PayPal Policy Changes (increased currency fees and possible loss of dispute powers)

[jaydisc]

Effective June 12:

The Combined Financial Services Guide and Product Disclosure Statement is amended as follows:

In clause 11.9, the table under “Currency Conversion Fee” has been deleted and replaced with:

Currency Conversion Fee

PayPal will process currency conversions using the prevailing wholesale exchange rate plus a percentage processing fee as defined in this table which is retained by us.

The specific exchange rate that applies to your multiple currency transaction will be displayed at the time of the transaction for conversions with PayPal.

2.5% above the wholesale exchange rate when converting within your PayPal account and not as part of a transaction/purchase;

3.5% above the wholesale exchange rate when converting to USD or CAD;

4.00% above the wholesale exchange rate when converting to all other currencies.

So that new 3.5/4% is a jump from the 2.5% it previously was. You can get the old 2.5% IF you do the conversion logged in at PayPal before the purchase, but this has a tremendously negative side effect if you are the type that is smart enough to fund your purchases with a credit card:

You lose your credit card protection!

Because the transaction against your credit card is an import into PayPal, it's NOT part of a purchase, and thus I fear you will have a harder, if not, impossible time disputing a transaction with your credit card provider, which is ALWAYS better than resolving a dispute within the PayPal Dispute Resolution service.

So yeah, this sucks. Be careful.

[canofwhoopass_87]

Surprised you read their policy update emails jd! Looks like another crappy update. They usually are

[jaydisc]

I read all terms and conditions that I am bound to.

And yeah, they're always shitty, but it pays to know up front. Last thing you want to happen is to have to dispute a $500 transaction only to find out your bank can't help you.