Paypal question(s)

[Tekkamanraiden]

Originally Posted by bedtime

yeah i've hated their bullshit conversion rate for awhile now... definitely making up their own exchange rates there.

It's not just paypal, the banks are bad for it as well. Its one of the reasons I go to a currency conversion business instead of my bank to convert US to CAN.

[jourdo]

Originally Posted by herooftheday316

From what I can tell, as long as you clearly state it is a purchase and don't send the money as a "gift" there is protection.

This is all you need to know. Never send money as a gift for this type of thing. If the seller complains about the fees, just offer to tack on a few bucks to cover them (you can actually find fee calculators out there to get an exact number).

[Commandoclone87]

Originally Posted by Bruticus82

If you pay a USD invoice using your CDN $ balance, paypal handles the conversion, and charges you whatever their exchange rate is on the date you make the transaction. Yes, as noted their rate is always different than the market rate, and the difference is basically a charge to you for the currency conversion - just as you will find at the bank or an independent currency exchange. In fact their terms of use might even specify how they calculate this fee (e.g. Previous day's market close + X%.)

If you pay through paypal using your credit card, your credit card company handles the conversion, which you'll see on your monthly statement. (Should show both US and Cdn amounts).

I've written down the paypal conversion rates, and compared them to the credit card conversion rates I end up paying, and I have ALWAYS come out ahead by paying with my credit card. There is still a spread between market rates and the exchange rate the credit card company charges, but it is not as great a difference as paypal has. Not sure this would be true of all cards - test and find out. Go to pay for something on paypal, write down the US and CDN totals, then switch payment through your credit card. When your credit card statement is updated online compare the Cdn $ amounts to see which was higher, then use past experiences to decide a future course of action.

Then PayPal should be using the correct market conversion and then state it as a fee. On none of my receipt does it state that PayPal took a fee to convert the currency from $CDN to $USD.

[Tekkamanraiden]

That's because like the banks they charge one rate going to US to CAN and a different rate for CAN to US.

If I go to my bank I can buy $100US for $102CAN. If a take that $102US and convert it back I'll get $98CAN. The bank just made $4 by doing almost nothing.

[Akroyer]

Originally Posted by jourdo

This is all you need to know. Never send money as a gift for this type of thing. If the seller complains about the fees, just offer to tack on a few bucks to cover them (you can actually find fee calculators out there to get an exact number).

That's pretty much what I do, except with a few people I have dealt with before. Toss on a couple bucks, or work it out myself and add it on. That way I don't send as a gift.