International transaction fees and PayPal?

Hi all.

I recently bought an item through Ebay from Hong Kong and paid in AUD using Paypal. Now I've logged into my bank account and they have added an international transaction fee on top of this. I've emailed them back and forth and they say this has always been the case and that Paypal has no fee for conversion (I said about the altered exchange rate) and that maybe I hadn't purchased overseas before.

I've bought plenty of things through Paypal from overseas and I'm sure that I haven't had an international fee for Paypal transactions. It's not a lot of money but it's annoying me. I'll shut up if it is the norm, but I just can't see it in any of my records.

If this is the case, what's the point in using Paypal (lower exchange rate plus bank fees) instead of just the credit card (bank fees) and a chargeback in the event of it not arriving?