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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 3947723, member: 44316&quot;]PayPal charges a much higher fee than they claim for international sales by sneakily using a poor exchange rate. The seller gets about 4% less than you send, which is the expected fee. But you pay for euros at a higher rate than the listed &quot;mid-market&quot; exchange rate. So, when I paid in euros Dec. 8 and the day&#039;s exchange rate was given on websites as $1.106, the actual rate PayPal gave me was $1.154 (dollars subtracted divided by euros I sent). </p><p><br /></p><p>For example, the seller asks 100 euros and accepts PayPal and knows he will only get 96. I buy 100 euros in dollars (at $1.154/euro) so I pay $115.40. $115.40 really buys (in bulk at $1.106/euro) 104.35 euros. So, they give out 96 and get in 104.35. That works out to a 8% take. </p><p><br /></p><p>If you are in the US and pay abroad, I invite you to compute the ratio of the PayPal deduction from your account in dollars to the number of euros or pounds or CHF sent. Then google the price of that currency that day and see how they compare. Any excess you pay goes into PayPal&#039;s pockets, and that is not counting the fee of about 4% to the seller. </p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s way I now pay abroad with TransferWise. They give a much better rate and much lower fees. By the way, TW incurs no &quot;wiring fee.&quot;&nbsp; Firms will remove any charge for that (often 12-20 euros) from your invoice.&nbsp; TransferWise takes a while to set up, but once I have paid a particular firm the second time is very easy. I feel good about giving the seller the full amount and not giving so much to the financial services industry.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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