eBay are scamming on different currency payments ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 03:35:05 pm
content: How is it that every time I buy something from eBay from china in dollars I actually pay £1+ to the price displayed by eBay ? I bought an item today that should have falled just short of £70 but got charged just over £72 !!! Just another eBay/Paypal ripoff ?

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 03:48:18 pm
content: You are surprised that the bank levies a fee? Fleabay is an unregistered bank.

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 03:55:47 pm
content: Sometimes I have to pay some sort of money conversion fee if I buy something that is in yen or in GBP. I don't know why. Sometimes, it seems that I don't....who knows...

author: Achilles
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 04:03:21 pm
content: did you pay by Paypal (guess so). They have a rate that is always between 2.5 to 4.5% below the bank-rates. Actually Paypal is registered as a bank and you are (as in ebay, too) charged a few times some fee. I knew that the displayed rates by ebay are always a lot less than what Paypal charges you. So I log in and check the rates in Paypal itself (or the quick and dirty, just add 4% as some kind of worst case)isn't it nice to be the market leader and use your own payment system

author: djsb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 06:36:15 pm
content: I've just been charged over £150 more than I expected because of Paypals different exchange rate. Not much I could do about it as they have the monopoly at the moment. I'll be charged customs, VAT and handling charge as well when my new scope arrives in the UK (over £1K).I did save over £3k on the new price though.

author: grenert
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 06:54:00 pm
content: Try to find a credit card that does not charge you extra for charges in foreign currencies. In the US, Capital One cards have this feature. Their exchange rates are much closer to real bank rates.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 07:25:36 pm
content: What I object to is that eBay own PayPal so should know their rates and could inquire via a lookup system. Basically they are intentionally ripping people off.

author: darrylp
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 09:18:37 pm
content: Last thing I bought ( I'm in the U.K ) was advertized as purchase in US dollars from a Hong Kong seller. Paid by PayPal and the exchange rate ( I have bank details given to PayPal ) was very close to the actual rate on the day. So no complaints from me.Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 09:23:57 pm
content: Quote from: darrylp on August 18, 2012, 09:18:37 pmwell £1 on a £17 transaction and £3 on a £70 transaction, funny how they always under estimate.

author: bilko
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 09:36:24 pm
content: My credit card account is in UK Sterling. When I buy in $US from Ebay, they deduct the exact dollar amount from my credit card. The credit card company does the exchange rate which is pretty close to the rates quoted on xe.com

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2012, 10:43:07 pm
content: They go by their own rate, slightly higher than the official rate

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 19, 2012, 01:01:08 am
content: Quote from: Simon on August 18, 2012, 07:25:36 pmAre they? You have to find where the charges are being applied. What charges is your own bank applying to transfers to/from Paypal.I regularly make payments to Europe and USA. Any foreign currency payment cops a $22AU fee from my bank. I can avoid this using paypal. However with the bank I can get a variable exchange rate during business hours so at times I can do better with a bank transfer despite the fee.All financial institutions apply fees of some sort to cover cost and make a tidy profit on currency transfers. Worst I've ever copped was a deposit fee from a British bank for the privilege of adding funds to their coffers. That was special. I avoid UK vendors now whenever possible unless they take Euros.Read the fine print Simon. Paypal is probably marginally better than the Banks, but they all screw you as detailed in fine print various. There has been several notifications recently from Paypal regarding changes to their fee structure.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 19, 2012, 08:43:46 am
content: transfers from my bank to paypal are in GBP my own currency and free. Paypal have a direct debit permission from me to draw money out of my account like any other company I pay on a regular basis. There is no detailing of the charges when I pay but the exchange rate is dipslayed. Basically I think it is a case that paypals exchange rate is worse than the one ebay uses, The excuse being they are two different companies, but we all know that companies around the world are ablew to interact and exchange snippets of information to make interactions seamless, eBay and paypal choose not to and eBay can choose any rate they like.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 19, 2012, 11:11:37 am
content: You don't have to use Paypal for currency exchange. I always tell it to charge by CC in whatever currency the auction is in and have my bank handle currency conversion, I get better rates this way. So displaying Paypal exchange rates would be wrong for me. Do you expect eBay to guess the payment method you're going to use and adjust its exchange rate based on this? The conversion even states 'approximately GBP ...', suggesting that it's just an indication.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 19, 2012, 11:18:58 am
content: what payment method is predominantly used on eBay ? don't many seller accept only paypal ? yes if I'm a banking guru I could work out how to do it differently through paypal. Yes eBay get away with lying about the currency conversion used by 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of transactions carried by a company owned by them by putting the operative word in: approximate. Of course they know damn well what the currency rate really will be. Approximate means roughly, I think, best guess. Not a consistent lower percentage than the real price. The consistency is so "consistent" that I'd say it is intentional.*Oh and terms and conditions apply to the above - (that means it "may" be totally and intentionally inaccurate (lies) but because i have this page elsewhere that is 100 screens long of tiny print you will hardly be able read and has the information you want on the truth on screen 98 you can't dispute my headlining lies)

