Currency Conversion

aklinz
New Community Member

UNBELIEVABLE !  Not only does PayPal extort large "user fees" on every transaction, they are currently adding a 8% surcharge on Canadian users !   By this, I mean the fact that PayPal currently values the Canadian dollar at 94 US cents.  EXCUSE ME ????   The bloody Canadian dollar has been at 1.02 (or above that) for over a month !  At what point are you going to "get with the program" and actually adjust your currency values ?  Maybe a year from now ? I will simply refuse to use your fraudulent company from now on ! 

In disgust,

Andrew

P.S.  With policies like these, no wonder why the rest of the world hates Americans !

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246 REPLIES 246

The Canadian Dollar has been par or worth more than the US dollar for quite some time now. Yet PayPal converts the exchange rate in reverse as though the US dollar is of a higher value. example; I sent $10 Canadian to the US. PayPal charged me $10.90 cents Canadian. 

PayPal is converting the rate in reverse. $10 Canadian should be $10.90 US. Not the other way around.

 

Here is the link to the converstion by the Bank of Canada

 

http://boc-en.ets.net/rates/exchange/can-us-rate-lookup/

Date Series Rate Change

2011-08-17U.S. dollar (noon)$1 CAD = $1.0183 USD-0.0003 USD
2011-08-17U.S. dollar (close)$1 CAD = $1.0207 USD0.0025 USD
2011-08-17U.S. dollar (high)$1 CAD = $1.0179 USD0.0047 USD
2011-08-17U.S. dollar (low)$1 CAD = $1.0230 USD0.0030 USD
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utopiaglass
Contributor
Contributor

I don't think that people realize that when the Canadian dollar is strong it is actually a disadvantage to those of us who earn income in US funds.  You make more money when the Canadian dollar is weak.  

 

Several years ago when the Canadian dollar was sticking around .79-.85 it was a much better time to get paid in US funds because you came out of it with more money.  For example, the U.S. dollar would have been around $1.15 so for every US dollar sold you would get $1.15.  At that time, if I converted $100 Canadian I would get something like $108.00 even after the bank took their fees. 

 

Now, though, the US dollar is around .97 which means for every US dollar you "sell" you are only getting .97 Canadian minus, of course, whatever fees are charged by the bank - and every bank does charge fees. 

 

Whether you take your money to a bank to convert it, or convert it through PayPal, you're going to end up with very close to the same amount in the end. 

 

 

 

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lilith77
New Community Member

Paypal, you are disgusting me with the exchange rate.  You have been in business for how many years now?  With the amount of money you make off of the hundreds of thousands of users, the fees you charge when we receive payments, the fees you charge for this and the fees you charge for that, don't give us crap about the exchange rate.

 

I went to CAA travel the other day to get traveller's checks for my upcoming trip to the United States and I paid $495 Canadian to get $500 USD in traveller's checks.  Yet CAA is NOT a major financial institution.

 

Update your exchange rates to reflect the current stock market NOW.  No more excuses.  You are taking in 10% of our money when we convert from USD to CAD to be able to send to our bank accounts.  This doesn't make sense at all. 

 

I say every person who is upset about the conversion rates bring it up with the Better Business Bureau.  Paypal, you are a financial institution.  Start acting like one.  You are the bank of the world yet we get dinged time and time again.

 

PS:  My place of work is doing a -5% rate on the exchange rate.  We're not a major financial institution.  We're just a store. 

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murphster
New Community Member

 


@PayPal_Adrian wrote:

The problem with comparing our rate to rates published in papers is below:

 

 


@PayPal_Adrian wrote:

 

Those rates are also for large banks or entities moving millions of dollars at time - versus on demand and small funds conversion rates.

 


 

That means if you're assuming it's a 10% fee, based on your comparisons against rates published on the internet or the newspaper, it's not an accurate correlation to make.

 

The rates published on the internet or in the newspaper are just that - rates for large banks or financial entties moving large amounts of funds at a time.  PayPal doesn't receive those rates, thus the difference.

 

Adrian

 


 

you mean to tell me that paypal does not convert millions of dollars at a time? Give me a break! I gues paypal needs to move to a new bank if you are not getting the rates of the big banks. Please stop taking my money and telling me i'm stupid.

 

I wont be using paypal anymore.

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Wilrobi
Member
Member

I am sorry Adrian, but when Americans come shopping in Canada and their dollar is stronger than ours, they get the exchange at their value.  It should be the same from the US...right now our dollar is stronger and it should be reflected in the bank transfer.  I just transfered 100.00 from my bank to PayPal , got the 100.00, and it did not reflect the exchange to reflect that our dollar was stronger.  But when I transfered 50 to spare change, it left me with less than 50.00 in my account...now that is not fair and you guys all know it. 

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wiley1
Member
Member

Hey PayPal, if in fact there is a bank fee for currency exchange you (and I) are being robbed! You need to change banks!

See this transaction:

Transaction ID: 32X90138CJ321960G

USD=$1619.99 to CAD$1635.61, while current rate shows: CDN$1596! This is the number shown on eBAy when bidding,

Looks like robbery to me.

Sincerely, Bill

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wiley1
Member
Member

Does not make sense and does not help!

How can the conversion have a "cost to it" ???

We are being robbed by eBay and PayPal....period.

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susan1956
Contributor
Contributor

I found this by searching PayPal 'help' for "currency exchange rate"..................

"PayPal uses the current market rate and adds a 2.5% fee for converting the currency.
The foreign exchange rates quoted in the newspaper or online news sources are almost always rates that are available only to the largest international banks. For an idea of the rates the average person can get, look at the exchange rates quoted at airports or other consumer currency exchange shops.
If you like, you can learn more about exchange rates directly from PayPal.

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Crimper
Contributor
Contributor

Not true. Simply not true. My wife bought $680 US funds from her bank on Friday, April 8th, 2011 for a cost of $669.80 in Canadian funds. You are significantly overcharging compared to Canadian banks as currently you are only offering 0.933390 Canadian for $1 US. Receipt in hand if I need to prove this.

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chucklesmga
Contributor
Contributor

Sorry Adrian. You are not to blame you have to quote the company line. But I worked for banks for over 25years in various deppartments.  The rates quoted in the paper are mid rates and the banks go from there. I used to transfer funds for one of the major auto manufatures by wire and the rates are better  than those to the public.  However the rate difference  are not as great as Paypal would have us believe. Now funds are transferred electronically where is the cost to that.?  I used to bid aginst other banks to give our customers the best rate (through international traders) the difference at times was as low as 1/64th of one percent.   hope this info is useful. 

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