@letscleanupmycupboards wrote:
But doesn’t PayPal now also pocket the fees paid by the seller when a refund is processed?
Yep, and the seller pays higher fees if the transaction was international, regardless of the currency sent / received (or, at least they do here - it's been a while since I've read the US TOS for PayPal, but most of them mirror ours).
It doesn't apply (to you) if you buy in AUD because your funds aren't being subject to a currency exchange. The seller is paying the currency exchange fees in that case, assuming that at some point, they convert the funds to their own currency - they may not, or at least they may hold a float of AUD to cover refunds and avoid multiple currency exchange charges, since PayPal accounts can hold balances it many different currencies (if I invoice someone in USD for example, I will receive USD and it will become a separate balance to my AUD balance, I can spend it or convert it - cheaper to spend it).
Some of these policies are so PayPal make more money, some of them are so they don't lose any, ultimately it means more $$ for them - corporations always start doing that sort of thing when they can't grow profits from getting new members, i.e. they look for ways to increase profit from existing members.
I'm not saying anyone has to like it or think it's "right", my post was more of a "this is the way it is, with the majority of financial institutions, and as far as I know, nothing about it is a breach of any regulations or laws".
