How do I change the currency for purchase?

[123drbruce]

When buying from a seller in another country, I want to buy in the currency of the seller.

How can I change ebay / Paypal to NOT convert to my currency?

[lyndal1838]

You don't have any choice whether you pay in US$ if the seller has listed in US$.

The only question is whether you allow paypal to do the conversion with the fee built into the rate or your bank who will have a lower conversion rate but will bill you separately for the fee.

I have always found the paypal rate to be the best overall.

[123drbruce]

# lyndal1838

I'm in Australia.  It appears ebay don't give me any choice to select which currency will be charged to my credit card..

I noted above that ebay appear to be adding about 6% to a US$ > A$ conversion.

On a US$55 purchase, the mid-market rate conversion is A$75.60.  The amount ebay wants to charge is A$80.14.  That makes a conversion fee of about 6%!!!

Last evening I went to see what the case may be for a HK$ > A$ conversion.

It appears that ebay do it HK$ > US$ > A$.

The product was HK$48 and the mid-market conversion = A$8.50.  The eventual ebay A$ price was A$9.70.

That's a staggering 15% conversion fee!!!!

[pennyforum14]

eBay are NOT your payment processor, Paypal is.  They now operate separately, rather than as one company. 

When you pay from your Paypal account balance you are given the option of choosing which currency you use IF you have funds in more than one currency available in your account.  If you only have AU$, they will convert to the currency of the transaction.  They add approx 2.5% to the going conversion rate.  So if the current rate is 72.9c, the Paypal rate will be around 74.7c.  Your bank may charge a lower conversion rate, but will add a conversion fee on top and is usally about the same or a little more in the end.  I believe the Paypal payment processing fee is charged on the converted rate, but I could be wrong about that.  Also, unless the seller has their own merchant credit card facilities, you can't use your credit card directly, so you have to use Paypal.  I don't think Paypal have the option to change the currency for payments coming directly from your card (as opposed to from your balance).  

[phorum_junkie*]

There is no point in comparing the conversion rate in the ebay listing with either the bank or Paypal exchange rate. Ebay just give an estimation and the rate is fixed once a day, banks and Paypal change their rates several times a day and you will pay the rate applying at the time of the payment.

I have been using Paypal and both UK and Aus banks to transfwr money and pay for things for the last 15 years so have a very good understanding of where I am better off.

My OH wouldn't believe that it was as cheap or cheaper using Paypal than the banks so we both transferred £400 to us in Aus at exactly the same time. My net total was $10 more than his.

[cg0417966086]

The 0% forex mastercard is much better then using eBay or Paypal for conversion.

To use your banks rate you need to pay using the Paypal option and then select the billing currency as noted above.

I just completed a purchase of 192.12 GBP - eBay were going to charge $349.73, Paypal were going to charge $351.72 and my bank ended up charging me $337.71 - a saving of almost 5% - $14.01

So I guess given the conversion rort eBay has a vested interest in making paying in sellers currency non-intuitive.

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.