Allow paypal or bank to do conversion of currency?

Tar.Aldarion

Anybody done the numbers on this? if I pay with paypal they take like 2.5% to do the conversion. If I pay with my debit card it is a better conversion rate but also the bank charge for this:

When paying for goods or services outside the eurozone – 1.75% of the euro value of the transaction (min €0.46 max €11.43)

Nody

Bank usually is better esp. if you get a credit card (don't need more then 500 EUR limit as you can drop cash on it to raise the amount it can handle).

Allyall

I'm reluctant to use Paypal/Ebay when buying from the UK because of that.
I find them expensive.
Back when i was using a 3V card it felt like i was getting proper ripped off.

Some or most Companies use the exchange rate as it is at the beginning of the month. I'm not sure if as many still do it, but i think they do.

So if €1 = 80pence on May 1st, then it will at the end of the month too, even if it has changed to €1 = 93pence.
That should work backwards too, but I've never experienced it in my favour on Paypal. I think they just choose the biggest difference of the month.
Maybe i'm being paranoid.

If i let Paypal do the conversion for me, it usually works out more. But if i choose "Bill me in the currency listed on the seller's invoice", Paypal charge me for converting it anyway (€1 i think), and then i get billed in their currency. Which the debit card then charges for..

A lot of hidden charges.

Moneybookers is supposedly accepted on ebay now, but i haven't found any sellers that accept it.

PayPal fees for sending payments
Free when you use your PayPal balance

€0.30 + 3.4% for card payments (can be fulfilled by either the sender or the receiver)


Moneybookers fees for sending payments

1% (but only up to €0.50 - Note: This value is subject to change depending on the Foreign Exchange rate between EUR/USD - The exact maximum fee for sending payment is EUR 0.50)

As far as i can make out Moneybookers (Skrill) works out to be the best option, although i could be wrong.

rubadub

Bank was invariably better for me, I did keep records a few times.

You can log into paypal and see the current exchange rate without putting money through. Then you can check current visa & mastercard rates online too, visa has an option to put in bank charges, you need to know what your own bank does. The difference was very small.

The other factor is I think paypal usually take a larger % of the transaction than the banks. I use some companies a lot, and trust them and will have return business, so I want them to make they most profit they can from my transaction, so they can afford to give good deals in the future.

http://www.visaeurope.com/en/cardholders/exchange_rates.aspx

https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/index.html

https://www.paypal.com/helpcenter/main.jsp;jsessionid=FsCDKwwLdkDspHhmD0W9VTX2c2n1hsBJPwVJpC1FQw18Kp3XHQl3!66163787?t=solutionTab&ft=homeTab&ps=&solutionId=163394&locale=en_GB&_dyncharset=UTF-8&countrycode=GB&cmd=_help&serverInstance=9006

MBSnr

This is quite a handy tool to use to convert currencies

Put in what it costs and the foreign currency in the right hand side. Choose Euro in the left hand side. Then below there is a % rate commission change. But look at it this way. 1% difference on 300GBP at today's Euro/GBP rate is less than €4. So if Paypal do the rate and it's 2.5% and the bank do the same rate and it's 2% - there's less than a 2 Euro difference at the end of the day (This is of course assuming that they both use the same Euro/GBP rate in the first place!).

It's a bit of a gamble. However I've found PayPal currency conversion rates far better when compared to Amazon's. PayPal must have more clout to get a better bank currency conversion rate (I'm just guessing here though).

rubadub

2010

rubadub wrote: »

I ordered some items on amazon on 30 april. Came to

-Order Total: GBP 93.48

using their currency converter it was

-Payment Total: EUR 112,43

I checked on XE at the time and it was

93.48 GBP=107.672 EUR

Of course nobody gets this and it is usually 2-3% more than this using CC or paypal so I chose to pay in sterling via CC.

My BOI mastercard statement was
93.48GBP RATE 0.8549 €109.34

So mastercard was only 1.5% more than XE
Amazon was 4.4% more
And I saved €3.09 by choosing to pay in sterling rather than use amazons converter.

My statement shows the payment on 4 May, so I wonder if it is taken on that date and if the XE rate would have been the usual 2-3% I would expect.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Tar.Aldarion

Hmm may have to do up a few calculations. I may have gotten a better rate from my bank all right on a monitor I just bought, but they changed me 4e for ordering outside the eurozone.