all times for fees, returns, purchases etc.

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It makes sense to me. It wouldn't make sense to convert it to U.S. dollars and then have to convert it back when used for Canada Post or when deposited into a bank account.

As far as using a cc, I think someone said that at one point in the postage process you are asked about payment but if so, it must not be that noticeable because I don't remember seeing and never remember to look.

[sylviebee]

I experimented a bit with using a CC and found that I was able to do so but I had to transfer the $C first.

From now on I'll use my CC for all shipping for the points.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

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@ricarmic wrote:

Zee says you can use your CC even if you have a balance, I don't know the answer to that question, I use real stamps on my packages which I get from the PO or from collections, both of which go on my credit card, so I get the points a different way!

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You can use credit card if you have ZERO remaining CAD balance in Paypal (or you can have other currency balance). Here is what I just did for a Tracked Packet USA label.

1. Login to Paypal

2. Withdraw all CAD to my bank account (I still have some USD balance left in Paypal that I save for buying in USD)

3. Print shipping label for the order

4. When you get to the payment part, right now it's by default telling me to pay with my USD balance ($1 USD to $1.36 CAD. Ew). Click "More Funding Options".

5. Here you should be given the option to choose to pay from Balance, Instant Transfer (bank), or Credit/Debit card. Because I want cash back I obviously chose CC. (I think to do this, you need to already have a CC saved in your Paypal wallet.)

6. After that it goes back to the screen where you pay for shipping label. Funding Source should display the CC I selected. 

7. Pay and print label.

8. Cash back! 

I do the same steps for all purchases I want to pay via credit card on Paypal. Note that if you are buying something that you don't have Paypal balance for (for example I buy from Japan all the time in Japan Yen. I never have a Yen balance because I don't sell in Yen), you don't need to transfer CAD to bank first. While by default Paypal will prompt you to pay with paypal balance, you can select "more funding options" and select CC.

I have a CC with no conversion fee so I use that CC for all international purchase. I use my cash back CC for all CAD purchases but to do that you do have to withdraw all CAD balance first as otherwise PP won't give you the option to use CC.

I also pay for my eBay fees with my CC because... cash back.

Edit: Oops, I typed too slow. Just saw the post above that sylviebee got it all figured out 

[sylviebee]

zee:  Thank you for that tip.

I followed your suggestions and started using my CC to ship this afternoon.

Shipping is my biggest expense and it should boost my points nicely.

Maybe I'll do the same with paypal fees.

I guess I'd have to start praying in Canadian dollars because I always a US balance in there.

Might be a little trickier.

[gifts_of_elegance]

Open a second PayPal account with no balance and attach a Canadian Credit card.  Thay way you can pay for all your shipping without going through exchange and you have the added protection of your Credit Card Company.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@gifts_of_elegance wrote:

Open a second PayPal account with no balance and attach a Canadian Credit card.  Thay way you can pay for all your shipping without going through exchange and you have the added protection of your Credit Card

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Are you sure about that?

I thought an ebay sale is only associated with one paypal account -- not several different accounts. Since you'd be purchasing the shipping for the sold item, it would be from the account that also got the payment for the sale.

[rose-dee]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

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@gifts_of_elegance wrote:

Open a second PayPal account with no balance and attach a Canadian Credit card.  Thay way you can pay for all your shipping without going through exchange and you have the added protection of your Credit Card

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Are you sure about that?

I thought an ebay sale is only associated with one paypal account -- not several different accounts. Since you'd be purchasing the shipping for the sold item, it would be from the account that also got the payment for the sale.

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Yes I would think that is true, although I've never tried it myself.  I don't know whether a second Paypal account would be integrated or linked with a seller's eBay Paypal account enough to be able to directly process the shipping label for a sale.  Which logically would mean that you wouldn't get the shipping discounts either.  

I'd be interested to hear from 'giftsofelegance' if this has worked in practice, as it's something I've never considered.  

Of course it would not be an issue if you were directly using Canada Post's website to process and pay for the labels.  But why give up the eBay/Paypal shipping discounts?

[rose-dee]

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@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:

I use my cash back CC for all CAD purchases but to do that you do have to withdraw all CAD balance first as otherwise PP won't give you the option to use CC.

I also pay for my eBay fees with my CC because... cash back.

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This is certainly one way to organize payment of services purchased in $Cdn.  And it can be effective as long as you don't allow any interest to accrue on the CC payments and you don't mind not benefiting from the $US currency you might have available to you.  It does make more sense if you're not selling primarily to U.S. customers, i.e. not accumulating a lot of $US.  

However, what I was trying to say in my earlier post is that by buying shipping labels using a $US Paypal balance, a seller who sells mostly in $US can benefit from the continuing low value of the $Cdn, to the extent that conversion fees become irrelevant.  

I would have paid $5.00 in Canadian funds to purchase a $5.00 shipping label regardless of whether I bought it today or a year ago. Yet because I've been paying for my shipping with my US funds, I've saved countless dollars on shipping because the relative cost to me has gone way down over the same period.  I know I would not have gained as much in points or cash back by using $Cdn funds on a CC during that time. 

What was costing me an equivalent amount in $US a couple of years ago, now costs over 30% less, and -- as of yesterday -- continues to rise as the $Cdn falls. 

So when I say my greenbacks are worth more to me, I mean that their relative value continues to rise as the $Cdn falls.  A Canadian dollar is still just a dollar, but those US dollars are worth more every day.  Every time I buy shipping labels I'm saving more, and that has been going on now for well over a year.  In a sense, it's like found money, and it allows me to continue to "subsidize" my buyers' shipping.  I doubt that the savings in conversion fees by using only $Cdn to purchase my Canadian postage would have come anywhere near the savings that has resulted from the currency differential. 

Of course, eventually the $Cdn will find its level, and a day may arrive when it begins to rise again.  Still, it has a long way to go to make up for the existing 30% gap.  And during all of that climb back up to par, I will be continuing to save money by using my $US Paypal balance to pay for Canadian shipping (and eBay fees).  

If the $Cdn ever gets to within about 5% of the US dollar again (i.e. not enough to easily cover conversion fees), then paying for shipping with a Canadian credit card will make a lot of sense.