Need advice - eBay/PayPal currency conversion

LHardicus on 22/11/2018 - 09:19

Hi Ozbargainers

I am getting really frustrated and I am hoping someone may have a solution for me.

I have a US eBay account, and an Aussie PayPal account with a USD balance.

Whenever I shop on US eBay and purchase an item priced in USD, and pay with my USD PayPal balance, it converts the item price to AUD on eBay and performs a currency conversion on PayPal from my USD balance to pay for the item in AUD.

Is there any way to avoid this? The amount I end up paying is always more than the USD price of the item I'm buying, it seems like just another fee that eBay and PayPal are charging because they can. I've tried using a VPN but I think it changes to AUD based on my shipping address.

Any suggestions?

General Discussion Currency Exchange

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eBay Australia
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Comments

  • Master Bates on 22/11/2018 - 09:39

    Never let PayPal do the currency conversion.

    You need a fee free credit or debit card (options listed here) pay in USD and allow the card to do the conversion.

    • Hardicus on 22/11/2018 - 09:53

      That's good advice, but I am not paying with a credit card, I have a USD balance in PayPal.

      • Master Bates on 22/11/2018 - 10:09

        Are you shopping the US eBay site from an Australian eBay account?

        • Hardicus on 22/11/2018 - 13:13

          No. US site, US account, US address (Aus mailing address).

  • niknah on 22/11/2018 - 16:03

    It doesn't happen to me unless I have no USD left. When I pay, it asks me for which currency I want to pay with. It wasn't always like this, just started this year. Before that they only let you pick whether you want to pay with your balance or credit card.

    Works on both US + Australian ebay sites.

    In PayPal's currencies page, you can click on the dots next to the currency and pick "make primary".

    • Hardicus on 22/11/2018 - 16:14

      Hmmmm mine is nothing like that. When I select PayPal it doesn't give me the option to choose currency. USD has always been my primary PayPal currency, opened the account before PayPal was even in Australia.

      As soon as I add something to my cart, it converts the price from USD to AUD.

      Looks like I'm just cursed. 😔

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