Another paypal "convenience" ripoff...

[mdeth1313]

...paying for items in foreign currency. I forget what the exact total was in euros, but it would've cost me just over $240 with paypal converting to US dollars. My credit card has no foreign transaction fee. I opted to pay in euros and it cost me $232 when I looked it up on my bank's site.

[tuscanyswe]

Originally Posted by mdeth1313

...paying for items in foreign currency. I forget what the exact total was in euros, but it would've cost me just over $240 with paypal converting to US dollars. My credit card has no foreign transaction fee. I opted to pay in euros and it cost me $232 when I looked it up on my bank's site.

This is why i never cash in foreign currency when i sell stuff using pp. I just use it to buy more stuff haha. My account therefor usually has some cash in 4 currencies USD GBP EURO and SEK logic.

[jkbrwn]

It is pretty much always cheaper to pay in your native currency. It's the same on Amazon. When I buy stuff on Amazon.co.uk for family members, it is always cheaper to pay in USD on my US credit card than it is for Amazon to 'convert' it for me and charge me in GBP, becuase they give a terrible rate.

Not exclusive to PayPal in this instance.


EDIT: I TOTALLY wrote this the wrong way around. I meant to say, it's almost always cheaper to pay in the retailers native currency! As your bank will give you a better exchange rate than Amazon.

Case in point for an HDMI cable:

Amazon charge me £9.98 GBP which is $13.13 using a mid market rate.
OR
Amazon charge me $13.62 using their currency converter.

Small difference, but not when you're buying more expensive items...