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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: whosvegas on November 10, 2020, 11:40
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This time of the year, is is time for my annual payout.
I use Paypal for it
If Paypal convert Dollar into Euro, they use a currency rate of 0,81...
But the Google currency converter use a rate of 0,85, so you will pay to Paypal 0,04% costs
And i dont like that
Is there a way to avoid those costs?
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It is not only a currency rate, it's actually a fee from Paypal that lead to what appears to be a currency rate that is worse than the average rate.
From PayPal's FAQ:
How does PayPal calculate currency conversion/ exchange rate?
If a currency conversion is needed for your payment, we'll use a retail exchange rate. The retail exchange rate (set by an outside financial institution) is our wholesale cost of foreign currency plus a currency conversion fee. This fee depends on the currency you are converting into.
There is no way to avoid this if you want to withdraw money in a different currency from PayPal to your bank account.
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This time of the year, is is time for my annual payout.
I use Paypal for it
If Paypal convert Dollar into Euro, they use a currency rate of 0,81...
But the Google currency converter use a rate of 0,85, so you will pay to Paypal 0,04% costs
And i dont like that
Is there a way to avoid those costs?
That's 4%. And no, you can't avoid that. I have tried to find a solution for years. Please let me know if you find one. That is of course one of the main ways they make money. The Google rate isn't "the real" rate. There is no real rate, only an average of all the banks, etc. in the world. You will never get what you see on Google.
It should, however, be closer to around 2.5%.
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When customers spend $10,000 on clips from let's say Pond5 just as an example, I can buy food with:
$10,000 minus P5 cut (60%) minus PayPal fees (= bad rate) minus Social minus Income Tax = Roughly $2,000.
Customers spend $10,000. In the end I can buy food for $2,000.
That is life. :)
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I calculate this in my earnings straight at the end of the month, even more around 5,6% for various bank fees conversions etc. For some reason people don't calculate it, they just close their eyes and pretend it doesn't happen. What a genius way few rich world monopolists take money from working class. No wonder they are getting richer every day and poor are getting poorer.
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Go to a bank and try to get exactly the "official" currency exchange rate. You won't.
You are paying a fee for the conversion. It is nearly unavoidable.
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not all applicable to paypal, but...
- credit cards often charge from 2-7% (AmEx is on the high end).
- non-US hotels & airport currency exchanges often have signs saying 'no conversion fees' - they just give a bad rate!
- i never exchange $ when traveling - just rely on my ATM (which gives a decent exchange rate & no other fees)
- capital one & chase united express are among those who dont charge a fee
- most US banks have among the worst exchange rates - they don't seem to realize finances are global, so they're not set up for it.
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I'm not sure but I felt the currency conversion fee was way more than it used to be. Somewhere around 2,5% below the average exchange rate, but now it seemed to be around 4% ...Did they increase their hidden fees? Paypal is such a greedy company.
It's time agencies start offering withdrawal methods other than Paypal because we're being robbed in broad daylight.
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I'm not sure but I felt the currency conversion fee was way more than it used to be. Somewhere around 2,5% below the average exchange rate, but now it seemed to be around 4% ...Did they increase their hidden fees? Paypal is such a greedy company.
It's time agencies start offering withdrawal methods other than Paypal because we're being robbed in broad daylight.
Last year I asked SS support about adding revolut or transferwise as alternative to PP. The reply was they didn't plan adding any other payment method in the near future. When you think about it PP is pretty much guaranteed a cut of our business.
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Thank you for the replies
It is a pitty that Paypal charges so much fee
That are much $0,10 downloads on SS :)
I already thought that it was unavoidable to pay conversion fee
And what about the fee that charges Skrill and Payoneer (the other two SS payment methods)?
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currency conversion always have cost associated, its not just paypal, anyway, the only way to get around it is to set up a dollar account with your bank. but then you still have to pay conversion rates to your bank to get euros, could be slightly cheaper,
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Thank you for the replies
It is a pitty that Paypal charges so much fee
That are much $0,10 downloads on SS :)
I already thought that it was unavoidable to pay conversion fee
And what about the fee that charges Skrill and Payoneer (the other two SS payment methods)?
Don't bother, they're even worse than PP
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Thank you for the replies
It is a pitty that Paypal charges so much fee
That are much $0,10 downloads on SS :)
I already thought that it was unavoidable to pay conversion fee
And what about the fee that charges Skrill and Payoneer (the other two SS payment methods)?
