Paypal paying well under the going rate for currency

grumbler

Scarpacci wrote: »

If Paypal only charged the one fee, the minority who have cross-border transfers would be subsidized by the other users who aren't dealing with foreign currencies.

Surely it doesn't cost them 3% to make the conversion. I think it's less than 0.5% actually. However, like all business they make profit by charging extra for all services they provide.

eskbanker

hubb wrote: »

cifpower wrote: »

Caveat Emptor

Why not just say "buyer beware" ?

Perhaps there would have been a conversion fee from Latin to English....

Scarpacci

grumbler wrote: »

Surely it doesn't cost them 3% to make the conversion. I think it's less than 0.5% actually. However, like all business they make profit by charging extra for all services they provide.

Of course. I'm sure they do make a healthy profit on this service, just like they do on the "regular" £-£ money transfer fees. But given that it does cost PayPal more for international transfers, even if it is just around 0.5%, and they do wish to profit from providing that service too, I don't think it would be right for PayPal users not making international transfers to have that included in the normal PayPal fees.

grumbler

Scarpacci wrote: »

..But given that it does cost PayPal more for international transfers...

It's not a fact.
Most likely on average the same amounts get transferred in opposite directions and each transfer costs PP next to nothing.

BillJones

hubb wrote: »

So Paypal charge a separate fee before the currency rate they give. Thus getting 2 fees in fact, not one.

"If you want to pay lower fees then shop around before doing conversions"

How can I shop around when the money is in my Paypal account ?

Two fees for one transactions. One for the original purchase or sale, and one for the subsequent currency transaction.

I'm not sure why you think that this is unreasonable, or why you think that they should trade forex for free.

hubb

Because a transaction fee should be enough. You don't go into a shop and pay 3 times for an item.

grumbler

hubb wrote: »

Because a transaction fee should be enough.

You failed to use "IMO".

You don't go into a shop and pay 3 times for an item.

In fact you pay for two items, not 2 times for one item. As simple as that.
E.g. often you can pay extra for gift wrapping or for Sat delivery. Or you can pick your item up in a store and not pay for delivery at all.

As said above, you can keep $$ if you wish and use them for paying other people. In this case you don't pay for currency conversion.

It's a different question how reasonable the charge is. Again, it was said that 3% is pretty common, and it's absolutely unreasonable to assume that it's free.

BillJones

hubb wrote: »

Because a transaction fee should be enough. You don't go into a shop and pay 3 times for an item.

I am not sure if you are being deliberately obtuse now....

Here's something for you to try to serve as an example. Head down to Tesco, get a couple of tins of beans, and when you get to the checkout, ask if you can pay in Yen.

You are not carrying out one transaction, you are carrying out two, the original one, and a currency transaction. You are quite rightly being charged for each.

eskbanker

BillJones wrote: »

Here's something for you to try to serve as an example. Head down to Tesco, get a couple of tins of beans, and when you get to the checkout, ask if you can pay in Yen.

Or to hark back to the OP about relative prices, go to your local corner shop and complain to them that you could get the beans cheaper at Tesco and see where that gets you!

Hooloovoo

Gromitt wrote: »

I have a Paypal balance and receive foreign transactions. However, rather than converting the foreign transactions to UKP, I hold a seperate balance for them, so I have a UKP, USD and CNY balance. I'm not desperate for the cash so I wait until the exchange rate is favourable or simply use it to pay others.

How do you activate that on your account?

My account automatically does the exchange to GBP with every transaction. How do I turn that off?