New PayPal terms, higher exchange rates :-/

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.

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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 :frowning:

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.