I just got an email from PayPal (Germany) and they will update their terms by August. Exchange rates from USD to EUR will increase from 3% to 3,5% which is such a pain. For each 1000 USD I earn, I will have to waste 35 USD to PayPal for nothing.
Are you sure? What does the email say exactly?
From what I know, there are no fees for exchanging USD to EUR (there’s only the exchange rate which is not so favorable…) and I have a PayPal Business verified account.
The 3,4% + 0,35 EUR fee is for Purchase payments received (monthly), so for the case when you have a shop on your website and the payments you receive are in EUR.
I am not sure if this would be the case, but maybe PayPal has different policies for each country?
You can also ask them on Twitter, they have a dedicated PayPal account for quick support: @AskPayPal
there’s only the exchange rate which is not so favorable…
Paypal is using the current exchange rate and adding 3% like a “hidden” fee. From August they will increase that percentage to 3,5%. You can read this at the bottom of this overview:
https://www.paypal.com/de/webapps/mpp/ua/upcoming-policies-full (point a 4.1)
Just create a USD account in Paypal and hold a dollar balance… no exchange fees. But keep in mind that the published rates are the wholesale rates… which pretty much nobody gets unless you’re a bank or a small country.
Yes, this is a problem indeed, even now. I keep the amount in dollars so as not to exchange but every time I make a purchase that is usually in Euro or transfer money to my bank, the exchange rate is applied.
I have now shifted to direct bank transfers, much cheaper even with the $25 transfer fee that Envato deducts.
Well I would use SWIFT as well, but once I tried it, there was an additional loss of $40 because the intermediate bank did charge an exchange fee, extra to the Envato fee and to my banks fee
It would be so nice if Envato could offer EUR payments and maybe 2-3 more major currencies.
That’s true but I’d rather prefer a fixed exchange fee like banks charge instead of a high percentage.