topic Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct? in Selling

Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

shacklestore — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 08:36:58 GMT

I've being charged international fees by my bank to either pay an Ebay invoice or for using the Paypal gateway. The invoices are in AUD and that is the currency I used tp pay. However I wasn't aware that when payments are made locally to Ebay using the Paypal gateway they are actually credited to an overseas account and any fees are passed on to the customer.

It seems all rather convoluted but I learnt this from my bank when I queried some odd debits. My main concern is that it doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere by Ebay or Paypal though I could be mistaken and was hoping someone may be able to point me to the related section?

Ebay has rejected my email stating that I must use the Ebay contact form. However the only option they will allow is a direct chat session with an Ebay rep who as usual hung up when they realised my question was outside of their standard script. It's rather tiresome this hanging up game of theirs.

Thank you

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

davewil1964 — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 08:40:16 GMT

It would seem your Paypal account is not registered in Australia.

Check it.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

shacklestore — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 08:55:05 GMT

Thanks for your message however I didn't use my Paypal account.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

davewil1964 — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:07:28 GMT

If you are paying overseas sellers you will be charged currency conversion rates.

If not, you need to provide some relevant information if you wish relevant answers.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

pennyforum14 — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:23:01 GMT

If you didn't use your Payal Account then you didn't pay through the Paypal Gateway, so you must have paid with a credit card some other way. Did the selller have their own merchant credit card facilities? If that is how you paid, and the seller is overseas, they would have processed the transaction in their currency and your bank would then charge conversion fees.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

shacklestore — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:32:57 GMT

I'm referring to the Ebay invoice, as in the invoice issued by Ebay to sellers using the services of Ebay.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

lyndal1838 — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:37:42 GMT

Paypal is a US company....some banks charge you an International fee when you pay with paypal even if the transaction is in AU$ and the buyer is in Australia. All of the GE Money cards fall into this category and I believe some others do as well.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

pennyforum14 — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:37:50 GMT

I see. Did you list on the AU site or the US? If you listed on the US site you would pay fees in US currency, but if you used Paypal to pay them, Paypal do the conversion, not your bank. If you used a credit card then of course the bank will charge international currency conversion fee.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

shacklestore — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:43:10 GMT

I'm a member of, and listed on the Australian site. The invoices are in AUD and I paid in Australia through the Paypal gateway provided by Ebay.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

lyndal1838 — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:47:07 GMT

Is your credit card one of the GE Money cards.....if so, see my previous post.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

pennyforum14 — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:47:32 GMT

Sorry, I am confused, further up you said you didn't use your Paypal account?

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

digital*ghost — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:48:08 GMT

I believe what the OP is trying to say is that they used PayPal as a guest, to pay their eBay fees (credit card is the only way to use PP as a guest).

I haven't seen any disclaimers from eBay re: their billing and international charges (that's not to say there aren't any, but I haven't come across anything like that), I just know that when I pay mine, it goes to a USD account registered in Hong Kong (meaning I pay in AUD but the account accepts USD only, I think... ) So the payment may well count as an international transaction even though the currency conversion would occur at the receiver's end.

I avoid it entirely by using funds in my PP account to make periodic one-off payments, so I never pay one cent more than the AUD amount.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

shacklestore — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 11:02:58 GMT

That's what I'm looking for. There doesn't seem to be any information anywhere regarding fees being charged for paying the invoice or that the payments are actually going to an international account when everything presents as being local. There must be some info but where?

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

shacklestore — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 11:24:26 GMT

Sorry I don't mean to drag out this thread but that's what happened. I was logged into my Ebay account and Ebay provided for payment of my Ebay fees through an embedded Paypal gateway. Yes I paid using my CC as a guest but the issue remains that at no stage anywhere is there a mention that it's an international transaction. Everything presents as local.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

davewil1964 — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 11:31:22 GMT

Maybe set your Paypal account up as a premier account. Costs nothing.

Maybe attach your credit card to Paypal/eBay.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

lyndal1838 — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 11:36:52 GMT

@shacklestore wrote:
Sorry I don't mean to drag out this thread but that's what happened. I was logged into my Ebay account and Ebay provided for payment of my Ebay fees through an embedded Paypal gateway. Yes I paid using my CC as a guest but the issue remains that at no stage anywhere is there a mention that it's an international transaction. Everything presents as local.

Some credit cards treat ALL paypal transactions as international transactions and charge you an International transaction fee....that has nothing to do with ebay or paypal.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

typhoon4u — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 12:53:50 GMT

I think you might be on the money there.

It's an CC/bank issue rather than paypal/ebay.

Ebay and paypal have no control over what your bank/CC (Same institution?) charge you.

Perhaps if the CC was linked to your Paypal this would not happen but I'm not sure.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

lyndal1838 — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 14:54:21 GMT

Typhoon, all the GE Money cards treat all paypal transactions as an international transaction simply because paypal is a US company.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

shacklestore — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 23:43:34 GMT

The issue remains that there is no way of knowing whether a transaction will be considered international or not. If an invoice is issued in Australia, in Australian dollars and a payment is requested in Australian dollars then you would believe that it is an Australian transaction. Imagine using your credit card at Woolwoths to pay groceries and being charged international fees because it's processed by Visa?

Anyway thank you all for your posts and response. I guess this isn't widely known or obvious as the posts seem to indicate.

Re: Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

lyndal1838 — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 04:41:35 GMT

You do not understand what I am saying......we are talking about a PAYPAL transaction here, not an ordinary Visa transaction.

Is your credit card (Whether Visa or Mastercard) issued by a mainstream bank or is it issued by GE Money or whatever they are now called? If it is issued by GE Money then they treat all PAYPAL transactions as international transactions.

When I first started on ebay I had my old Coles Source Mastercard attached to paypal. As soon as the first payments started showing I found I was being charged an international fee for payment in AU$ to AU sellers. When I rang I was told that is standard....all payment made through PP will attract an international fee as PP is a US company.

I very quickly took my card off paypal.