I have a question about the fees...for a seller

[hockey97]

Hi, I am confused on the fees with transations and chargebacks. I need someone to explain this in simple terms.

I have asked this same question back in 2008 and still never got an answer instead was shown the chart. Which I already looked at before asking the question.

From the paypal website it only shows that for me selling to someone within in the U.S  I  will pay $0.30 per transaction and 2.9% for a domestic transaction fee. 

For international customers I will be paying 3.9% and $0.30 per transaction.   I got that and understand that part. What I don't understan is that in small print I have see it somewhere that says that if you need a currency transaction to occur that there's another fee for that. However, I cannot find or figure out where these fees are located and no one would comment about it. Instead most would refer me back to the chart showing just the above fees but not fees on the currency transfer.

My question is how much in total will it cost me to do business with a person in China.

Lets say I sold a service for $200  for a person in China. I  would assume that I will pay to pay 3.9% plus $.30 for this transaction.  which would be  $8.10 for a transaction fee. So, I would then be getting $191.90 

However, lets say he pays using the Hong Kong Dollar.  Is the fee on my side the same as above? Or do I have to pay some extra fees for the currency exchange?  Also does it matter if lets say  he uses the Japanese Yen while residing in China?

Like does it matter where the customer is currently locatead and if they don't use the common currency of that nation could the fees change?

[snowshoe]

There are some fee calculators on the net that may help you out:

Here's one:

http://www.paypalfeescalculator.com/

Here's another:

http://paypalfeecalculator.paymentprocessing.cc/

[hockey97]

I looked at the calculator. I  don't see where on Paypal's website it talks about the currency conversion fee of 2.5%.

Is there a link to the table of all the fees?  I just notice paypal redesigned their website. 

Is there any api where we can lookup the current fees? 

[snowshoe]

PayPal does have additional information concerning their fee structure and currency conversions in the User Agreement.

[hockey97]

Yes, I have looked at the agreement. If you read it it's not straight forward. It's mostly generalized. 

For example it talks about the currency exchange fee to be 2.5%. 

However in the agreement it says "2.5% added to the exchange rate". 

So....what does that mean? sounds like 2.5% of the transaction plus the exchange rate. 

then it say's this : "he exchange rate is determined by a financial institution and is adjusted regularly based on market conditions. Adjustments may be applied immediately and without notice to you."

which means god knows how much I will lose or gain... depending on the day of exchange. 

My point is how can I come up with a price to give to my customers if I first number one don't know where they live, don't know what currency they will use and  wouldn't know the current exchange rates. 

not knowing this means tthat you can easily lose your shirt. You don't know when you making sales if you're going to generate revenue or gain a loss out of the deal. 

I want to offer my services internationally but these fees are all over the place depending on the conditions and situations. 

This also includes charge backs... if I am dealing with international customers I will have different fees for different chargbacks. 

[hockey97]

I am now deciding to just only allow canadian and U.S  customers to purchase my servers. Is there a way I can setup paypal to lock it to only users from those countries using USD currency? 

I will later on slowly add in countries. i just think it's too risky right now to allow all countries to buy my services. 

[snowshoe]

Assuming you have a US PayPal Business Account, PayPal has some Fraud Management Features which you can use block all the countries you don't intend to do business with.   In your Account Profile Settings, choose My selling tools, under getting paid and managing my risk, look for "Managing risk and fraud".   Click on Update.  You should see Risk Controls - All Payments at the bottom of the screen.  Select Country Monitor and click on Edit.  The rest is straight forward. Don't forget to Save your settings.

As for only accepting US $$, you can also set that up in your Account Profile Settings. In your Account Profile Settings, choose My selling tools, under getting paid and managing my risk, look for "Block payments", click on Update.   You should land on the Payment Receiving Preferences page.  There you'll find the settings you need.

There's also a setting under Money for what currencies you will accept (Manage Currencies).  Make sure that just have US Dollar there as your "Primary".

[hockey97]

Is there a way to accept all currencies but when a client checks out  I can send of verify what currency the client is trying to pay with? 

What if I allow people from China to pay in hong kong dollars but  on my side of the website they put don  U.S dollar as the currency. So, my server would think to charge $0.30  instead of charge $2.75  plus 2.5% for conversion fee. So, I don't charge the person appropiately and I end up losing profit from such an item. 

Is, it possible where  my server says ok the guy wants to pay in U.S dollar  and he is in China. If the guy try's paying it in Hong Kong Dollar's... can I lock the person in by forcing him to either pay U.S dollar or go back and change the currency that is going to be used.

I just want to have control to lock in the currency the client want's to use. 

[hockey97]

Yes, I have USD as my primary under the tools money manage. 

What I decided is to accept all currencies. I think I fully understand the fees right now. 

looks like I will pay3.9% of the transation plus the currency being used fixed fee. Then another 2.5% of the transaction to cover the currency conversion fee.

The last question I have is that does the currency automatically convert the currencies?  From the clients currency to the US dollar?  Or do I need to set it up like that.

From my understanding the manage money under the tool section is where I can setup  how I want to get paid.

Right now since USD is setup by default. It looks like all currencies is being accepted and will convert automatically to the USD based on the exchange rate at the given time. 

However, I can setup my account to not convert the currency. For example,  My primary currency is in USD.. I am guessing b default all currencies will convert to that currency. however, lets say  add in the euro currency as secondary. This wold mean all currencies except the euro will e convered to the USD currency while all euros will not be converted. If I gett paid in USD or Euro's I won't get that 2.5% conversion fee.

Am I correct? is his how it works?