Why does my currency automatically convert when accepting payments?

[smeriksen]

Hey I'm not sure why PayPal automatically converts my funds. I sell on ebay, and when I make sales there I only accept USD. Only US currency makes it into my account through eBay. When I sell off eBay there is a problem. I often sell on other forums and always deal in USD. Half of my customers are American, and the online hobby world works on USD, therefore payments or purchases are always USD. I've noticed that PayPal has been automatically converting my payments to Canadian funds without asking me. Before I would only convert to Canadian funds when I had to withdraw to.my bank account. This is a problem because now when I want to purchase something in USD, I am losing money because all my funds are Canadian, and PayPal gives horrible rates for conversion. Did PayPal switch something on all accounts to make it so you can only accept currencies from your country of origin? Is there a way I can turn this off? It doesn't make sense to me that I can accept USD payments on eBay, and the currency stays USD. But all other payments get converted to CDN. If it matters. I am located in Canada. I use eBay.com for all my selling on eBay ( never use .ca ). The other forms of payments I accept are just other PayPal members sending money. I don't send them invoices, they don't checkout on a website or anything like that. The other member and I simply come to a deal, I give my PayPal address and they send PayPal over in USD currency. Hope someone has some answers for me because this is very frustrating. Thanks

[ChristineG1]

I am in Canada, accepting payment from Canadians in Canadian dollars and paypal has been converting it to USD!  They charge for the initial conversion and then to convert back.  I am really ticked off.  I'm refunding the people paying me and they are doing eTransfers.

[teddyboy]

CAD to USD then back to CAD and they charged you conversion fees both times? This is terrible.

[Whac-A-Mole]

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@ChristineG1 wrote:

I am in Canada, accepting payment from Canadians in Canadian dollars and paypal has been converting it to USD!  They charge for the initial conversion and then to convert back.  I am really ticked off.  I'm refunding the people paying me and they are doing eTransfers.

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did you open a Paypal account based in USA or Canada?

[ChristineG1]

I don't remember because it was ages ago.  The problem, however, just started this week.  I was able to solve the problem by changing my primary currency to CAD (and I also deleted my USD wallet).  I don't know what happened that something changed, but it seems pretty shady that it suddenly started doing this.  I was accepting money in Canada in Canadian funds from Canadians.

[busterbrown2]

Paypal has also done that to us. (Exchanging US money automatically into CAD (although we have had three wallets for many years), then charging huge exchange fees in the process. This is done without consent, and not acceptable.

[JulianCDN]

I have three wallets, CAD GBP and USD. For whatever reason US payments are sometimes converted to CAD, GBP payments are always converted to CAD. It's highly annoying especially given I make payments in all three currencies., that's why I have three wallets... why give me the three wallets if I can't use them!!! Unacceptable!

[PayPal_Randy]

@smeriksen and @JulianCDN, 

I'm so sorry to hear about this experience.  I recommend checking your account's settings to confirm that the correct primary currency is selected.  Here's how:  https://bit.ly/2iEtOQC

- Randy

[busterbrown2]

Randy - did the change in primary currency, although it should in no way matter! It never mattered before. Currency was still converted. 

[PayPal_Michelle]

Hi guys and/or gals!

We're looking into this to see what may have caused the change but in the meantime, please check two different things for me.

1.) The first is go to manage balance using the link Randy provided, and just make sure that both your country's currency and USD are active. The currency of payments you received should be set as the primary.

2.) The second step is to go back to the account summary page and look to the left/mid page for "Seller preferences." On the next page in the middle, look for "Block payments" which will take you to "Payment Receiving Preferences". This is the page that dictates how you want to be paid and the kinds of payments you accept. Where it says, "Allow payments sent to me in a currency I do not hold:" try switching it to, " Ask Me, decide accepting or denying each individual payment". 

Hopefully, this will work around the auto conversion even though both currencies (or any other currency you are open to accepting) are set to be available from step one. If this doesn't resolve the auto conversion issue, please give us a call using the Help and Contact link at the bottom of the page to report your experience. 

Thank you all so much, and please feel free to reach out with any additional questions you may have. 

Michelle

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[jasdklfwerio]

Hi Michelle,

I spoke with a client who paid on their US$ visa card and they told me they didn't have a choice in paying in US$.  They could only pay in US$.  I have both Canadian and US dollar accounts.  My US dollar account is based out of Georgia.  So how do I make sure that any payments to me in Canadian funds are sent to my Canadian wallet, and any funds paid to me in US, are sent to my US wallet.  I do have it set up to ask me to decide to accept or denying each individual payment.