Don’t let PayPal translate your foreign purchases

[Spice3d]

I'm in the US and buy a ton of stuff from European online stores, like Plugin Boutique, etc. I like to use PayPal instead of giving them my credit card number. However, when I get the USD charge from PayPal, it's always been slightly higher than what I expected. Recently, I discovered that I could still use PayPal but have my bank convert to USD instead of PayPal. This saves me about 2%+. Not a whole lot but at the rate I buy stuff, it adds up! LOL

All you have to do is click the "See currency options" link on the initial PayPal checkout window. Select the foreign currency box and then the blue Pay button. I've walked through the process on a blog post with screenshots.

I gotta imagine there are others that might benefit from this tip.

https://www.seriouslytrivial.com/2021/09/07/dont-let-paypal-translate-your-foreign-purchases/

[kevin H]

Thanks for this, will come in handy.   Didn’t know I could do this. 

Although I’m now a little traumatized by the dying liver warning signs haha

[Brian Walton]

2 hours ago, Spice3d said:

I'm in the US and buy a ton of stuff from European online stores, like Plugin Boutique, etc. I like to use PayPal instead of giving them my credit card number. However, when I get the USD charge from PayPal, it's always been slightly higher than what I expected. Recently, I discovered that I could still use PayPal but have my bank convert to USD instead of PayPal. This saves me about 2%+. Not a whole lot but at the rate I buy stuff, it adds up! LOL

All you have to do is click the "See currency options" link on the initial PayPal checkout window. Select the foreign currency box and then the blue Pay button. I've walked through the process on a blog post with screenshots.

I gotta imagine there are others that might benefit from this tip.

https://www.seriouslytrivial.com/2021/09/07/dont-let-paypal-translate-your-foreign-purchases/

Yep, but also having Paypal pull directly out of your bank account has its own shortcomings too.  

Much better chance of having recourse with a bad transaction if you have a good credit card as the payment method.  

Plugin Boutique has never given me any problems with what feels like countless transactions...(for the record)

[Spice3d]

6 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

Yep, but also having Paypal pull directly out of your bank account has its own shortcomings too.  

Much better chance of having recourse with a bad transaction if you have a good credit card as the payment method.  

Plugin Boutique has never given me any problems with what feels like countless transactions...(for the record)

PayPal can be set to pull from a credit card. Also, this isn’t a PB issue as all. It’s just all about getting a more favorable conversion rate. 

[Eusebio Rufian-Zilbermann]

I've been paying with a credit card and using this option extensively in recent years (after I switched to a credit card that didn't charge for "foreign transaction fees", also a key point if you often buy goods from other countries)

I hate that PayPal makes you choose the option every single time and it won't let you save the option as a default for future purchases.

[Spice3d]

1 minute ago, Eusebio Rufian-Zilbermann said:

I've been paying with a credit card and using this option extensively in recent years (after I switched to a credit card that didn't charge for "foreign transaction fees", also a key point if you often buy goods from other countries)

I hate that PayPal makes you choose the option every single time and it won't let you save the option as a default for future purchases.

Totally agree. It is a deceptive business practice if u ask me. 🤬

[mibby]

49 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

Yep, but also having Paypal pull directly out of your bank account has its own shortcomings too.  

Much better chance of having recourse with a bad transaction if you have a good credit card as the payment method.

However, you cannot accept payments via PayPal without having a "verified" account, i.e. hooking it to your bank account.  I lost a sale on Reverb.com because of this...

[Spice3d]

Just now, mibby said:

However, you cannot accept payments via PayPal without having a "verified" account, i.e. hooking it to your bank account.  I lost a sale on Reverb.com because of this...

Yup. Not talking about receiving, only paying and having it converted. I have a verified account with my bank account attached. I just always pay with the credit card, also attached.

[martians]

1 hour ago, Eusebio Rufian-Zilbermann said:

I've been paying with a credit card and using this option extensively in recent years (after I switched to a credit card that didn't charge for "foreign transaction fees", also a key point if you often buy goods from other countries)

I hate that PayPal makes you choose the option every single time and it won't let you save the option as a default for future purchases.

I have a credit card linked to my PayPal account and it gets charged in foreign currency by default. I remember selecting some "always let the card issuer determine the currency conversion rate" option on that initial PayPal window years ago.   

Are you sure there isn't a setting hidden somewhere to make this the default option?

(PayPal Europe, Visa card issued in Europe, with Euro as card currency, don't know if that may be relevant).

Edited September 7, 2021 by martians

[Spice3d]

5 minutes ago, martians said:

I have a credit card linked to my PayPal account and it gets charged in foreign currency by default. I remember selecting some "always let the card issuer determine the currency conversion rate" option on that initial PayPal window years ago.   

Are you sure there isn't a setting hidden somewhere to make this the default option?

(PayPal Europe, Visa card issued in Europe, with Euro as card currency, don't know if that may be relevant).

Well, I've never seen one. That would be nice.

[Brian Walton]

3 hours ago, Spice3d said:

PayPal can be set to pull from a credit card. Also, this isn’t a PB issue as all. It’s just all about getting a more favorable conversion rate. 

Yes, I didn't mean to imply using a CC directly but using a different form of payment with PP than direclty out of a bank account.  Though if you use a CC to pay with PP I've always gotten the foreign transaction fees (of some kind) so that doesn't avoid that problem...I'm simply suggesting that pulling out of your bank account might have the transaction fees but it also likely gives you less recourse as a buyer (obviously dependent on the bank it pulls from, how PP handles, as well as your CC company).  So speaking in generalities.

[pseudopop]

6 hours ago, Spice3d said:

Well, I've never seen one. That would be nice.

I can confirm that I have also managed to set this up so that PayPal never offers currency conversion. I'm pretty sure it was a checkbox I could check when I was authorizing the payment in a popup window. Can't find the setting anywhere on PayPal.com, but then again their UI is a hot mess.

[Spice3d]

I did some more digging and found that you can set the default to not use PayPal conversion, but only for automatic payments which appear to be any pre-authorized PayPal payments.

[TerraSin]

I usually don't do this unless I'm at 50+ dollars because the amount is menial. I'd do it all the time but for some reason, it won't let me convert using my bank account; only my credit card which I hate using.

[Brian Lawler]

I used PayPal ONCE and learned my lesson.  You may already have a credit card with zero foreign transaction fees, so check it out.  I know my Visa that Costco pushed out after they dumped Amex is "good".  I ask Google for "50 Euro in USD" for example, and that is the amount I get charged, give or take a few cents.