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Dan Bernier Inner circle Canada 2298 Posts |
I ordered something online last night. The product cost $19.95 US. I paid uising paypal. They converted it to $20.30CAN. I checked the most current exchange rate, and it showed the US dollar at .98 to the Canadian dollar. Seem that Paypal is ripping people off on the conversion. I emailed them about this problem and let them know that they need to fix the problem and return some of my money. I received a message back from Paypal basically telling me that they can convert currency anyway they want. I'm still looking into that to see if it's true. Sounds very wierd to me. Why am I paying more for US products when the Canadian dollar is stronger?
Anybody else notice this about Paypal. Apparently it's no surprise that their currency coverter is nowhere being accurate.
"If you're going to walk in the rain, don't complain about getting wet!"
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stoneunhinged Inner circle 3067 Posts |
This is one of the biggest elements of trust one must indeed show to those institutions who arrange the banking for International shopping. It's not just PayPal, but VISA and Mastercard and Amazon.com and bank drafts. Most institutions use the rule that the exchange rate is determined NOT at the time of purchase, but at the moment the money is transfered. Obviously any institution could choose to delay the actual transfer of funds in order to take advantage of currency movements.
But I don't think they do that for normal purchases. Too much risk. Remember, they are taking a risk, too. So my guess is that all of them, without exception, have a percentage of "padding" to account for changing exchange rates. I don't think that this is fundamentally dishonest. They must protect themselves against the possibility of a huge currency swing. But who knows? Maybe someone who really knows a few things about finance (SC2000? Maybe?) can enlighten us. |
balducci Loyal user Canada 227 Posts |
PayPal is not so bad. Looks like it was charging you about 3% on the exchange rate. Many merchants charge much more than that.
Actually, was it really PayPal that did the conversion? Or was the conversion maybe done by a bank whose credit card (e.g., Visa, Mastercard) you use to make PayPal payments? I was in a hotel last week that was offering 0.92 U.S. for 1 CAD. I couldn't believe it. Now that conversion is something to complain about.
Make America Great Again! - Trump in 2020 ... "We're a capitalistic society. I go into business, I don't make it, I go bankrupt. They're not going to bail me out. I've been on welfare and food stamps. Did anyone help me? No." - Craig T. Nelson, actor.
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S2000magician Inner circle Yorba Linda, CA 3465 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-08-15 11:37, stoneunhinged wrote: You talkin' t' me? ;) Most credit (and debit) cards charge a fee for foreign currency transactions. The lowest I've seen is at the credit union where I have my accounts: 0.8%; I've seen it as high as 5%. My guess is that PayPal is doing the same thing. I teach quite a lot in Toronto, ON. Two years ago they paid me in CAD, and I would always see an adjustment in my account for the currency exachange rate fluctuation. (Not surprisingly, it was always a decrease.) After that, I told theme that they have to pay me in USD; I use my debit card for everything and they pay me in USD based on the exchange rate that my credit union uses for each transaction. |
critter Inner circle Spokane, WA 2653 Posts |
That is correct on the banks. We used to get calls about this at the bank fairly regularly.
"The fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
~Will Rogers |
Dan Bernier Inner circle Canada 2298 Posts |
My wife works for the credit card companys and I know that the seller cannot pass credit card fees to the customer. It`s against the terms and conditions of the Visa and Mastercard agreements. One phone call to Visa and or Mastercard to complain and that shop owner would loose their ability to except credit cards again.
I did however receive a call from someone at paypal. They will fix it for me, by converting the exchange properly, refunding me my .60, and setting my account up so that my funds are no longer automatically coverted.
"If you're going to walk in the rain, don't complain about getting wet!"
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stoneunhinged Inner circle 3067 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-08-15 12:26, S2000magician wrote: I was. Wasn't there some confusion a couple of weeks about about your name and what people think (or do not think) that it is? I always saw "SC2000magician". I just always kind of thought that maybe kinda could be that the SC stood for "southern California". Now I see there isn't even a C there. HA! I mean, LOL level HA! I'm friggin blind! |
Dan Bernier Inner circle Canada 2298 Posts |
I was trying to edit my last post because what S2000magician says is true. I am more referring to making credit card purchases.
However, I recieved a call from Paypal. The fellow was very helpful, explained a lot to me, and then admitted that a mistake was made and it will be corrected. They also found that the problem has happened a few times in my account and they will fix that to. They do charge a currency exchange service fee, but their currency converter is supposed to be optional. In otherwords, I am allowed to have my bank convert my money and not paypal. He fixed my account so that my funds will no longer be automatically converted to Canadian funds.
"If you're going to walk in the rain, don't complain about getting wet!"
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S2000magician Inner circle Yorba Linda, CA 3465 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-08-15 12:49, stoneunhinged wrote: There was. Indeed, there has been almost since the day I joined here. Quote:
On 2011-08-15 12:49, stoneunhinged wrote: I think it's more that you're hallucinating. For the record, it's S2000, which is an incredible roadster built by Honda from 2000 to 2009. I've owned one since 2001; it has about 193,000 miles (310,000 km) on it. You can read about the Honda S2000 here. |
S2000magician Inner circle Yorba Linda, CA 3465 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-08-15 12:56, Gospel Dan wrote: Let's hope that we don't see a thread here next week telling us that you bank botched the currency conversion. ;) |
critter Inner circle Spokane, WA 2653 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-08-15 13:23, S2000magician wrote: Allow me to further derail us for a moment Ed "Big Daddy" Roth drove a Honda Civic (and later an N600) as his daily driver. So much for the battle between imports and hot rods.
"The fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
~Will Rogers |
critter Inner circle Spokane, WA 2653 Posts |
Back to the OT, I just realized how much fun it is to say "currency converter questionable."
currency converter questionable currency converter questionable currency converter questionable :lol:
"The fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
~Will Rogers |
critter Inner circle Spokane, WA 2653 Posts |
Actually, I may have it backwards on the cars...
"The fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
~Will Rogers |
RS1963 Inner circle 2734 Posts |
If you ask me, You didn't but if you did. I would say in my opinion anything to do with Paypal/Ebay is questionable.
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