Question about Converting Currency - hidden fees? And selling international

DCProcessing
Contributor
Contributor

I can't get Paypal to give a straight answer to this question. We’re preparing an invoice and trying to see if it would be a smart move to bill them in their native currency. We do keep holdings in other currencies and exchange as needed (or a good stock day) so this is nothing new. But it was recently discovered there are additional unadvertised fees to consider when shipping international. The user agreement is somewhat unclear on this matter and I'd like to get confirmation. Hopeful someone here can point us in the right direction. I want to insure we provide an accurate estimate for all involved.

 

Basically, what I want to know is how much to bill in the native currency (in this case gbp) to receive the desired sum in USD, after all foreign related fees? If there are conversion, cross border, transaction and funding fees involved for international transactions, are any of them dependent on the currency? It's not as simple as plugging a number and seeing the exchanged currency you see. I understand there are hidden fees, and would like to understand them all.

 

With this in mind, 3 main questions:   

1. What are ALL the fees for receiving payments for shipping international, and are they currency specific or across the board? (Please be specific. Have seen all the data--the trick is getting it to make sense)

2. When converting currencies, does Paypal charge an additional unadvertised fee beyond the daily exchange rate? Have noticed a difference between the Paypal converted values versus say Google or the global market rate and wondered the reason.

3. If we bill in another currency, how much do we need to add to the total converted rate to give the same as what the USD rate would have been had we billed in USD in the first place? (I'm assuming this is best accomplished by adding to the USD before conversion, but with Paypal who knows. There may be taxes upon taxes. Looking for the best way).
And because it’s always easier with an example, let’s say we want to bill $479 US (not including the normal sellers fee).

 

Why even bother with currency conversion? Why not just bill in USD you ask? Two reasons I can think:

1. More comfortable for the customer dealing with native currency

2. Possibly less fees on the buyer's end not having to pay to convert before sending.

 

Question is, do the pros for the buyer outweigh the cons for the sender. In essence, for the seller, is it worth the added headache in the end?

 

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1 REPLY 1

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@DCProcessing 

 

That would take me about 30-60 minutes to give you a full answer so your best bet is to go where all the answers are and that is legal > user agreement for your country > FEES.


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