Does anyone have a method of avoiding the appalling Paypal currency exchange rates? Some of my earnings from stock sales is in dollars, and Paypal will only let me withdraw in euros. And thus forcing me to accept the exchange rate from Paypal that is much worse than just about anywhere else.
It costs me hundreds of euros each year.

Haven't found a way other than opening a US bank account, but then you would have to pay US tax.

I hear Payoneer might be slightly better.

Appalling?? It's only 2.5% no worse than banks or anyother financial outfit.

They have to make some money in order to offer a great service like that

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on January 26, 2017, 19:36
Appalling?? It's only 2.5% no worse than banks or anyother financial outfit.

They have to make some money in order to offer a great service like that

Then you should probably switch banks. 2.5% is really high.

My bank has a reasonable 0.5% currency conversion fee. If they could only be sent dollars from PayPal I would save many, many monies. 

2.5% can make sense if you're sending $100, but when the numbers go up to $10,000+, the fees become ridiculous. $50 should be the maximum fee at 2.5% and then 0.5% on top of that.

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on January 26, 2017, 21:21

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on January 26, 2017, 19:36
Appalling?? It's only 2.5% no worse than banks or anyother financial outfit.

They have to make some money in order to offer a great service like that

Then you should probably switch banks. 2.5% is really high.

My bank has a reasonable 0.5% currency conversion fee. If they could only be sent dollars from PayPal I would save many, many monies. 

2.5% can make sense if you're sending $100, but when the numbers go up to $10,000+, the fees become ridiculous. $50 should be the maximum fee at 2.5% and then 0.5% on top of that.

Some banks make money twice, the currency conversion fee and again on a lousy tourist conversion rate.

i always wonder why people think using a service should be free, without realizing that without that service they would have to use cheques or bank payments and pay 10-100 times more to get paid.

i am happy paypal is around to make my life a lot easier when its payday

Quote from: ccbcc on January 26, 2017, 17:50
Does anyone have a method of avoiding the appalling Paypal currency exchange rates? Some of my earnings from stock sales is in dollars, and Paypal will only let me withdraw in euros. And thus forcing me to accept the exchange rate from Paypal that is much worse than just about anywhere else.
It costs me hundreds of euros each year.

Probably your main currency is euro, I live in Bulgaria and somehow my main currency is usd and I just attached debit card with usd currency to paypal so I do not get charged for currency conversion. Although I get charged for the opposite, when I receive euro I need to withdraw in usd , so in the end it always costs me money.

Quote from: nadalbg on January 27, 2017, 05:49
Probably your main currency is euro, I live in Bulgaria and somehow my main currency is usd and I just attached debit card with usd currency to paypal so I do not get charged for currency conversion. Although I get charged for the opposite, when I receive euro I need to withdraw in usd , so in the end it always costs me money.

I thought they stopped doing this. It doesn't matter if your card is in dollars if they see it's in Bulgaria.

Right now, $1 should equal 1.83 Bulgarian lev, what are you getting at PayPal if you withdraw $1 right now?

How's that possible, my card is USD only for instance, are you implying they are converting USD to EUR and back again to USD before sending money to card?

Quote from: Microstockphoto on January 26, 2017, 22:19
i always wonder why people think using a service should be free, without realizing that without that service they would have to use cheques or bank payments and pay 10-100 times more to get paid.

i am happy paypal is around to make my life a lot easier when its payday

I wonder that about that too, I'm not asking for free service. I also wonder why people bend over so easily, while frowning upon the less flexible.

Quote from: nadalbg on January 27, 2017, 05:49

Quote from: ccbcc on January 26, 2017, 17:50
Does anyone have a method of avoiding the appalling Paypal currency exchange rates? Some of my earnings from stock sales is in dollars, and Paypal will only let me withdraw in euros. And thus forcing me to accept the exchange rate from Paypal that is much worse than just about anywhere else.
It costs me hundreds of euros each year.

Probably your main currency is euro, I live in Bulgaria and somehow my main currency is usd and I just attached debit card with usd currency to paypal so I do not get charged for currency conversion. Although I get charged for the opposite, when I receive euro I need to withdraw in usd , so in the end it always costs me money.

Paypal told me I can only withdraw in USD when I attach an real bank account from the USA. I can open a USD bank account here in the Netherlands, but that won't work. (in fact, they will actually convert from USD to EUR back to USD again in this scenario! Paypal support told me.)
But there is no way for me to open a bank account in the USA (that I'm aware of)

That's really weird because I can withdraw in EUR or USD, whichever currency I have balance in.
Account was registered in Bulgaria, main currency is EUR.

