American express and paypal rip off!

M_Thomson

wombler wrote:

Thanks for all the contributors to this thread. I was just about to pay for something on ebay / paypal using my Amex (i'm getting 3% on my Platinum right now), but I spotted the disclaimer, which is at the top but in smaller font than anything else:

American Express cards will be charged in USD. Paying with American Express will result in currency conversion fees if your card is not denominated in USD and/or if you send a non-USD payment.

Anyway, i'm glad i decided to run a search before proceeding. I do have one query though which someone might be able to help with - I occasionally buy things from the States - does that mean if I use my Amex to buy things via Paypal which are charged in US Dollars i'll avoid the conversion fees? Is using Amex then a sensible thing to do in that case (or at least no worse than using a Visa / Mastercard)?

All purchases on a £ Amex card will attract fees from Amex and Paypal, so use a Visa or Mastercard.