Paying sterling by Paypal

Brendan Burgess

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I was paying a subscription of £32 and I was directed to Paypal who asked me to confirm £32 which I did.

I assumed that my Revolut card would be charged with £32 and they would change it to euro.

I was not given an option to pay in local currency or my own currency.

But it came up as €40.05 on Revolut and when I look at my PayPal statement it shows that it did the exchange and charged Revolut in euro


It would have been €38.29 by Revolut.

Brendan
 
I am fairly sure I did not get that option.

I am alert to this and would have chosen to pay £32 as part of the reason for having a Revolut card is the good exchange rates.

Brendan
 
There is no way around this other than opening a second PayPal account with a UK address.

This is against PayPal's rules but two different customer service agents advised to do this.

I have had no issues since provided I make sure to use the relevant account.
 
Carnmore said:
There is no way around this other than opening a second PayPal account with a UK address.
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That doesn't seem correct. I just did a test send of GBP£1 to a contact and if I selected my VISA credit card as the funding source then I got a link allowing me to switch off PayPal conversion and leave it to the card. If the funding source was my current account then I did not get this option.
 
I tried everything and PayPal informed me as stated
 


The "change" link allows me to disable PayPal conversion and let the card do it.
 
ClubMan said:
The "change" link allows me to disable PayPal conversion and let the card do it.
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There's no option on my account to do this.

Even if I choose the funding source as Revolut it still uses PayPal's exchange rate.

By selecting your credit card, is the exchange rate better? £1 GBP would cost €1.25 using PayPal but separately in the Revolut app it would cost €1.19
 
Carnmore said:
By selecting your credit card, is the exchange rate better? £1 GBP would cost €1.25 using PayPal but separately in the Revolut app it would cost €1.19
Click to expand...
No idea. It's a PTSB VISA credit card so maybe it's as poor value as PayPal? I don't tend to make foreign currency payments by PayPal big enough to worry about the exchange rate to be honest.
 
I registered my PTSB debit card with my PayPal account and tried the same test and don't get the option there to prevent PayPal from doing the currency conversion so maybe it's something to do with certain cards like Revolut? Maybe PayPal doesn't see them as credit cards that can do currency conversion?
 
Is it possible PayPal are taking a different approach with Credit Cards, to Debit Cards ?

If so, why? Have they negotiated different terms for processing Debit Card payments, which includes them getting the FX business, rather than the card provider possibly getting it ? Is there something in their T&Cs about this, perhaps?

When I use my Credit Card, I always have the option to choose the currency I pay in, when buying goods in GBP.
 
Last edited:
MrEarl said:
Is it possible PayPal are taking a different approach with Credit Cards, to Debit Cards ?
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I think that is the case and the explanation is buried somewhere in the terms and conditions/user agreement that we all agree to but don't read.
 
Regardless, I've found PayPal and credit card providers exchange rates to be similarly uncompetitive.

I fund my UK PayPal Account with GBP already exchanged with Revolut to avail of their interbank rate.
 
Yes, but the key issue of this thread is whether and when the option is available to disable PayPal's automatic currency conversion and leave it to the payment card to do this. That's specifically what the original poster asked about.
 
ClubMan said:
Yes, but the key issue of this thread is whether and when the option is available to disable PayPal's automatic currency conversion and leave it to the payment card to do this. That's specifically what the original poster asked about.
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I realise that. My point is an addendum hence stating "regardless".
 
Hello,

Assuming you have the AIB Credit Card with cash back...

If you opt to use your Credit Card, in order to select GBP as the currency that PayPal will transact in, does the transaction then qualify for cashback, on the AIB Credit Card?

Ultimately, what I'm wondering is, is there a small benefit to accepting that the Credit Card company gets the FX business, if you get the casback on the transaction?
 
Why do you think that the credit card would treat the PayPal charge any differently to any other transaction done "directly" using the card?
 
I'm not sure, as I don't have the AIB card (yet, it's on my list of things to get)... but Card providers often have certain transactions excluded for cashback, and given PayPal aren't actually a retailer, I thought it might be an issue.
 
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