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Author Topic: Wow double whammy!!!  (Read 4362 times)

Brian60

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Wow double whammy!!!
« on: June 30, 2016, 06:34:33 pm »

I just been hit twice for one transaction and will affect some of you also. EBAY, anyone buying goods from China and using Paypal.

 Basically because I am in Spain, Items are priced in  euro from ebay. However Chinese companies deal in US dollars, so I take a hit due to the €/$ exchange rate. But here's the whammy, Paypal then does a double exchange changing the dollars  into UK sterling as that is my nominated credit/debit card >>:-( >>:-( So I am paying two exchange rates (which are terrible at the moment due to Bexit) Anyone in the UK will face the same but a single whammy. If you order from China or Hong Kong paypal will convert your £'s to $ at a poor rate.

Three weeks ago I could get 1.33€ to £1, today its 1.19€ :(( So for now any purchasing from the far east is on hold. In fact anything from Europe is also on hold, Ebay UK with UK sellers for a while methinks.. get it brought over for me by family and friends :embarrassed:

TheLongBuild

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2016, 07:25:05 pm »

Never been charged any exchange rate when buying from china using my paypal account ?

Brian60

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2016, 08:09:12 pm »

Never been charged any exchange rate when buying from china using my paypal account ?

But you are. Paypal makes the conversion automatically sterling to dollar 'behind the scenes' You see sterling when you click paypal, but before you click out of the page, check just above your transaction and it gives the conversion rate of sterling into dollars.

In coming days expect prices on all non UK goods, to increase to take into account the drop in the value of the pound.

cos918

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2016, 08:21:43 pm »

Buy from China a lot . never had this . All the sellers I have used have their prices in Chines RMB . EBay converts the Chines RMB in to pounds . US dollars never come in to it .
What you are seeing is a seller in China who is selling on Ebay.com  (US) both list world wide .
The only reason paypal would covert dollars in to pounds then in to euros would be because  you have set paypal to UK but the money  is coming out of  euro account.


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TheLongBuild

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2016, 08:49:58 pm »

Nope, never charged anything more than what I excpected to pay, all my purchases are always in good old sterling, not saying nothing happens behind the scenes but I have never had to pay more.

Stavros

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2016, 10:30:33 pm »

I fully Concur with Larry on this one ...just had some stuff from China and paid what the goods were worth on ebay...and paid through Paypal


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inertia

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2016, 11:45:26 pm »

It's a bit like going on a foreign holiday. If a certain drink or meal costs much more abroad than it does in the UK - but it costs the same everywhere abroad - then that's what it costs. You then have two choices.

Most of the people who buy from China are only interested in the bottom line, and that's going to be smaller than the domestic retail price whatever the exchange rate, so please don't complain about things that have very little bearing on the matter. If you get caught for VAT and a handling charge then that's just the luck of the draw. Tough.

Paypal are in business to make international retail transactions easier - not cheaper. There are no philanthropists in the finance sector - even the church passes round a collecting plate!

Hobbyking has been playing fast and loose with just about every known EU and UK fiscal law but nobody in HMRC seems to be remotely interested. If there ever was a case for caveat emptor then it's buying retail from halfway around the world.

Get used to it. A problem shared is really only a pain in the **** for more than one person.

DM
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TomHugill

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2016, 11:51:57 pm »

How is hobby King playing fast and loose? The only thing I noticed was being able to pick the declared value but they stopped that a while ago
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BrianB6

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2016, 12:20:29 am »

Did my bit for the pound.
Bought some parts from CMB and got 0.55 p to the A$   Pretty good rate but then the bank took their cut.  >>:-(
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tigertiger

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2016, 02:55:35 am »

Unless the situation has changed in the last year or so, Brian is 100% correct.


The CNY is not a fully tradeable currency. All banks and money houses must first change the money to USD. It is just that we don't see it, because it is not shown, in transactions.
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RAAArtyGunner

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2016, 05:40:51 am »

Unless the situation has changed in the last year or so, Brian is 100% correct.


The CNY is not a fully tradeable currency. All banks and money houses must first change the money to USD. It is just that we don't see it, because it is not shown, in transactions.
And Yes again, it also happens to us in Australia.
I always try and pay by credit card to reduce the number of conversions.
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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2016, 06:39:15 am »

Surely the total price including postage is what is shown on Ebay and is in your own currency - something for £10 and £5 postage is £15 total at checkout. I've never had any other charges added on and I buy lots of bits & bobs from China - can't beat the prices, just have to wait for the item.

