Paypal and USD / Sales

[razin]

A question in regards to US Sales using Paypal

- I have a sales thread that has generated interest from US buyers which makes me wonder on pricing.

- Lets say for example my goal is to get $50 CDN for an item/lot - could I list my prices lower ($41.72 current rate) for the US guys so long as they pay me in USD, and then convert back to CDN when withdrawing and essentially get my $50 CDN? Are there conversion fees from PP to withdraw into a CDN bank acct?

[Supernova]

I honestly don't know the answer to this, but wouldn't it be possible to have them pay you in Canadian dollars and leave the conversion process to PayPal or the payer's credit card company?

[sages]

Well, on top of regular transaction fee, Paypal does charge conversion fee which is hidden in the exchange rate like credit card company.
So if you really want to get $50 cad from your items, you better ask the seller to pay $50 cad + the transaction fee (3~4% I think).

[chroma23]

i think this may be a better option for OP if he doesnt need to withdraw to his bank:

if you anticipate you will be receiving an amount in USD and you do not want to get raped in conversion fees, go to paypal and open a USD balance which should be free.

that way when you receive the USD transfer, it stays in your paypal balance as USD without doing any currency conversion, and stays that way until you convert to CAD or withdraw to your bank account. maybe the OP can use the USD on some USD purchases like something on ebay on something. but of course that depends on how much OP i getting (keeping a huge balance in paypal is not a good idea long term, and if OP really needs that cash in CAD.

and there will be transaction fee when transferring between paypal accounts from different countries, even if the sender isn't send money via credit card. canadian accounts to canadian accounts do not charge fees i dont think.

some food for thought for OP

[elburrito]

Currency conversion always costs paypal or otherwise. It is the same ad buying money. Having a US account is a good idea. Then you can at least wait until Exchange rates are ideal for the conversion.

[CKWG]

I think there is about a 2.5% conversion rate charged by paypal.

[razin]

I think what I will do is open a US eSavings acct with RBC, then I can move all USD funds from PP into it, then transfer internally to regular acct which will convert to CDN, and boom, no PP fees. No different then if I took CDN funds and moved em to a regular CDN acct.

[screamer]

Originally Posted by razin

I think what I will do is open a US eSavings acct with RBC, then I can move all USD funds from PP into it ...

I wanted to setup my RBC eSavings USD acct with Paypal but two tellers I've asked, don't know if that was even possible, so I'm curious on your outcome.

[chroma23]

Originally Posted by razin

I think what I will do is open a US eSavings acct with RBC, then I can move all USD funds from PP into it, then transfer internally to regular acct which will convert to CDN, and boom, no PP fees. No different then if I took CDN funds and moved em to a regular CDN acct.

i dont think its possible, or it's that PP doesnt like it or won't accept or recognize such an account because it's a canadian account but it's not funded in CAD....or something like that. i also believe that PP will only withdraw money to a checking account, and USD accounts in canadian banks aren't "real" chequing accounts per se because again, it's not funded in CAD, and you may run into problems

i instead opened up a US account via TD's cross-border banking which is available to canadians, but you cannot really transfer back to CAD. i just save up the USD and use it on a rainy day or a ebay purchase.....or a black friday transformer shopaholic purchase (which i do every year)

[Tekkamanraiden]

Originally Posted by razin

I think what I will do is open a US eSavings acct with RBC, then I can move all USD funds from PP into it, then transfer internally to regular acct which will convert to CDN, and boom, no PP fees. No different then if I took CDN funds and moved em to a regular CDN acct.

RBC's exchange rate is brutal, you be better off taking it out in US funds and going to a currency exchange place for a more competitive rate.