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Is Paypal a ripoff?

#3
::::BASSIST:::: said:
So according to xe.com (currency exchange site) the Canadian and US dollar are virtually at par. Yet paypal charged me $20 more. I bought an amp for $630USD and it cost me $650CDN.

Is their exchange rate that bad or maybe some 'extra' fee is involved?
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What was the exchange rate that paypal told you? They are usually a few days behind. According to xe.com, you should have paid an extra $6.60 or so. If the exchange rate was $.96 Cdn (which it was a few days ago), the extra $20 makes sense. Paypal has done that to me in the past as well.

lowsound
 
#8
Yeah, at the time it was .96 cdn. $20 seems like alot but I guess $600 is a fairly large sum. Bummer.

Its not like I can change anything now. Just trying to figure out if there is something cheaper for future reference. Money order I guess.

Funny thing is my bank says the opposite. I have $270USD sitting in my account I want to transfer into Canadian funds, but my bank says I'll only get $265Cdn. You'd think I'd get more for USD. I know its not much, but its the principle of it.
 
#9
My interpretation of the PayPal fee schedule is that they charge a 2.5% fee for changing currency. I suspect that very few banks offer currency exchange or foreign-currency money orders without a fee. In fact, my guess is that the fees that can be charged are probably rather tightly regulated.

Next time, get a cashier's check from the central bank of Nigeria. ;)
 
#10
You will never get the exchange rate. That rate is for people moving serious amounts of money such as banks and financial institutions.

For example, according to xe.com the CDN dollar is $0.993US, but the Bank of Montreal would charge you $1.13 for a US dollar. And you want to bet the BoM is keeping up to the minute. When I used my Mastercard in the UK, every debit was at a slightly different rate.
 
#13
seanm said:
You will never get the exchange rate. That rate is for people moving serious amounts of money such as banks and financial institutions.

For example, according to xe.com the CDN dollar is $0.993US, but the Bank of Montreal would charge you $1.13 for a US dollar. And you want to bet the BoM is keeping up to the minute. When I used my Mastercard in the UK, every debit was at a slightly different rate.
Click to expand...

If you do a lot of foreign business(big or small,) you'll be using a lot of US dollars as standard currency. After the exchange rate, a dollar or two doesn't seems a lot, but it adds up after a while.
 
#14
seanm said:
You will never get the exchange rate. That rate is for people moving serious amounts of money such as banks and financial institutions.

For example, according to xe.com the CDN dollar is $0.993US, but the Bank of Montreal would charge you $1.13 for a US dollar. And you want to bet the BoM is keeping up to the minute. When I used my Mastercard in the UK, every debit was at a slightly different rate.
Click to expand...
That's fraudulent. I hate banks.
 

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