Is this only something that happens to expats living in one country with their banking in another?
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tigertiger

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2016, 08:02:30 am »

If the price on ebay is in your own countries currency, what you see is what you pay. Unless, there is a note that you may have to pay additional currency exchange and/or customs charges.


However, if you are buying online from another countries webpage, and the price is in local currency, you get affected by exchange rates and handling fees.
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Brian60

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2016, 08:21:32 am »

If the price on ebay is in your own countries currency, what you see is what you pay. Unless, there is a note that you may have to pay additional currency exchange and/or customs charges.


However, if you are buying online from another countries webpage, and the price is in local currency, you get affected by exchange rates and handling fees.

I guess this is what I was really trying to say in my first post.

Its like this.....

The price is in euro on ebay spain. I make a purchase from a chinese dealer.

China trades in US dollar, so paypal make the exchange euro to dollar ( which you don't notice, but it is on the paypal page you use to authorise the payment.

But because I am actually using a UK debit/credit card to pay with. Paypal then make a second transaction dollar to pound so as to charge to your account in the UK.

Of course this is only noticeable at the moment due to how the £ against other currenices has dropped. Had the UK voted to remain in the EU and the £ value risen I would have paid less -  swings and roundabouts. But my last parts that arrived this week, came out about 40p more than the advertised ebay price. But not complaining as they were still cheap. I was just pointing out the vagaries of inter country banking in what is currently a volatile money market.

inertia

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2016, 09:21:18 am »

How is hobby King playing fast and loose? The only thing I noticed was being able to pick the declared value but they stopped that a while ago
It's the way they interpret the VAT regulations, Tom - particularly those relating to the place of supply. I would explain but it's very complex and very boring - especially for anyone who isn't already very familiar with them. I've been trying to forget them for nearly ten years since I retired from HMRC!
I would still like it explained to me that if the motor I ordered from the UK warehouse actually was sent from Ipswich then why was the only postage option Airmail from Singapore and why did it take over ten days to get to me?
The rule with HK is that you pay whatever they choose to charge you - and that's a bit of a lottery - or you simply don't buy from them. Introduce Paypal into the transaction and all you do is compound the opportunity for additional confusion/profit.
Caveat emptor, as I said.
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Tugtower

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #15 on: July 01, 2016, 04:28:12 pm »


I've never had issues buying things with pay pal with 'exchange rates' usually when you click buy or add to basket you get to see the total amount before you pay which should be exactly what was stated as the price when you hit buy.. so overpaying through 'double whammys' for something shouldn't even come into play regardless where the item is brought from.


at the Current exchange of today ( 1st July 2016) the ..


£ is worth 1.19 euros
£ is worth 1.33 USD


so 1 Euro is worth £0.85p


£0.85p is worth 1.13 USD


1 euro is worth 1.12 USD at direct exchange


meaning your actually gaining 0.01 USD more via the exchange to £'s first!


So to sum up with the £ down your actually 0.14 euro better off then you were when it was 1.33 euros to the £ O0

cos918

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #16 on: July 01, 2016, 06:35:55 pm »

The other reason is have a bank account in the country you live in and you wont get stung .


John
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Brian60

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #17 on: July 01, 2016, 08:06:35 pm »

slightly skew whiff with the calcs Tug tower. Start with 10 euro, convert to $ then convert $ to £. Then compare £ to €, there is a difference.

Tugtower

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Re: Wow double whammy!!!
« Reply #18 on: July 01, 2016, 11:49:13 pm »

lol Sorry my ''skew whiff'' calcs are actually perfect, go check my figures yourself.  ok2

I fail to see how 10 euro's compared to one changes anything the exchange rate might 'fluctuate' at times (ftse 100 & 250)  but its stable enough to make 0 difference if your exchanging £1 or £10,000,000 when you exchange at the current market value.


It could be £ for 1 Euro and you'll get the same rate regardless of the quantity of cash...


The exchange rate don't give you a discount or an added tax rate until you spend over £15 which adds VAT via the 'HMRC 2012 VAT' rules, hence why many packages are sent and declared as gifts up to a value of £36 to avoid adding VAT to your purchase.


Over £135 you become subject to custom duty as well as VAT, ....



You might get a 'discount' if your buying currency for a holiday and that's still subject to the exchange rates & VAT.


Your actual problem is your trading from a UK account for so called 'overseas' transactions, your literally paying from one country and delivering to another and for that i expect you need to talk to your bank as i expect your being charged extra for going over your allowed ''rates and allowances'' on foreign transactions set out by HM revenue.


Feel free to check it yourself, infos right here....


https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/rates-and-allowances-hm-revenue-and-customs#hmrc-exchange-rates
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