PayPal - different currency conversion upon receipt of funds

RHud

Dear All,

In the last few days I’ve used PayPal for the first time to send money as a gift to a friend in France. My first transaction I sent £50.00 GBP sterling, PayPal converted to €56.08 - 1.12 conversion (approx). 

48hrs after making the transaction my friend sent me a screen shot of the amount they received €53.38 Euros; €2.28 less than the conversion I saw on my screen / transaction.

I sent another transaction for exactly the same amount today to check what would happen - £50.00 GBP / €56. 12 Euro (conversion approx. 1.12). My friends screen shows this transaction matched the conversion I confirmed at €56.12. No inconsistency. No problem.

Does anyone have any thoughts on why the receiver would get less than conversion rate I confirmed when I made the first payment? I find this very odd.

Welcome any feedback.

On-the-coast

Did one of those transactions happen within the foreign exchange “open hours” and the other span a night or a weekend?  - So that there was a difference between an estimated rate, and the actual rate when markets opened?   

Just a thought….

BlueonBlue

I would forget paypal .
It was always going to be negative
Use Wise.com if you can.
Today you send £50 which means £49.58  is sent after .42p fees and the recipient gets 58 euros at a rate of 1.1697 if you do so by bank transfer .
Paying by Debit  or Credit card will be a bit less

danny13579

Or if you use Starling you can open a euro account with them. To exchange £50 they take 0.4% (20p) and £49.80 (€58.22 at time of writing)  is sent to your euro account which you can then transfer directly to your friend's bank account in France using SEPA. PayPal's exchange rates are terrible.