Paypal / Euros question

molerat

If I buy something from eBay in euros using Paypal via my credit card will Paypal convert and charge my card in GBP or will they charge in euros ? The seller lists the same item seperately in both currencies, the euro one being about 10% cheaper even with my cards 2.75% charge.

Tirian

My experience has been that Paypal's exchange rate is not always exactly the same as Ebay's, so you may find that some of the margin of difference disappears when you come to pay anyway.

The seller may well be charging more for the GBP listed items since Paypal charges the seller an additional fee for receiving cross-border payments (regardless of the currency of the transaction). Take care to check that they will definitely ship to the UK with the Euro-priced auctions.

The most recent payment I made for a Euro auction was billed on my card in GBP.

molerat

My experience has been that Paypal's exchange rate is not always exactly the same as Ebay's, so you may find that some of the margin of difference disappears when you come to pay anyway.

I used an on-line converter ..... never trusted the eBay one.

The seller may well be charging more for the GBP listed items since Paypal charges the seller an additional fee for receiving cross-border payments (regardless of the currency of the transaction). Take care to check that they will definitely ship to the UK with the Euro-priced auctions.

States postage price to UK in the listing

The most recent payment I made for a Euro auction was billed on my card in GBP.

Thanks for that, where do I find the Paypal exchange rate. edit.... found it!!

JohalaReewi

molerat wrote: »

If I buy something from eBay in euros using Paypal via my credit card will Paypal convert and charge my card in GBP or will they charge in euros ? The seller lists the same item seperately in both currencies, the euro one being about 10% cheaper even with my cards 2.75% charge.

Normally, Paypal will convert the euros to GBP and charge your card in GBP. You can 'persuade' Paypal not to convert to GBP and charge the foreign currency to your card.

On the final Paypal page where it tells you how much it is going to charge your card (and which currency), there is an option to prevent Paypal converting to GBP. It isn't very obvious so have a good look before you hit the 'pay' button.

If you have a Post Office or Nationwide credit card, you can have Paypal bill the card in euros and then pay no commission to have it converted to GBP. As you say, most credit cards charge a 2.75% fee.

Tirian

It's pretty much swings and roundabouts though - I've not found the P.O. exchange rate to be very competitive, as far as I can tell they just work the commission into their exchange rate. Had no experience of Nationwide so don't know about them.

molerat

Thanks for all the tips. Paid for the item in Euros, Paypal charged Euros to my card. £59.18 as opposed to £64 on his £ listing so a money saving result. :money: ..... and the item was posted from the Blackforest area on Monday and arrived here in N Scotland Wednesday :eek: How do they do that.