Incorrect Credit Card Charge

[howzatar]

I have searched all over this forum and PayPal's dispute options and cannot find a solution to my situation...

I made a purchase for $57.71.

The invoice I received from the seller was for $57.71.

Transaction record in PayPal is for $57.71.

Credit Card was charged $58.29 ?!?

In the past, if there were additional fees tacked on, PayPal has listed them with the transaction information.  What is this additional charge?  Who can I contact to dispute this?  The dispute options are usually related to the seller and this seems more like a PayPal error than a seller mistake.  How do I dispute this?

[PayPal_Adrian · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the boards!

I'm sorry to hear you had an unexpected charge - no one likes to see that happen on any purchase made or received.

The first thing you'll want to look into would be your records in your History on your PayPal account.  Take a look at the details of the transaction; it will tell you how much PayPal charged to the card.

If this amount is the same as what is on your statement, then let PayPal know via the "Contact Us" link.  A  representative will need to take a closer look.  Scan the details too in advance, as it could be a shipping or insurance charge that was added on at the time of the payment.

If this amount is less than what is on your statement, then the additional charge was imposed by your bank or card company and not PayPal.  You would want to contact them to verify. 

Eyeballing the numbers you have above, it looks like there's an additional 1% added on to the purchase amount.

This number is important, because 1% is what most banks or card companies will charge you if you are engaging in what is called a "foreign transaction."  A foreign transaction means you either paid a company located outside of your country or you were outside of your own country when the card was charged.

PayPal actively works to help it's buyers avoid having to pay these fees to their bank or card issuer.  We have a number of different processors for each of the approximately 200 countries we support - this allows us to keep our services inexpensive (if not free for most features) and it also allows us to process locally whenever possible.  Processing locally means you aren't charged that 1% by your bank or card, because they see it as a domestic transaction. 

In some cases, due to various processing regulations, we may have to process the payment in the same country in which the seller is located.  When that occurs, your bank or card issuer is aware of the foreign processing and may opt to charge you an additional fee for the non-domestic payment.  Banks and card issuers charge this additional fee because they incur additional cost to process internationally.

One of these two scenarios should help set you on the right path to figuring out how to resolve this. 

Thanks!

Adrian

[howzatar]

Thank you for your help.  I hadn't thought of that.  I checked the credit card policies, and sure enough, there is a 1% charge for foreign transactions.  I appreciate your help.

[PayPal_Adrian]

howzatar - Thanks for updating the community, and thank you for the kudos!  I appreciate it!

Adrian