Why does Paypal insist to rape me on exchange rates???

[Hollywood]

I use my credit card in paypal to pay for various car parts in the US and Japan. It always involes paying in US dollars. Now when I use canoe to convert currency, but paypays conversions is a lot higher favoring them.

I remember reading about something about paypal getting in trouble for over charging for conversion but I don't remember the full story.

This is the currency converter I use;
http://www.canoe.ca/cgi-bin/calculators/currency/ccalc

Here is my latest purchace; this item is 205.00 US in the converter it is 264.08 CAD, but Paypal says 280.00 CAD. That sucks. I dont see why my credit card cant do the conversion, why does paypal insist on the coversion? I checked with the cred card company and it was also cheap than paypal.

-------------------------------------------------------------:
This is from paypal FAQ:

Why is the foreign exchange rate different from what I see in the newspaper?

The foreign exchange rates quoted in the newspaper or online news sources are almost always the inter-bank rates that are available only to the largest international banks purchasing currencies in quantities of $1,000,000.00 USD or more. A more applicable comparison for consumers is the exchange rates quoted at airports or other consumer currency exchange shops.

The 2.5% spread that PayPal charges is competitive with most multi-currency credit card transactions, in which Visa or MasterCard charge a 1% spread above their wholesale exchange rate, and the card-issuing bank typically charges an additional spread of 1-3%. Visa and MasterCard benefit from a lower wholesale rate than PayPal, but PayPal seeks to keep its foreign exchange rates competitive with credit card transactions and other online payment service providers such as Western Union. Because PayPal does not charge a high fixed fee for sending international payments, the total cost of sending an international payment through PayPal is still lower than for many international multi-currency bank transfers.

[Superesc]

Bend Over for the new Dumper Thumper! All Hail Pay Pal!!!!!!!!

[Ferio_vti]

Yah but keep in mind, even when you go the bank and buy and sell US$, you won't get the exchange you see in the newspaper either.

I unloaded some US$ at the bank last week, market value was about $1.33. But the selling rate at the bank was about $1.29.

[legendboy]

I usually always get a really good rate with paypal. Better than banks usually. I know the rate just went down more, i just exchanged some money and it was at 1.28 somethin.

[Hollywood]

Originally posted by legendboy
I usually always get a really good rate with paypal. Better than banks usually. I know the rate just went down more, i just exchanged some money and it was at 1.28 somethin.

Paypals rate today was 0.72, canoe's is 0.77.....Does paypal send you vaseline when you use their services?

[roopi]

Like it's been said already just because todays exchange is 1.31 (or whatever it is) doesn't mean thats what you get. Your bank won't give you this and your credit card company will not give you this. They want to make money too! But yes PayPal's rate is a bit shitty than the bank.

[Hollywood]

Originally posted by roopi
Like it's been said already just because todays exchange is 1.31 (or whatever it is) doesn't mean thats what you get. Your bank won't give you this and your credit card company will not give you this.

I said that my self dewd.

My credit card company offered a much lower rate than paypal, but slightly higher than the canoe value.

[ninjak84]

there are alot of technicalities when it comes to exchange rates, and who can charge what.

part of the problem is that its really easy for a 3 cent difference to become bigger when you're dealing in a few hundred bills

[benyl]

I don't know what the people at canoe are smoking, but the canadian Dollar is no where near 77cents. It was maybe a month or two ago, but not now.

I use http://www.xe.com/ucc/

$1 CDN = 74.7 cents US.

This is the actual rate. You have to add a bit on. I just bought something from the states and it cost me $50 to use PayPal. Had I used my credit card, it would have cost me about $30. But people don't take credit cards.

PayPal's rate that I paid tonight was 72.9... 1550USD cost me over $2100 cdn.

[FiveFreshFish]

I bought a couple of eBay items from the US with PayPal and these are the exchange rates that were applied:

Feb 14: 1 Canadian Dollar = 0.740094 U.S. Dollars

Feb 17: 1 Canadian Dollar = 0.743763 U.S. Dollars

[legendboy]

Originally posted by Hollywood


Paypals rate today was 0.72, canoe's is 0.77.....Does paypal send you vaseline when you use their services?

meh we all like a good thunderball once and a while

[legendboy]

Your a whiner man haha The rate isn't that bad

I sent some $ paypal this morning.

Paypal exchange 0.728264

TD Canada Trust:

Client Buys (Pays Canadian) 1.3485
Client Sells (Receives Canadian) 1.3065

[t3rry]

just do what i do, buy canadian

[MerfBall]

Depending on the credit card you can also specify which currency you want to use. With my paypal everything is charged to my amex in US funds, but with my MC there is no option everything is charged in CDN funds.

[rc2002]

You're lucky you weren't buying at this time last year. I was paying a stupid exchange rate like $0.63. I don't agree with how much money PayPal makes on exchange but they're one of the better services out there. BidPay sucks!