Paypal and crazy transaction fees (commission), help!!
paypalalloquoiallo
-
Ico JMB -
Ico JMB -
Hello,
I just received money from abroad (in dollars) via PayPal. It's $250. But as soon as I received it, PayPal took $13.30 in fees, leaving me with only $236.70.
And when I want to convert it to euros, it turns these $236.70 into €174 (while it should have been €178, so I’m losing almost €5 in exchange fees again).
Basically, I should have received €189, but I received €174, so PayPal just took €15 from me. If it had been a large amount like $1000, I could understand, but here, losing €15 on $200 is outrageous.
Is this normal? I don’t understand where the $13.30 fee comes from; on their site, they announce rates of 3% to 3.9% + €0.25, which corresponds to $8 or $10, not $13.30.
What options do I have to get around this? I can receive amounts like this regularly (one every two months) from abroad; I can’t afford to lose €15 each time, that’s just ridiculous.
Thanks for your help.
I just received money from abroad (in dollars) via PayPal. It's $250. But as soon as I received it, PayPal took $13.30 in fees, leaving me with only $236.70.
And when I want to convert it to euros, it turns these $236.70 into €174 (while it should have been €178, so I’m losing almost €5 in exchange fees again).
Basically, I should have received €189, but I received €174, so PayPal just took €15 from me. If it had been a large amount like $1000, I could understand, but here, losing €15 on $200 is outrageous.
Is this normal? I don’t understand where the $13.30 fee comes from; on their site, they announce rates of 3% to 3.9% + €0.25, which corresponds to $8 or $10, not $13.30.
What options do I have to get around this? I can receive amounts like this regularly (one every two months) from abroad; I can’t afford to lose €15 each time, that’s just ridiculous.
Thanks for your help.
8 réponses
As for PayPal fees for payments from abroad, it is true that everything is clear, it is explained here:
https://www.paypal.com/fr/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-xborder-fees-outside&countries=
Do not forget to inquire about the conditions beforehand.
The transaction fee for a buyer in the USA and a seller in France is 5.2% + €0.25
In your case, the $250 will incur a fee of $13.25, so you will be left with:
$236.75.
So it's okay to within 5 cents.
Similarly, the currency conversion fees are indicated here:
https://cms.paypal.com/fr/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=ua/UserAgreement_full&locale.x=fr_FR#8. Fees and Currency Conversion
See towards the end:
Appendix 1. Fee Table > Additional Charges > Currency Conversion Fee
For: US Dollar (USD): 3.0%
You mentioned that for $236.70 you should have received €178 which results in a currency conversion fee of €5.74.
So if you receive €174, it's correct (knowing that the base exchange rate varies several times a day).
I hope I've reassured you, especially since with a bank transfer, as you mentioned, there are also all these fees + €16 to €17 to cash the amount in the end.
> And what options do I have to get around this?
> I can receive amounts like this regularly (one every two months) from abroad,
> I don't want to lose €15 each time
The transaction fee is always paid by the seller, so you need to take it into account in your price.
However, the exchange fees can perfectly be borne by the payer, provided you clearly indicate a PAYMENT IN EUROS.
In this case, the conversion (and the associated fee) is done upfront on the payer's account.
And the amount arrives in Euros in your account.
That's less to worry about.
Of course, in this case, you need to announce a price in Euros, so you are betting on what the effective exchange rate will be on the day of payment.
Nothing is perfect...
https://www.paypal.com/fr/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-xborder-fees-outside&countries=
Do not forget to inquire about the conditions beforehand.
The transaction fee for a buyer in the USA and a seller in France is 5.2% + €0.25
In your case, the $250 will incur a fee of $13.25, so you will be left with:
$236.75.
So it's okay to within 5 cents.
Similarly, the currency conversion fees are indicated here:
https://cms.paypal.com/fr/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=ua/UserAgreement_full&locale.x=fr_FR#8. Fees and Currency Conversion
See towards the end:
Appendix 1. Fee Table > Additional Charges > Currency Conversion Fee
For: US Dollar (USD): 3.0%
You mentioned that for $236.70 you should have received €178 which results in a currency conversion fee of €5.74.
So if you receive €174, it's correct (knowing that the base exchange rate varies several times a day).
I hope I've reassured you, especially since with a bank transfer, as you mentioned, there are also all these fees + €16 to €17 to cash the amount in the end.
> And what options do I have to get around this?
> I can receive amounts like this regularly (one every two months) from abroad,
> I don't want to lose €15 each time
The transaction fee is always paid by the seller, so you need to take it into account in your price.
However, the exchange fees can perfectly be borne by the payer, provided you clearly indicate a PAYMENT IN EUROS.
In this case, the conversion (and the associated fee) is done upfront on the payer's account.
And the amount arrives in Euros in your account.
That's less to worry about.
Of course, in this case, you need to announce a price in Euros, so you are betting on what the effective exchange rate will be on the day of payment.
Nothing is perfect...
Ico JMB
Thank you very much.