Don't bother, they're even worse than PP
Ok, good to know
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@whosvegas, you can contact Paypal support and ask them not to do conversion. I have card number of my bank account connected with PP, did that and it works great. I am not sure is it possible if you have bank account directly connected with PP but worth to try.
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@whosvegas, you can contact Paypal support and ask them not to do conversion. I have card number of my bank account connected with PP, did that and it works great. I am not sure is it possible if you have bank account directly connected with PP but worth to try.
Just been through this all with PP again.
God I hate that company, they refuse to let me withdraw dollars (I am in the UK). Can't add a USD account, cant withdraw in dollars to a GBP account and let the other institution do the conversion.
PLEASE AGENCIES start using Revolut or Transferwise or any of the newer services that charge many times less in fees than PP or Payoneer (often hidden in the poor exchange rates). These middlemen are fleecing us, and I am sure charging the agencies bigger fees than the next generation services.
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@whosvegas, you can contact Paypal support and ask them not to do conversion. I have card number of my bank account connected with PP, did that and it works great. I am not sure is it possible if you have bank account directly connected with PP but worth to try.
Just been through this all with PP again.
God I hate that company, they refuse to let me withdraw dollars (I am in the UK). Can't add a USD account, cant withdraw in dollars to a GBP account and let the other institution do the conversion.
Oh well... I am sorry to hear that. It's awful that these companies are allowed to do whatever they want.
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I avoid this by setting up a virtual dollar card in Revolut. Then when I have built up a few hundred dollars in paypal I transfer it to my Revolut account in dollars. I can then exchange it to another currency when I'm ready with no fees and a good exchange rate.
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Some of my agents pay me through Paypal and others through Payoneer.
In my experience I always get a better rate from Payoneer - even after the $3 transaction fee.
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Over the years I have paid them thousands, which I don't mind paying a reasonable rate but it has always been higher than a fair rate.
It all comes down to a single fact that PayPal is run by a bunch of chancers who got lucky, the company was spun out of ebay.
So basically they are a bunch of crooks who cornered the market on transaction fees across the World, hopefully a reliable company will come along and take away there business or someone will sue them as happened here in the UK with Bank PPI charges and we can all claim the overcharging back.
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Over the years I have paid them thousands, which I don't mind paying a reasonable rate but it has always been higher than a fair rate.
It all comes down to a single fact that PayPal is run by a bunch of chancers who got lucky, the company was spun out of ebay.
So basically they are a bunch of crooks who cornered the market on transaction fees across the World, hopefully a reliable company will come along and take away there business or someone will sue them as happened here in the UK with Bank PPI charges and we can all claim the overcharging back.
Lots of companies exist now that offer much better rates and service than Paypal, Skrill and Payoneer. The problem is that agencies don't offer payments through them. There's Revolut and Transferwise for example.
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I avoid this by setting up a virtual dollar card in Revolut. Then when I have built up a few hundred dollars in paypal I transfer it to my Revolut account in dollars. I can then exchange it to another currency when I'm ready with no fees and a good exchange rate.
I tried this with a Revolut account and Paypal flately refuse to let me take my money out in Dollars, even if I set my default currecy tp USD. They claim it is due to new legislation (utter BS). Which country are you in may I ask?
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I avoid this by setting up a virtual dollar card in Revolut. Then when I have built up a few hundred dollars in paypal I transfer it to my Revolut account in dollars. I can then exchange it to another currency when I'm ready with no fees and a good exchange rate.
I tried this with a Revolut account and Paypal flately refuse to let me take my money out in Dollars, even if I set my default currecy tp USD. They claim it is due to new legislation (utter BS). Which country are you in may I ask?
The UK. I don't know if it makes a difference but I haven't linked the Revolut bank account. I send the money straight to a virtual revolut visa card which I have added to paypal as a payment method. I just did a transfer to check it still works and it went through no problems.
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I avoid this by setting up a virtual dollar card in Revolut. Then when I have built up a few hundred dollars in paypal I transfer it to my Revolut account in dollars. I can then exchange it to another currency when I'm ready with no fees and a good exchange rate.
I tried this with a Revolut account and Paypal flately refuse to let me take my money out in Dollars, even if I set my default currecy tp USD. They claim it is due to new legislation (utter BS). Which country are you in may I ask?
The UK. I don't know if it makes a difference but I haven't linked the Revolut bank account. I send the money straight to a virtual revolut visa card which I have added to paypal as a payment method. I just did a transfer to check it still works and it went through no problems.
I tried this with a standard (non professionnel) Paypal account and a standard Revolut account but I'm not able to transfer money from my Paypal account to my virtual Revolut card.