How can I change the currency preference that I pay for items via Paypal.

Busted37
New Community Member

I recently bought some items from China that were listed in US Dollars, when I checked my bank statement I'd been charged £1.25 per item for a currency converter fee.  As the items were only £1.50 each I effectively paid double.  Can anyone help please.

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85 REPLIES 85

avila
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same issue, and I've lost like 20 USD because of this conversion. Even my CreditCard support multiple currencies and my bank rates are like 10% lower than PayPal's!!!

 

According to the user agreement updated on 10th of October, you're forced to do the conversion when funding your PayPal account, and conversions are way larger than nominal currency selling rate (2.5% in my case).

 

"Currency conversion that occurs when receiving other payments (including Mass Payments), withdrawing funds to your local bank account (if your PayPal balance is held in a currency other than your local currency), adding funds from a bank account to your PayPal Account or when transferring funds between your PayPal balances held in different currencies (as applicable); "

 

So, you have no other choice, no matter what currency preference of your account is, you'll be charged one way or another.

If your currency preference is USD, you'll be charged for conversion from Pounds to USD when charging from credit card.

If your currency preference is Pounds, there will be no conversion when charging your credit card, but you'll have conversion because you're buing in USD.

 

To add a bit to it - I'm not even able to choose my local account currency as my primary currency! PayPal doesn't support it in that case! When I don't need it - it's there!

 

I find this behaviour very rude of PayPal and I will probably find other providers of my online walled.

 

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PayPal_Siobhán
Moderator
Moderator

Hi avila, 

 

Sorry to hear this. 

 

To update the currency PayPal use to charge your credit card, please email PayPal directly with the following information:

 

  • The last two digits of the credit card affected.
  • The currency you want to use for your credit card.
  • The dates of the transactions that were charged to your credit card in the wrong currency. 

Until we update the currency for your credit card, you should complete the following steps when you send a payment:

  1. Click ‘Other Conversion Options’ on the ‘Review Your Payment’ page.
  2. Choose ‘Bill me in the currency listed on the seller’s invoice.’ Select this option to ensure that your credit card is charged in the currency you want.

When you choose this option, you won’t know which foreign exchange rate has been applied to the transaction until you receive your card statement. Your card issuer will determine the foreign exchange rate to apply to the transaction.

 

Hope this helps clarify things.


Siobhán

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avila
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Siobhán,

 

Thanks for your kindness.

I really didn't knew that currency to charge credit card is changeable.

 

As been frustrated at the first glance, I've been rude in my post. Sorry for that.

 

Busted37, I'm sorry for invading your topic.

Even Siobhán has answered what both of us actually needed, I'll answer your direct question.

 

In order to change your account primary currency and all currencies you're using in your account you should go to the currency converter link in My Account -> Overview, near your paypal ballance.

There you can add currency and make it default.

 

Thanks again

 

Best regards,

Ahmed

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Wufric
New Community Member

Ran into the same problem, and there is NO way to chage a preferred currency in my Personal-type account.

I don't know if it's a bug or intended annoyance.

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Tiffanys-
Contributor
Contributor

Hi there,

 

I have had a similar problem too. I found this webpage:

www.paypal.com/ms/webapps/helpcenter/helphub/article/?solutionId=FAQ1030&topicID=&m=ARA

 

Hope it is of use to you.


@Wufric wrote:

Ran into the same problem, and there is NO way to chage a preferred currency in my Personal-type account.

I don't know if it's a bug or intended annoyance.


 

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BearCalledTeddy
Contributor
Contributor

Paypal see this as another way to make easy money.

Why let the Banks get the profit from currency exchange when Paypal can get it instead.

Then Paypal thinks, lets add a little bit more profit on top.

 

So now i have to remember to change from payment from my bank account to my credit card.

Followed by changing the currency setting.

 

Paypal is now getting such a pain to use i may not bother with it anymore and just cancel my accout.

Customer friendly .. i think now.

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Ajvar
Contributor
Contributor

Those PigsPal hied convertion properties in the deepest hole like this:

My Account -> Profile -> My Money -> My preapproved payments -> Update -> See Available Funding Sources (or Set Available Funding Sources) -> Conversion Options (for card you'd like to change this option)-> Bill me in the currency listed on the seller's invoice -> Submit

These _erks crewed me with double convertion fee where my card was in USD and invoice in USD but thanks to PayMore my USD invoice was converted to national currency and then taken from USD card where it took another fee.

I lost about 7%. Actually it wasn't very much thanks to small incvoice but I'd rather throw those money away than feeling how I was raped by them. They try to work on Casino scheme where "Casino never loose".

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Stevet3
New Community Member

That worked, thank you. Paypal seem to hide this change for some reason (not like there is money in it for them!)

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JohCan
New Community Member

Of course there is money in it for Paypal. That's exactly why its "hidden". Read the whole post.

 

I thank the previous posters for showing how to address the issue.

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