Fee to pay Ebay invoice. Is this correct?

[shacklestore]

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

[shacklestore]

I've reposted the original query as some responses indicate that it hasn't been understood, as a result some responses are somewhat astray.

"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 to 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?"

• I don't believe it's stated that Ebay or Paypay levied the charges. 
• The concern is that when payment was made, the funds were credited to an account which is overseas. As the payment was solicitated by Ebay I would expect that they would advise somewhere that the account is overseas. This is because customers would need to be aware that financial institutions may charge an international transaction fee. I expect the information is somewhere but I haven't found it, and Ebay is not responding to my request for help in finding that information.
• In this case Paypal is Paypal Australia Pty Limited and an Australian bank. 
• The payment was made locally through Paypal Australia. I don't think Paypal Australia would have an obligation to advise the customer that the payment is being credited to an overseas account (that is probably confidential). However I do think Paypal would have information somewhere stating that a payment sent to an overseas account may cause additional fees generated by the bank of the initiating party (my bank in this case). I'm just unable to locate it.

[shacklestore]

Thank you for the suggestion. I have a Paypal account but in this case it was more appropriate to use a CC.

[lyndal1838]

Who is the issuer of your credit card?   Is it a mainstream bank or perhaps GE Money or some other issuing authority.

If it is GE Money they charge an international fee for all paypal payments in any currency because PAYPAL is an overseas company.

You have been told this many times and have just ignored it.

[dazzledayz]

---

@shacklestore wrote:

Thank you for the suggestion. I have a Paypal account but in this case it was more appropriate to use a CC.

---

As I pointed out previously, if you link your CC to payPal as a funding source (possibly one of many), it can be selected when necessary but does not have to be used all the time (Primary Funding Source).

My partner does it this way; he normally uses his Savings Acct as the primary funding source but will occasionally use his Visa.

He reports that Westpac levy no charge on either Acct but that other banks may very well do so.

This would be the reason that neither eBay nor PayPal have any documentation on the subject; it is not a fee levied by them and, in most cases, is not levied at all.

Suggesting that it needs to be checked ad hoc would be off-putting for most customers and I agree with their attitude in this case.

All banks are different and some are more lenient in the fees dept than others.

I would investigate the issue with your bank to determine where the charge originated and why.

If it is in fact your bank having some fun with fees you may be well advised to shop around for a more reasonable institution.

[audio-spot]

Granted PayPal is an overseas company, but as mentioned before, we should be dealing with the Australian arm of PayPal, which is PayPal Pty Ltd, a private Aust company. Therefore, why should an international charge apply at all?

Based on that logic, when you use a GE card at Aldi to buy your weekly groceries, you should also be hit with an international fee.

[cathyjoyjoy]

Well, many responses here have highlighted that eBay fees are paid to an Australian account (and that's what it says on my credit card statement), therefore not subject to international fees.

Responses here have also suggested that the opening poster enquire with the credit card provider as to why specific international transaction charges have applied in this particular case.

[dazzledayz]

---

@cathyjoyjoy wrote:

Well, many responses here have highlighted that eBay fees are paid to an Australian account (and that's what it says on my credit card statement), therefore not subject to international fees.

Responses here have also suggested that the opening poster enquire with the credit card provider as to why specific international transaction charges have applied in this particular case.

---

I agree wholeheartedly; it really does seem like the OP's bank needs to provide a good explanation.

[audio-spot]

This has really intrigued me (I think I need to get a life), so my latest eBay purchase I have done as a guest, and paid with my credit card via the PayPal gateway, but also as a guest.

I thought as a guest it might default to the US site, but can confirm that payment was made with the Aust site (the emailed PayPal receipt is from PayPal Pty Ltd) in AU dollars.

So far my Coles Mastercard (underwritten by GE Money) is only showing the $11.80 that I spent (no international charge), but it usually takes a few days for the statement to update with the name of the transaction.

It will be interesting to see if GE add a charge for this transaction!

[lyndal1838]

Thank you for doing the experiment audio-spot.

In my case the Coles Mastercard was attached to my paypal account....and the charge only appeared after about 3 days when the transaction was showing on my online statement.

I was caught with 4 transactions...all paying AU sellers in AU$.   I very quickly removed the card from paypal and was thankfull that I had checked the statement on line before I had used the card for too many payments.

[digital*ghost]

---

@shacklestore wrote:

I've reposted the original query as some responses indicate that it hasn't been understood, as a result some responses are somewhat astray.

"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 to 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?"

• I don't believe it's stated that Ebay or Paypay levied the charges. 
• The concern is that when payment was made, the funds were credited to an account which is overseas. As the payment was solicitated by Ebay I would expect that they would advise somewhere that the account is overseas. This is because customers would need to be aware that financial institutions may charge an international transaction fee. I expect the information is somewhere but I haven't found it, and Ebay is not responding to my request for help in finding that information.
• In this case Paypal is Paypal Australia Pty Limited and an Australian bank. 
• The payment was made locally through Paypal Australia. I don't think Paypal Australia would have an obligation to advise the customer that the payment is being credited to an overseas account (that is probably confidential). However I do think Paypal would have information somewhere stating that a payment sent to an overseas account may cause additional fees generated by the bank of the initiating party (my bank in this case). I'm just unable to locate it.

---

I think in this case the responsibility (for notification) lies with the card issuer, because it would seem that the charge is relatively unique to the card issuers T&Cs rather than it being dependent on how eBay or PayPal process, receive, or convert payments (or, to put it another way - eBay / PayPal can't be expected to know and warn people about every T&C of every third party funding source - that would be like expecting them to have a warning that your bank might charge an overdraft fee if they try to debit the fees from a bank account and there not being enough money in there. Some places do warn about that sort of thing, but it's not their responsibility to). 

By which I mean your card issuer should have advise about this charge, and how / why they determine a payment or company to qualify as international.