author: HardBoot
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2012, 11:40:41 am
content: Simple; NEVER use Paypal for exchanging currencies, and don't use a crappy bank.My Paypal is in USD and in the very rare case I'd put money in... I put in USD from my bank or credit card because they charge a normal rate, around 1.25% in their favour of the exchange rate.Paypal is a scam, but sheep love their BS.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 19, 2012, 11:46:01 am
content: so your saying you set your paypal account to a different currency so that when the money is fetched in your bank is doing the conversion ?

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 19, 2012, 01:00:31 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on August 19, 2012, 11:18:58 amDoesn't Paypal accept credit cards?Quote from: Simon on August 19, 2012, 11:18:58 amNo need to be a banking guru. If you pay with a supported credit card (I believe Amex only accepts USD charges), you can just click on 'currency conversion options' to change it.Quote from: Simon on August 19, 2012, 11:18:58 amCitation needed. I would expect the majority of the Paypal transactions to involve credit cards. No idea how many of these use the Paypal currency conversion option.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2012, 01:37:23 pm
content: Quote from: Achilles on August 18, 2012, 04:03:21 pmPaypal isn't a bank. They got a somewhat limited licence for financial transactions by Luxembourg. Otherwise eBay wouldn't have a problem with BAFIN about the new payment system, because they need to obtain a license for that. And if you got problems with PayPal they will tell you, that they aren't a bank. That way they got rid of a lot of legal constraints (mainly liability issues a real bank has) in the EU. The question is how long the banking supervison of each EU state stays quiet.

author: bilko
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2012, 01:52:48 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on August 19, 2012, 11:46:01 amAs I mentioned several post back, I use a UK credit card, Ebay / Paypal take funds from my credit card in whatever currency they like. My credit card company does the exchange. There is an option somewhere in Paypal to set this up.

author: asbokid
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2012, 04:25:36 pm
content: Just going through some recentPayPaltransactions, to study thePayPalexchange rates (GBP to USD) at the times of purchase.By comparison, are the applicable rates offered by XE.COM, an electronic fund transfer subsidiary of Western Union.Code:GBP : USD ratesDate PayPal XE.com(5pm GMT)25 Jul 2012 USD 1.50364 USD 1.54800 (PayPal +2.95%)29 Jul 2012 USD 1.52409 USD 1.57480 (PayPal +3.33%)01 Aug 2012 USD 1.58028 USD 1.51995 (PayPal +3.97%)02 Aug 2012 USD 1.55070 USD 1.50620 (PayPal +2.95%)07 Aug 2012 USD 1.56467 USD 1.51375 (PayPal +3.36%)09 Aug 2012 USD 1.56143 USD 1.51808 (PayPal +2.86%)14 Aug 2012 USD 1.56868 USD 1.52115 (PayPal +3.13%)Over the last month, the GBP-USD rate of PayPal was, on average, 3.36% poorer than the XE.Com rate.Worst still, one of the vendors is in China. He adds 4% on to the purchase price, to cover the fees thatPayPalis charging him to convert my payments (in USD) to Chinese Yuan (CNY) !SoPayPalis making an extra 8% through itsPiss-Poorexchange rates in every one of those international transactions!

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 21, 2012, 04:58:17 pm
content: And we thought the banks were ripping us off........ That is the problem, if you don't make tight legislation to protect the consumer the consumer gets exploited every which way. If you make the laws people will complain of over legislation!!

