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Paypal Foreign Exchange
randvegeta
Member, Host Rep
I'm trying to find a cheaper way than 2.5% to exchange from 1 currency to another over Paypal.
We receive a very large proportion of our income in USD and we used to be able to get it out of Paypal as USD, for free!. Now a conversion to HKD is being forced, and at a 2.5% rate.
HKD is a long shot, I know, but does anyone need to exchange from EUR to USD? I would rather have EUR than USD as I can still move EUR to a EUR account, practically for free.
Obviously Paypal fees are more than 2.5%, but for 'Personal' transactions, it's capped at about $5 internationally, and free locally. Are EU -> EU Paypal transactions free? Or just within the same country? Either way, it's a total cost of $5-$10 per exchange, meaning anything over $400 exchanged would save money, vs the 2.5% exchange rate.
Anyone?
Comments
No idea.
Yeah its a pain, but at the same time it is a tax offset.
I guess you would need multiple bank accounts linked from the same bank with a presence in each country/currency someone like HSBC I guess and do transfers manually between them once the PayPal withdrawal is done.
Highly unlikely you will find a commercial entity offering it for any less as a middle man.
Paypal or whatever have their Exchange fee , Fee everywhere!
I think this is the best option if it works in your country.
TransferWise changed their withdrawal name requirement few months ago, not sure whether PayPal withdrawal still works.
I can move money through the banking system pretty much for free. And I have a EUR bank account linked to a LT Paypal account.
The idea would be to find someone with EUR who needs dollars. We do personal transfer in either direction and save the 2.5% fee.
Everything can be a tax deduction in HK, but that doesnt change the fact that we are now seeing increased costs. To put things into perspective, if youve got a healthy 25% profit margin, an ADDITIONAL 2.5% on top means 10% of your profit just got wiped out.
So any way to get this into the banking system with little or no fees will be ideal. I can do conversions at the bank at less than 0.5% if needed. Paypal really gauges you these daysm
Setup a USA bank account and link it then, the book keeping and legal accounting nightmare you would create doing it like you suggest is off the map.
You’re charged 2.5% on a rate, not on the transaction.
They charge 2.5% on the withdrawals. Already have a US bank account linked. This is how we've been withdrawing USD for the past 10 years!
Distinction without difference. Whether or not it is an exchange fee, or a rate spread, there is an effective 2.5% lost. Either we are charged 2.5% withdrawal fee, or we exchange to another currency with a 2.5% spread.
I did a withdrawal from PayPal to TransferWise after the change and it worked. Dunno if it would work for adding new accounts to PayPal though since I think PayPal do check the account name when you add it.
They don't for me - might be the available withdrawal methods (some cost but are faster etc)
Where is you PayPal acc registered?
UK (it's my personal account -- the business's account isn't hooked up to TransferWise at all yet), but that's free withdrawals of USD from PayPal to my USD TransferWise.
At a guess I'd suspect your US bank account might not support the slower free transfer perhaps.
Not sure what you mean.
I have no problem linking my US bank account to my Paypal account. I've not had any problem doing USD withdrawals to the US bank account for free for the last 10 years. It's only been a recent change in fees charged by Paypal.