How to change Paypal currency conversion @ checkout ?

[therabbit]

Hello, everybody.

I'm just a regular Joe, buying & selling on Ebay. I do more buying than selling - and i'm a member since 2011.

There is this strange behaviour of the Paypal / Ebay checkout system. In the past, i used to see an on-screen option in which Ebay / Paypal would allow me to select my preferred currency conversion option. For example, if i buy something in US $ (USD) and my card account is in Romanian LEI (RON) i can either use Paypal's conversion and get invoiced in RON or get invoiced in USD and the conversion will be made with Masterdard's / Visa's conversion. Paypal's conversion is around 5% higher that Mastercard's and i always chose to pay using the card issuer's conversion - because it's to my advantage.

The point is i used to have a choice. Now i do not. Let me explain...

This is how the old checkout boxes used to look like :

And this happened when i clicked "Other conversion options" :

This allowed to choose the conversion option - and PayPal actually remembers it, each time i use that card.

Now, the new dialog looks like this :

... and there's no more option to choose what currency exchange to use, anymore :

As you can see, all my cards are listed - old ones and new ones. The ones where i could do the currency exchange switch in the past, still.. work the old way - i'm billed in the foreign currency and i get the card issuer's exchange rate - even if i get this new dialogues.

However, if i pay with a newly added card and the above dialogue pops up, i pay at paypal's exchange rate and i don't get a choice, anymore.

I think this is unfair... the options to choose the conversion rate used to be available in the old Paypal account interface too - but, since they switched to this new, fancy, giant button & heavy multimedia loaded interface, that option quitely dissapeared.... and no-one seems to know anything about it.

How about you - have you encountered something similar ?

[bancherkz]

Hi.

Starts from 22/12/2016 link View conversion rate options 

doesn`t work too , it shows "Things don't appear to be working at the moment. Please try again later."

What happen with PayPal?

[asdgfasdfasdf]

TRUE 😞

ANY SOLUTION SO FAR?

[bancherkz]

My issue was resolved today via PayPal message Center.

See the paypal answer text:

My name is Bryan, a PayPal Customer Support Specialist.

I apologize that you are having challenges selecting currency exchange with eBay. You have reached the right person who can help you.

Due to the recent updates, we are mitigating the conversion option in the eBay website. Nonetheless, I’m glad to inform you that I have updated your cards XX12and XX51’s currency into USD and this will take immediate effect. For your future payments with us, you have my assurance that we will be requesting payments in USD.

As a reference, when you add a card to PayPal, the currency in which we will charge it is defaulted to your local currency (KZT). Because of this, every time you make a USD payment there will be currency conversion done in PayPal between KZT and USD. This is the reason why your card was charged more than the amount that was sent.

If you will be adding a card in the future, please send us an email with the following information so we can avoid charging you in your local currency:

• The last two digits of the credit card
• The currency you want to use for your credit card.

Thank you for being part of PayPal. We value your business.

[imaddicted2u]

That may be a soloution for invoices billed in USD. What if you want to be invoiced in the currency of the seller? Canadian, Austrailian, British Pounds, Euros...etc.

The real soloution is to once again allow the currency conversion to 1. Have a default. 2. Allow overide at the checkout.

[bancherkz]

Agree with you. It`s not common solution but it help for my case. My card in USD and 90% of my payments in USD.

[imaddicted2u]

Yep, but they need to live up to the terms of the user agreement, they certainly use it when it is to their advantage:

The US and Canadian user agreements include the following text, not sure about other countries but I expect it would read the same.

"You have the right to have your card issuer perform the currency conversion and can choose this option during checkout on your transaction review page before you complete the transaction."

[roughmetaphors]

PayPal Australia's current user agreement (dated 19 October 2016), Section 14. Foreign Currencies, 14.4, reads: "In most instances, the specific exchange rate that applies to your multiple currency transaction will be displayed at the time of the transaction for conversions with PayPal. By proceeding with the transaction, you consent to and authorise PayPal to convert the currency. Where your payment is funded by a Credit Card, you have the right to opt out of PayPal processing your currency conversion before you complete the transaction by selecting “Other Conversion Options” on the “Review Your Information” page during checkout." PayPal Australia is in breach of this as "Other Conversion Options" does not appear anywhere during the checkout process. I've already lodged my complaint with both PayPal's Office of Executive Escalations and Financial Ombudsman Services Australia, and I'm awaiting PayPal's response.

[imaddicted2u]

I've taken similar actions with Paypal Canada. If I don't get a satisfactory response, I'll log a complaint with Mastercard and Visa.

[roughmetaphors]

There is no "View exchange rate options" to click on when I checkout on eBay Australia. It just shows PayPal's conversion rate for my MasterCard-funded payment.

[imaddicted2u]

Hmm, I thought it was just Canadian accounts being afflicted by the programming changes at Paypal. Welcome aboard, seems we are not alone.

Hopefully they will fix the issue as more people discover and complain.