WTF: Paypal exchange rates

[KenC]

Where does PayPal get their exchange rates from? I'm getting screwed out of like 7%...

[2002maniac]

They use pretty much the same exchange that banks and exchange places use.

[KenC]

why is it so far off of xe.com's rates?

[mikeedler]

paypal gets me everytime. i am shortly going to stop using it. i recieved 225 dollars, after paypal got ahold of it, it turned into 165 euros-- hurts!

[KenC]

paypal gets me everytime. i am shortly going to stop using it. i recieved 225 dollars, after paypal got ahold of it, it turned into 265 euros-- hurts!

I think you mean 165 Euros.

[browntown]

xe.com reports a rate rarely seen by someone doing private transactions. Cash exchange is the worst, credit cards often give the best. I think paypal goes by the retail rate which is horrible in general. But from paypal's website:

* If your transaction involves a currency conversion, it will be completed at a retail foreign exchange rate determined by PayPal, which is adjusted regularly based on market conditions. This exchange rate includes a 2.5% spread above the wholesale exchange rate at which PayPal obtains foreign currency, and the spread is retained by PayPal. The specific exchange rate that applies to your multiple currency transaction will be displayed at the time of the transaction.



"...exchange rate determined by PayPal" sounds like a convenient way to rip you off. Thanks for the heads up.

[mikeedler]

yep, what you said.

[c0rnfl4k3]

xe.com's wholesale rates that banks give each other or to those conducting large transactions of $1,000,000 or more I believe. Kind of like the Fed interest rate that banks use with each other but we never see a rate that low when we go to the bank.