How to check PayPal transfer are in right currency

[tbtorro]

So recently I had lots of headache people sending me payments in wrong currency. Did it happen to you? I quote my price say, in USD or EUR or GBP, and when the buyer pays it shows up in Danish Kroner on my account.

The reason is PayPal's new sneaky mechanism of automatically offer the sender to convert their payment to the recipient's local currency. So if the buyer doesn't change this from the default, the conversion will automatically happen without the consent or even NOTICE of the recipient. And as you know PP's conversion rates are pretty bad not to mention that if the seller to buy something later, then the money would have to be converted twice, ka-ching for PayPal but I find this practice very unfair, and I had wasted a bunch of time refunding payments and asking the buyer to re-send them in correct currency.

Anyway, when you send money, please pay attention of this dialog, and make sure the "Recepient receives" part has the right currency in EUR or USD or GBP or whatever currency the price was quoted.

Also, please send your address by PM and NOT in the PayPal note. PayPal dumps whatever you write there in one single line, uncertain and difficult to figure out the address format (which is city/street/state etc..). risking lost/returned parcel.

 

[slk486]

I agree. It's annoying and cumbersome that PayPal does this. Same with normal buys - all prices are converted to the users local currency and you have to manually change it every bloody time, to avoid using PayPals conversion rates, which will ALWAYS be more expensive than the ones offered by your credit card company or bank.

 

[JarppaK]

Best way is to pay currency what seller wants. If I have to pay seller in GBP if requested I do so, if requested in USD then I pay it like that. Then seller have no need to take any headache of any transfer rates and he get exact price what he ask for an item.

 

[Deleted member 14264]

So recently I had lots of headache people sending me payments in wrong currency. Did it happen to you? I quote my price say, in USD or EUR or GBP, and when the buyer pays it shows up in Danish Kroner on my account.

The reason is PayPal's new sneaky mechanism of automatically offer the sender to convert their payment to the recipient's local currency. So if the buyer doesn't change this from the default, the conversion will automatically happen without the consent or even NOTICE of the recipient. And as you know PP's conversion rates are pretty bad not to mention that if the seller to buy something later, then the money would have to be converted twice, ka-ching for PayPal but I find this practice very unfair, and I had wasted a bunch of time refunding payments and asking the buyer to re-send them in correct currency.

I had exactly the same problem. Yes, it is incredibly annoying.

To top it off, Paypal now sends e-mail messages with no information about the amount or name of the sender in the subject when receiving money. This forces me to open my e-mails one by one when people ask for the status of their order.

Paypal must notice there has been a flurry of refund/resend caused by this annoying mechanism.

I didn't refund anyone yet but I considered it because it makes checking if the customer actually paid the correct amount quite difficult and for some products I sell, it makes it very cumbersome to check if they want a PAL or NTSC version.

 

[tbtorro]

Best way is to pay currency what seller wants. If I have to pay seller in GBP if requested I do so, if requested in USD then I pay it like that. Then seller have no need to take any headache of any transfer rates and he get exact price what he ask for an item.

Yes, but you would be surprised how many people just click through this dialog without checking and then complain that they did send euros or whatever currency from THEIR account so they don't see the problem and I end up having to explain EVERY bloody time..

The right way this should work is to have the same currency as default in BOTH field with the currency matching your preference. And then YOU change it if you need it. But of course PP makes a bunch of money on currency conversion so they put this in hoping most people won't bother checking their crappy rates.

 

[Pipmick]

tbtorro,

Having made this error for a payment from me to you recently, I can definitely understand your frustration and I apologise again for my lack of attention to the currency choice in our transaction recently. It definitely won't happen again with future sellers I buy from because I have learned my lesson now! I think it defaults to the currency of the country that the seller is based within (that was what I experienced), but clearly the buyer needs to change it to the currency / currencies asked for in the sales thread. I will do that from now on. Thanks again for the ROMs - they seem great.

 

[tbtorro]

tbtorro,

Having made this error for a payment from me to you recently, I can definitely understand your frustration and I apologise again for my lack of attention to the currency choice in our transaction recently. It definitely won't happen again with future sellers I buy from because I have learned my lesson now! I think it defaults to the currency of the country that the seller is based within (that was what I experienced), but clearly the buyer needs to change it to the currency / currencies asked for in the sales thread. I will do that from now on. Thanks again for the ROMs - they seem great.

Don't worry about it, it's a honest mistake, I'm ****ed at PayPal not you.. And yes I know how it works but that infuriates me even more. Because PP is disguising this as a convenience feature. (They are saying look, how nice and easy you send whatever and the seller will get it in their local currency - neat!) But if it was then it's not the buyer who should decide this at all. Because every seasoned seller knows that ANY local bank can beat PP's conversion rate. So it's just annoying waste of time having to refund etc.. But still if a bunch of casual sellers suck this up then it's a nice boost to PP's revenue on sellers expense of time or money.

 

[Deleted member 14264]

Having made this error for a payment from me to you recently, I can definitely understand your frustration and I apologise again for my lack of attention to the currency choice in our transaction recently.

Just like tbtorro, I don't blame my customers either.

The fault really lies with Paypal for implementing the funds conversion as the default setting. The responsible thing to do would have been to offer a check-mark which you can activate IF you want the funds converted and then offer the receiver's default currency for his/her country.

 

[supaduper]

Its a pity there are not other reliable and secure online money transfer merchants, I know there is iban but lots of people do not for some reason like using it but is probably the best method ,but for now paypal has the monopoly

 

[tbtorro]

Its a pity there are not other reliable and secure online money transfer merchants, I know there is iban but lots of people do not for some reason like using it but is probably the best method ,but for now paypal has the monopoly

IBAN has 2 main problems: It's way too expensive for small(er) amounts and very slow (takes days in EU and could be more overseas).

 

[supaduper]

Its a pity there are not other reliable and secure online money transfer merchants, I know there is iban but lots of people do not for some reason like using it but is probably the best method ,but for now paypal has the monopoly

IBAN has 2 main problems: It's way too expensive for small(er) amounts and very slow (takes days in EU and could be more overseas).

Cheers Darth , I have only used iban once many moons ago and my knowledge has just proved it
I shall now go and stick a light sabre where the sun dont shine and pray to Yoda for the `knowledge`icard

 

[UberFreak]

I've noticed something else recently, when making a payment.
Although I chose not to use PP's currency conversion, once I've made the selection it seemed to default back to PP's conversion and I couldn't change it.

Next time I pay with PP I'll see if it happens again.

 

[Deleted member 14264]

Although I chose not to use PP's currency conversion, once I've made the selection it seemed to default back to PP's conversion and I couldn't change it.

Did you send the payment as gift or payment for goods ?