Misleading Currency Conversion!

[itzenterprises]

Am I the only one frustrated by eBay's misleading currency conversion?

Most of the time its not a lot of money but as I purchase more expensive items from overseas it becomes a bigger concern, particularly in USD.

Considering eBay owns Paypal there should be a lot better fluency,

Ill give you an example below;

One item i ordered was listed

US $131.96
AU $127.77

+ US $39.99
   AU $38.72

   postage

So thats $171.95 USD
and $166.49 AUD according to eBay.

As for the Paypal transaction
$171.95 US turns into $172.15 AUD

Now forgetting what the actual exchange rate is at the moment and how little amount that example shows, it feels misleading, you go off eBays conversion only to find your paying more by Paypal, even when Paypal is owned by eBay.  It should be more universal, fluid.

Im about to buy a much more expensive item of eBay from the US, but all im concerned about is how much more Paypal is actually going to charge me! 

Anyone else share this concern?

[cmcgarrigle03]

I just purchased an item for $1709 usd (apparently) = $2227 aud.

The seller invoiced me the next day even I hit to checkout & payment the price was suddenly $2308 aud?? **bleep**?? What **bleep** is that I should bed charged the price at the end of the auction regardless of anything else. It's false advertising & misleading & illegal for all other traders why not got them.. I did not allow for ab edges $100 AUD as that was not the price at the auction end. I'm furious & going to check with the ACCC & fair trading as that's just profiteering between ebay & paypal as they are the recommended payment method!! Very frustrated, anary & want a refund for overpayment
Chris

[*tippy*toes*]

Two things, start a new thread instead if dragging up old ones, and utilise the spell check feature. You message is hard to read.

Regarding your price, if you look at the listing, it will say the conversion is approximate. Many things can alter it, including fluctuating exhange rates. Also, when you go to pay, PayPal is converting your money into USD, which is not a free service. You are being billed for them to provide that service. Yes, you could get your bank to do it, but you'd be paying double what PayPal charge. Contacting the ACCC is going to achieve nothing, because neither PayPal, or eBay have done anything wrong. It's all in the terms and conditions that you agreed to when you started using the site.

I am looking forward to seeing your reaction when you discover the customs charges on that purchase! Please start a new thread when you come back to complain about that. It will be worth seeing.

[lyndal1838]

You have not been ripped off.

The price you see on ebay is an approximate item price converted to AU$.  If you did not pay till the next day the conversion rate may have changed marginally.

Also when you pay with paypal you are charged a conversion fee which is built into the rate you pay....that would quite possibly account for the difference youmentioned.

Any money exchange charges a fee for service....paypal is the only one that I know which builts the fee into their rate.  The banks all charge it seperately.

If you want to find out what you will pay before buying there are two tables in paypal....one gives you the price of the item only the other one gives you the rate of the transaction, including the conversion fee.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

---

@cmcgarrigle03 wrote:
I just purchased an item for $1709 usd (apparently) = $2227 aud.

The seller invoiced me the next day even I hit to checkout & payment the price was suddenly $2308 aud?? **bleep**?? What **bleep** is that I should bed charged the price at the end of the auction regardless of anything else. It's false advertising & misleading & illegal for all other traders why not got them.. I did not allow for ab edges $100 AUD as that was not the price at the auction end. I'm furious & going to check with the ACCC & fair trading as that's just profiteering between ebay & paypal as they are the recommended payment method!! Very frustrated, anary & want a refund for overpayment
Chris

---

Chris, what if the exchange rate went the other way between the end of auction and you paying i.e. the Aus$ conversion came in at $2190 ?  Would you want to pay $2227 or $2190 ? 

Was the total due the item price US$1709 + postage, or did the US$1709 include postage?

Fact is, you were charged the price at the end of the auction, it just happened to be in US$

[raobanion]

The GBP is always wrong by at least 35 - 45 % involving thousands of dollars.  You give an offer in dollars and it comes back posted in a different and often higher curancy.  There are conversion tables on the web that only take a few seconds to find and If I thought it was ok I woud post it.  You just fill in the  blanks and have 7 major curancies to choose from.  Even odd amounts.

Though it seems like no body's home on this issue as I am always finding it way off with AU and GGP.  The postings are not that old and the market is not that volitile.  All you can do is if you want something, bring it up and see what they say.

A Versache seller just tried to sell me a knock off and switched my request for x amount US dollar to xx GBP with about a 1/3 differance when the Pound is lower at the moment and they were saying it was higher.  

I got the old "are you telling me that you don't want this logo at xamount and I replied. "No I never requested the piece at x amount in GBP's, I asked for it in US Dollars which are seling at x amount for 9k a gram and I don't see the registered numbers.  Thanks but no thanks.

Take the high road but when you have expencive taste and your crossing oceans, keep the precious metals conversion table and the curancy table up at the same time and see if it make sence.  I never pay more than 20% over what the piece weight is as this is a place for bargains and not full retail.

The charts will give you info like they do not make 24 k gold jewlery but they give you every other purity k on the market broken down by the gram.  If they don't tell you how heavy it is, you won't have any idea how sturdy or large/thick it really is as there is a lot of creative photography done with extreamly small items.

No....your not the only one and you don't have to take it anymore.

---

@itzenterprises wrote:

Am I the only one frustrated by eBay's misleading currency conversion?

Most of the time its not a lot of money but as I purchase more expensive items from overseas it becomes a bigger concern, particularly in USD.

Considering eBay owns Paypal there should be a lot better fluency,

Ill give you an example below;

One item i ordered was listed

US $131.96
AU $127.77

+ US $39.99
   AU $38.72

   postage

So thats $171.95 USD
and $166.49 AUD according to eBay.

As for the Paypal transaction
$171.95 US turns into $172.15 AUD

Now forgetting what the actual exchange rate is at the moment and how little amount that example shows, it feels misleading, you go off eBays conversion only to find your paying more by Paypal, even when Paypal is owned by eBay.  It should be more universal, fluid.

Im about to buy a much more expensive item of eBay from the US, but all im concerned about is how much more Paypal is actually going to charge me! 

Anyone else share this concern?

---

[raobanion]

Call Ebay and let them know before you pay preferably, if possible.
They will fix any card tricks as long as you have a print in case they change it again. I stoped buying from overseas due to my best CC not wnating to risk Britain and Russia with some parts of the E Europe just having too many problems come back on them.

[lyndal1838]

There is always going to be a difference between the ebay approximation and the paypal actual amount.

Ebay is quoting the converted cost of the item only but when you pay through paypal you are paying the conversion rate PLUS the conversion fee that is charged by any money transfer service.

BTW ebay does not own paypal any longer....not since last year.

If you want to find out exactly what you will be paying there is a conversion table in paypal that will give you just the converted cost of the item as you can see on ebay and another table showing the cost that you will pay thrugh paypal which includes their conversion fees.

[davewil1964]

Bumper seems to be making offers in $US and getting counter-offers in GBP. Nothing to do with eBay's or Paypal's currency converter. Maybe they should try offering in the currency of the seller.

Or even spam a US thread, rather going to a third site to whinge.

[milijarder]

When did they take this option away?
Choosing PayPal conversion rate or your own banks?

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

milij, firstly, welcome to the boards.

Secondly, a trap for new posters is to not check the date of the post they reply to.

The post you are replying to is 5 years old.  Although the poster you replied to last visited the boards about a month ago, they have not posted for 5 years.  They might not reply to you because of time passed since they last felt the urge to post.