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 21, 2012, 11:03:54 pm
content: Quote from: asbokid on August 21, 2012, 04:25:36 pmYou did not list a comparison rate from any of the savings or trading banks, if you did you would find closer and pretty much tracking with the Paypal rate.Quote from: Simon on August 21, 2012, 04:58:17 pmThey were/are/will continue to, until we get governments willing to pressure banks back to reasonable rates for fees and interest. Want to hold your breath waiting for that one?QuoteNo the public wouldn't be complaining, but those with a vested interest sure will. Equally such legislation will need to international cooperation. The banks need to make some profit on doing business, they make the profits they do because they can. Good luck in effecting change, all you can do is be aware and conduct your transactions to minimise fees and charges.

author: asbokid
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2012, 11:54:08 pm
content: You're right,Uncle Vernon!Just checked those transactions with my VISA company (NatWest Bank) and the VISA Europe website, and NatWest charges a Foreign Transaction Fee of 2.75% for goods/services bought with their credit card. Barclaycard is even worse with a Foreign Transaction Fee of 2.99%. The Fee is incorporated into the rate of foreign exchange, as below:Code:GBP : USD ratesDate XE.com NatWest VISA PayPal(5pm GMT) 2.75% ForexFee25 Jul 2012 USD 1.54800 USD 1.50697 USD 1.50364 (PayPal +2.95%)29 Jul 2012 USD 1.57480 USD 1.52436 USD 1.52409 (PayPal +3.33%)01 Aug 2012 USD 1.58028 USD 1.52385 USD 1.51995 (PayPal +3.97%)02 Aug 2012 USD 1.55070 USD 1.51955 USD 1.50620 (PayPal +2.95%)07 Aug 2012 USD 1.56467 USD 1.51287 USD 1.51375 (PayPal +3.36%)09 Aug 2012 USD 1.56143 USD 1.51873 USD 1.51808 (PayPal +2.86%)14 Aug 2012 USD 1.56868 USD 1.52198 USD 1.52115 (PayPal +3.13%)I suppose this shows that outfits like XE.Com are much better value than any of the retail banks or PayPal.We do have an XE.com account, but the vendor didn't want to use it, or didn't understand how to use it. But then he was moaning about PayPal ripping him off. The Chinese also seem scared of having a payment reversed by PayPal, and losing their cash to a fraudster.cheers, a

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 22, 2012, 06:17:32 am
content: Quote from: Uncle Vernon on August 21, 2012, 11:03:54 pmYou forget that we are talking about the UK where people take anything as a violation of their "rights" no doubt some one in the sector would get a rumor going that the tabloids would further ramp up and there'd be outcries about perfectly good laws. Just look at the recent fuss over raising tuition fees and identity cards.I am in awe, what the hell is wrong with people ? in this country we have had rows about people being expected to carry identification !!! When i lived in Italy it was law that one carried ID. And that law makes sense. If the police are looking for someone it's nice to be able to clearly see who that is not, but no, in the uk we expect the police to do their jobs and not be able to verify who any of the public is. I always carry ID in the form of my driving license, the police can look any time they like if I'm stopped and it avoids being called down to the police station later should they deem that necessary and I can prove to the droids at supermarket checkouts that I'm over 18 should i want to buy barbecue sauce with a trace of alcohol in it.

author: metalphreak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2012, 04:02:18 pm
content: The prices on XE.com are just market rates aren't they? If every currency conversion business used those rates they would make zero profit.The ebay conversion uses market rates although they are probably only updated once a day or something. You can have multiple currency balances in paypal: I had separate AUD and USD balances at one point.Profile -> My Profile -> My Money -> Paypal Balance -> Click "Currencies" on the right. Add whatever currencies you want to hold a balance in. Then you should be able to add funds from a bank account/credit card etc in whatever currency you want.If they had it by default charging you in the native currency, users would complain about currency conversion fees from their bank "they weren't told about". By having paypal do the conversion by default, atleast you can see exactly what you are paying in your own currency. Their conversion fees certainly are not excessive by comparison although they are far from being the best.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 27, 2012, 04:13:26 pm
content: Quote from: metalphreak on August 27, 2012, 04:02:18 pmOh they make plenty. Remember paypal charge £0.20 + 3.4%, so basically they are charging the seller, and they are charging the buyer even more !!!! But that was not my main point, if eBay know they are using paypal then they should know the rates and be able to show accurate rates. If a company cannot talk to it's own subsidiary well......