Quote from: Niakris on January 27, 2017, 09:36
That's really weird because I can withdraw in EUR or USD, whichever currency I have balance in.
Account was registered in Bulgaria, main currency is EUR.

How does this work, do you have a USD bank account?

The important thing is: When you can use the money, like buy milk, what currency is it in? The conversion happens somewhere and remember that the PayPal fees are HIDDEN, it doesn't say: look, here's the fee, they just give you a bad exchange rate.

I don't have any good solution - but I do always try and leave a USD balance in Paypal account (my bank account is NOK) and whenever I need to buy photo gear, website fees, or other items, I try to purchase from a store that takes USD and paypal.  That way I can use my money and avoid the currency exchange.

is it possible to have USD and Euro balance  in one account? so that there is no loss from conversion

I have USD, GBP and EUR balances in my one Paypal account. I can then convert them as and when necessary. I use a UK-issued Paypal Access card, so I have to convert to GBP before I can use it though.

ok, thanks 

Quote from: mboy on January 27, 2017, 09:53
is it possible to have USD and Euro balance  in one account? so that there is no loss from conversion

It doesn't matter what currency your balance is in your PayPal account. You can have USD, EUR, and Imperial credits at the same time. The conversion happens when the money goes OUT to your standard local bank account.

Quote from: leaf on January 27, 2017, 09:46
I don't have any good solution - but I do always try and leave a USD balance in Paypal account (my bank account is NOK) and whenever I need to buy photo gear, website fees, or other items, I try to purchase from a store that takes USD and paypal.  That way I can use my money and avoid the currency exchange.

Yes, I believe this is the only way to get around currency conversion, but unfortunately it doesn't work for rent, pizza and beer...

It's not really convenient to buy camera gear from online US shops either if the same stuff is available locally. The prices are almost the same (often even cheaper) if they are business expenses, meaning no VAT and customs fees.

Ordering from dollar stores often means shipping + 10% customs for EU + VAT (25% or less depending on country).

Probably the regulation is different in Bg, paypal has different policies with every country, Im in Indonesia now and I see paypal is totally different here.
I get internel error when I try to calculate withdrawal now, but I am almost sure that I withdraw usd and I dont get charged with currency convertion.

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on January 27, 2017, 09:11

Quote from: nadalbg on January 27, 2017, 05:49
Probably your main currency is euro, I live in Bulgaria and somehow my main currency is usd and I just attached debit card with usd currency to paypal so I do not get charged for currency conversion. Although I get charged for the opposite, when I receive euro I need to withdraw in usd , so in the end it always costs me money.

I thought they stopped doing this. It doesn't matter if your card is in dollars if they see it's in Bulgaria.

Right now, $1 should equal 1.83 Bulgarian lev, what are you getting at PayPal if you withdraw $1 right now?

You need to get a bank account in USA. If the money goes to country with any other currency than US Dollars it will convert. Which is a ridicolous amount if you have a serious stock business. Ofcourse should a service not be free - But a price for a service can get to high right


So - you have to travel to USA, open a personal or business account, then get a currency account in your homeland bank. That way you can get a transfer done each month for as little as 15$ more or less


Thats the short version! It takes a lot of documentation to get business account, and it takes a proof of adresse in US to get a personal account.


Thats the only way to get pass the fee, because as Paypal says : It´s not a fee, it´s a currency exchange rate

Quote from: nadalbg on January 27, 2017, 14:06
I get internel error when I try to calculate withdrawal now, but I am almost sure that I withdraw usd and I dont get charged with currency convertion.

It's hidden as a really bad exchange rate, which translates into a 2.5% fee. The average exchange rate today should be around 1.83 levs per dollar.

Paypal doesn't use real time, so you can take advantage when your currency is falling a lot during the day but you still get the old (better) exchange rate. This way I sometimes end up paying only 1.6/1.8% instead of 2.5%. Other alternative is to spend directly in USD on websites, I often use paypal to pay for accommodation.

I have a thai paypal and get paid in usd. I then opened a payoneer account with atm card. At same time they gave me Bank of america bank acc. and i nvr set foot in the US. Now i transfer my usd from thai paypal to BOM acc for no charge from paypal, and then take out thai currency with my payoneer atm card. The exchange rate on payoneer uses mastercard rates and is much better than paypals rates.