US dollar rip off

[peteriou]

The Australian dollar is currently worth $1.07 US. Why are product from the US still selling at a higher rate then the Australian. Eg a US product is selling for $300us eBay calculates to pay in our dollar $310.

[davewil1964]

Also, cq, there is usually a flat charge on top of the % cut they take.

[cq_tech]

Thanks slr & dave. Of course, it's perfectly logical that Paypal would withdraw funds from my credit card in A$ and I can't even begin to imagine why I thought otherwise.

For relatively low value purchases I'm perfectly happy to use my bank account for funding but for more expensive items, and particularly those from overseas, I feel much happier in the knowledge that I have the additional protection that my credit card provides.

However, so far I've had absolutely no issues whatsoever with Paypal with regards to the four INRs which I've experienced during the last 10 years (one of which ultimately turned up two weeks after being refunded, so I simply paid the seller once again).

[lyndal1838]

CQ, while your bank does not charge a fee for using paypal I think this is the place to warn posters that some banks/financial institutions do.

I have one of the GE Money cards that I use for interest free purchases.  In the early days of using ebay I had that card attached to paypal.  I made 3 purchases, one from the USA and 2 local (AU$) purchases.

When they hit the account all three had overseas transaction fees.  I rang GE Money and was told that no matter what the currency I would be charged the fee because paypal is a US company.

Needless to say, that card was very quickly removed from paypal.

[cq_tech]

Very interesting, Lyndal. Neither GE nor Citibank have very good reputations in this country and it's easy to see why.

[amber-eyed-girl]

Lyn, amex was the same. Charging a conversion/overseas fee on an amount that had already been converted, by Paypal.

That was some years ago now, and when queried, they did say that was a mistake and they were looking into rectifying it.

They then subsequently declared it an error, across all their account holders, and refunded.

The card had been cancelled, and they restarted the account to give a credit. They made good, and made certain of it 🙂

[lyndal1838]

My OH had an American Express card when he first came out here but very quickly realised it was not the card of choice in Australia so got rid of it

Much the same with Citibank...he opened an account with them because it was a bank he was familiar with and they were offering very attractive conditions and accounts while trying to establish themselves in Australia.  I also had a card on his account and when he decided to close the account someone mucked up the paperwork.  Despite paying the outstanding amount by cheque (yes, that is how long ago it was) and returning our cards to the bank, they decided the account was mine and that I still owed them the amount of the balance that had been paid by cheque.  That was a very unpleasant 6 months trying to convince them that I was never the account holder and the amount had been paid.

I am now the holder of an American Express Card by default.....I have been a David Jones account holder for over 40 years and now American Express have taken over the DJs accounts.  Unfortunately I was in the early stages of an interest free purchase that still had 2 years to go when the changeover occurred otherwise I would have closed my DJs account in protest.  These days I use that card only for special offers to DJs account holders and they are few and far between now.

[amber-eyed-girl]

Closed our Amex as it could hardly ever be used...considering the conversion error

the limited places it was accepted without paying a surcharge

the annual fee

the flood of "offers" to upgrade for five times as much

but...they did refund their overcharging...at least that showed some honesty.