5% fee on refund?

[JRS-AU]

I am based in Australia.

I have an ongoing customer relationship with an online retailer in France.

During the course of the last year I have made many PayPal payments to the retailer in EUR from my credit card.  When I have cancelled a few of the transactions, the retailer has processed a refund and the funds have been returned to my credit card.  My credit card is in AUD so there has occasionally been slight variation in the refund amount based on inter-currency movements.

I recently had cause to cancel approximately EUR200 in orders as they had stagnated for at least twelve months without being filled due to difficulties with the supplier.

I requested cancellation and refund of these orders due to lack of stock availability from the retailer's suppliers.  This retailer does not support credit balances in customer accounts.

The retailer processed a combined refund.  It was returned to my PayPal account in USD, not EUR.

When I did an immediate check of the exchange rate at the time, I noted that approximately (just under) 5% was missing from the refund when converted on the current spot rates to EUR.

I contacted the retailer and they informed me they could not pay EUR into my account.  I have since enabled EUR as a receivable currency in my PayPal account.

I have two questions:

1.  Why was I refunded approximately 5% less than I had spent originally using PayPal.  Was this a mistake by the retailer?

2.  Is this refund able to be reversed and a different approach adopted that will not result with either the retailer or me being left out of pocket?

Thanks and apologies for my naivety when using PayPal.  I am extremely disappointed to say the least, that someone has put their hand into my pocket and taken money to which I seem to think they are untitled!

[sharpiemarker · Accepted solution]

@JRS-AU 

Refunds

Generally, we'll process refunds of:

• online purchases and friends and family transactions to the same payment method you used for the purchase; and
• in-store purchases to your PayPal balance.

If a payment you sent involved a currency conversion and you're later refunded:

• Within 1 day of the date of the original payment, we'll normally use the transaction exchange rate that we applied at the time of the original payment;
• Beyond 1 day of the date of the original payment, we'll normally use the transaction exchange rate (including a currency conversion fee) that applies on the date of your refund;
• The refund will go back to your bank account or card used for the original transaction in the currency of the original transaction. If that is not possible, we will credit your PayPal balance in the currency of the original transaction; and
• You'll be refunded in Australian Dollars if your PayPal account balance doesn't support the currency of the original payment.

https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full?locale.x=en_AU#buying

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