New PayPal Policy - 1% Surcharge on International Purchases Using CC

Lterlalu on 30/06/2012 - 11:43
Last edited 30/06/2012 - 11:44

I got an email from Paypal stating a change to their policy effective 2 August 2012.

An additional 1% processing fee will be incurred if you are a sender registered in Australia and you fund your payment entirely or partially by international credit or debit card.

On their website:
https://cms.paypal.com/au/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&conte…
Under clause 11.4, under the heading “Domestic personal transactions”, insert an asterisk after “Payment Method: entirely or partially funded by debit card or credit card” and insert “*If you are a sender registered in Australia and you fund your payment entirely or partially by international debit or credit card, you will incur an additional 1% processing fee on the amount funded by that card.”

I'm still trying to make heads and tails of this, but it appears to be a processing fee, not a currency conversion fee, so you' will get charged 1% for using a linked 28˚ Mastercard to buy products from overseas.
Though I may be completely wrong..

Sending an email to Paypal for clarification… can anyone else weigh in on this?

Thanks.

Financial

Comments

  • Choc0 on 30/06/2012 - 13:27
    +5

    I don't normally use the C-word to refer to organisations, but for PayPal, I make an exception

    • woz on 30/06/2012 - 15:24

      Seconded.

  • c64 on 30/06/2012 - 14:24
    +1

    i think international cc = non-australian cc? in which case it won't affect you

  • [Deactivated] on 30/06/2012 - 14:24

    Of course this can be confusing, they really dont make it easy.

    It MAY mean that if you are in Australia and use an Overseas card (as distinct from using a card that is issued here in Australia like the 28 degrees card) this charge may apply.

    Hopefully you can get some sort of clarification from paypal and let us know

    Alternatively we could buy something from DX etc for a buck, using the 28 degrees card and see if we incur a 1c transaction fee.

  • woz on 30/06/2012 - 15:15
    +1

    I don't understand this. "if you are a sender registered in Australia" I'm not a sender. I'm a receiver - a buyer. Why would a sender pay by credit card? The sender doesn't pay at all!

    • ozhunter on 30/06/2012 - 15:17

      Maybe they mean that paying is sending money.

      • woz on 30/06/2012 - 15:25

        It could just be as simple as that. Looks like I could be the simple one.

    • RohBoat on 30/06/2012 - 15:38

      Your confusing PayPal with eBay. So the sender is sending money.

    • scrimshaw on 30/06/2012 - 15:39

      Seriously, is there anything that can stop Paypal from introducing all sorts of "processing" fees? Next thing you'll know is they're going to charge us extra on top of purchases just for being in Australia.

  • RohBoat on 30/06/2012 - 15:41
    +1

    It is simply saying if you use an international/overseas card to pay for anything then you incur a 1% surcharge.

    It doesn't say anything about overseas purchases at all anywhere.

  • fyrepindx on 30/06/2012 - 16:23

    I was coincidentally checking PayPal's policy as well, just before logging into ozB today.

    Saw the 1% surcharge for CC purchases, didn't realise it was new or anything.
    Post back on ozBargain what they say about their policy, I'd like to here.

    If I needed to make an international purchase, I'd just draw funds from CC with Paypal then obviously make the payment via Paypal funds to avoid the surcharge.
    More hassle though.

    • fyrepindx on 30/06/2012 - 16:28

      Do they have any services to instantly add funds? Mind not functioning right atm… Obviously, to debit from bank account may take up to 5 days.

      They actually took 7 days (including a weekend) just to take $200 from my linked debit card, what the heck. I was only going to spend it on an eBay purchase.

      Paypal is owned by the same company, so I second/ third what psionix said. > Idiots!

  • Oz-bargainer on 30/06/2012 - 23:01

    Can anyone provide any clarification on this at all yet?
    Will it effect Australian bank issued Visa/Mastercard credit/debit cards?

  • terlalu on 01/07/2012 - 00:22

    Hey all,

    Here's the response from Paypal.
    Seems like the surcharge fee only applies if you use an international credit card.
    Good news for all with a local Australian card.

    The wording in their new policy was a bit confusing, but cleared up now.
    (I have no idea who/what Apple is…)

    Thank you for contacting PayPal.

    The new policy implies that if you will use international credit card to make a purchase, you will incur an additional 1% processing fee on the amount funded by that card.

    This will take effect on 2 august 2012.

    Please note that these Policy Changes are communicated to our customers via email to show transparency on our business since we are dealing financial transactions online and also provide us some feedback about it to improve our service.

    The PayPal User Agreement can be found by visiting our website and clicking the "Legal Agreements" link at the bottom of any PayPal page.

    Thank you for choosing PayPal.

    Sincerely,
    Apple

    PayPal
    • [Deactivated] on 01/07/2012 - 09:53
      +1

      Frankly I think these idiots could be a bit more communicative.

      What is an international credit card?

      To them its clear, to the average Joe punter its not.

      And yes we can assume it means a card issued overseas, but in absence of a definition, someone could interpret this as a card that can be used internationally.

      Paypal can be legally pedantic when it suits them (the attached paragraphs after the words Please note..) and legally vague when it doesn't.

      Sounds like a very junior employee cutting and pasting preset text.

      To refer to the user agreement … when thats what you were querying is legal run around.

      Maybe you should request a response from PC, Android, Dell or some other automated drone….

    • retiredfeline on 01/07/2012 - 10:04

      The new policy implies that if you will use international credit card to make a purchase, you will incur an additional 1% processing fee on the amount funded by that card.

      I don't think that reply explains anything at all, the flunky is just repeating the announcement. WTF is an "international credit card"? One would hope it means a card issued outside Australia, and not an Australian card used to buy overseas, e.g. 28degrees.

  • 1bug on 01/07/2012 - 15:03

    I'm no legal expert, but I don't think clause 11.4 applies to PURCHASES (I think it applies to sending or receiving money from friends/family without making a purchase).

    Refer to 11.4 Domestic personal transactions under the existing policy…
    https://cms.paypal.com/au/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&conte…

    To quote the policy:
    "A personal transaction involves sending money (initiated from the "Personal" tab of the "Send Money" flow or “Send Money” through PayPal mobile) ) to and receiving money into your PayPal account from friends and family without making a purchase, (ie the payment is not for goods or services)."

    There is currently a fee of "2.4% + Fixed Fee (see table below)" for the existing policy. The amended policy will add an additional fee so you could end up paying 2.4% + Fixed Fee + 1% processing fee if funded by international debit or credit card (but "international" is not defined).

  • spottydog0 on 01/07/2012 - 20:52

    I presume this is internationally issued cards which you aren't allowed to add now anyway.

    To explain I'm a British expat so still have UK bank accounts which are now registered to my Aussie address. When I first got here Paypal allowed me to have these cards on my Paypal account so I used them for buying things such as presents for family still in the UK to avoid fx costs which can make quite a profit for Paypal. When I tried to update my card number recently Paypal wouldn't let me as it was a UK issued card (even though it is registered to an Aussie address), maybe they will now but take their cut.

  • quop on 06/07/2012 - 11:10

    According to this post on WP, quoting a response from Paypal:

    PayPal defines 'International Credit Card' as one that is not issued by an Australian financial institution.

  • CuteBirdy on 07/07/2012 - 19:21

    What rubbish, I hate it when Paypal sends their email saying their terms have changed, they hide all the bad things they do in the text and hope you don't read it.

  • retiredfeline on 24/07/2012 - 11:46

    Ah well, I don't have a CC or DC linked, just a transaction account.

    Interesting that they have lots of rouble fees now, wonder if that's to counter Russian scams.

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