How to change Currency conversion option

[Jithin_George]

Recent changes to Paypal checkout process have removed the option I used to get to select Who converts currency. I prefer my Bank convert currency but the option is removed altogether and paypal charges my card in my local currency.

I see that the option to select who converts doesnt appear at all now during payment. I want to know if there is a settings I could change or some other way to by default let my bank convert currency for me.

[kroyl]

This no longer works (at least - it doesn't work anymore in Russia as of Jan 06 2020).

Maybe this is true only for some customers - this is called A/B testing (when the new features are rolled out gradually).

I called PayPal and they told me in order to avoid paying extra fees to PayPal - I now must call PayPal each time before I make a purchase in a different currency.

For example - if I want to pay USD - I have to call PayPal and switch the card billing currency to USD.

If I want to pay in RUB later - I have to call PayPal again and switch the card billing currency to RUB (otherwise, I will be charged fees both by PayPal and by my bank!).

And if I want to pay in EUR - I have to call PayPal and switch the card billing currency to EUR.

If I have recurring payments set up in PayPal - I should use different cards for each currency.

If I go to the old link, it redirects to the new UI for managing funding sources (which no longer allows changing currency conversion options).

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_profile-merchant-pull-funding

It looks like that the old UI (where you could disable the PayPal currency conversion fees) is now completely gone.

[bvrolo]

The same just happened to me, today (Jan 08 2020) I made a purchase and during check out there were not additional currency conversion options or anything that suggest Paypal was planning to do they currency conversion trick, all showed up in USD and final amount also in USD and no currency conversion options. 

I placed the order and then they billed me using they currency conversion which is obviously more expensive that my bank rate. There were no way to change it during check out ! Also, it seems that the option to stop this permanently is gone forever for non US based costumers (I have already disabled this several months ago with an option that is now gone inside paypal website), so probably Paypal just want not US located people to assume the extra conversion charge forever or close they accounts as I will do! 

[kroyl]

I did some more research into these changes.

It seems that the relevant User Agreement change went into effect on September 23, 2019.
But the actual implementation of the "inability to opt out of currency conversion" is rolled out on a country-by-country basis. So, it might not be effective yet for all countries (apparently it is already effective for Russia and UK, but not for US).

What's happening here is that PayPal now forces a feature called "Dynamic Currency Conversion" (DCC) for some countries.
For POS (in-person) purchases - there is a Visa/MasterCard requirement that the merchant offers a way to opt out of any DCC conversion and use bank conversion instead. However, there is no such protection for online purchases, so PayPal is now leveraging that option for extra profit.

Here is the change (relevant parts in bold) :

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https://www.paypal.com/ga/webapps/mpp/ua/archive-policies-full

Updates to the User Agreement for PayPal Services – Effective Date: 23 September 2019
We’re making the following substantive changes to our terms:
Exhibit A – Fees: We are changing the Currency Conversion Fees applied to transactions that involve a PayPal currency conversion. These Fees are set out in the sub-section on “Currency Conversion” in section 4 “Additional Fees”.
<table of currency conversion fees follows>

Where a currency conversion is required, it will be completed at the transaction exchange rate we set for the relevant currency exchange. The transaction exchange rate is adjusted regularly and includes a Currency Conversion Fee applied and retained by us on a base exchange rate to form the rate applicable to your conversion. The base exchange rate is based on rates within the wholesale currency markets on the conversion day or the prior business day; or, if required by law or regulation, set at the relevant government reference rate(s). The transaction exchange rate applicable to your conversion may be applied immediately and without notice to you. You may have the option (depending on the country/region you are residing in and the type of funding source) to Opt Out of currency conversion before you complete the transaction by selecting Other Conversion options on the Review Your Information page during checkout.

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So, in short, they now provide the opt-out capability only to select countries/funding sources (and are probably reducing that set of countries over time).

However, for in-person purchases made with PayPal (point-of-sale transactions, very rare use case), PayPal *does* provide the opt-out capability, which is clearly stated in the User Agreement.
This is because opt-out capability for DCC currency conversion is mandated by Visa/MasterCard for point-of-sale purchases.

[robgui]

this option is gone now, as of January 2020. I really don't like this, forcing me to accept another higher currency conversion. I guess I will have to buy at amazon instead of ebay whenever possible. 

What a bad way to scare off customers!

[TKayne]

I can confirm the currency conversion option is missing in Paypal.

As for eBay purchases, I still seem to have the option to switch the payment currency to match the currency of the item being paid for.

On the checkout page, I click the link that displays currency conversion exchange rate, for instance "1 EUR = 0.XXXX GBP", and a Paypal dialog pops up that allows me to choose the currency to pay in -> I select GBP in this case -> Click "Continue in GBP" ->

[Huh_wth888]

NO. The option to do conversion varies. For example, I have two Mastercards, one that's a US MC based in Canada and the other is a local MC. I also have Amex too. I sometimes see the option (it's not consistent) to see a little option in the Mobile app for more currency options. I have not been successful in using the credit card's exchange rate.

[kzs_]

I believe, I've found a way to change a way it's working currently: unfortunately it needs to be set separately for each automatic payment, but at least it works.

On the page for regular  payments (https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/autopay/) 

Then select each payment individually, and next to "Payment method" you have an Edit box

After clicking this you select the card (or other method) to use for payment, and on this page you can also "see conversion options"

I hope this helps.

[Nordic_Light]

I've also tried to "play puzzles" with PayPal, but this was a complete failure.

The only solution that seemed to work, was to pay with a card (not by using PayPal directly).

When you enter all the card details, it had given me the option to change conversion.

Not sure how it will work in your cases, but it worked for me yesterday.

[conquerator2]

Thank you; this does work for me.

I must say it is a rather well hidden feature! Well done PayPal!

[Akaki-X]

Thank you kzs, you are a lifesaver!