Is PayPal Scamming Us?
I was completing a purchase with Paypal today in US dollars. They automatically convert the purchase into Canadian dollars at the till so that you are billed in CAD.
The exchange rate was listed at 0.941 and there is a very small link below that to use other options. I clicked that and was given the option to complete the transaction in USD instead but was warned that their way was easy and safe and you knew what you were getting while letting my bank do the conversion was full of unknown fees and currency rate fluctuations and other scary things.
I selected the later option to let my bank do the conversion and completed the transaction in USD. MBNA billed me at a rate of 0.965 which is exactly 2.5% cheaper.
As it turns out for every PayPal transaction I have done in USD they are charging me a hidden fee of 2.5%.
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