I just looked and the Canadian dollar is worth 2 cents more than the US dollar.
Why is my Paypal balance in Canadian dollars still worth less in American dollars I wonder?

maybe paypal is, but you gotta admit, paypal is the best XD

I feel like crying when I think about the exchange rate.

Even at my local bank their exchange rate is not very near the market rate, so I'm not surprised.

Interesting observation, but the one that is to be expected. PayPal, just like ALL other financial institutions that serve as the "middle man" for you and your money, will always play on foreign exchange and make extra money on it. With all my experience with banking institutions worldwide, they are all the same everywhere.

As far as the US dollar goes, I don't know where its all going... but I don't like it. I don't like it at all. The American dollar loses value and they still spending left and right on war action. Actually, that's one more reason why they (most likely) will never bomb Iran. The economy is in grave condition. Expensive wars, housing market decline, medicare, the mortgage debt... American financial liquidity is scary low. Will those additional candy-rides finish America as we know it?

Best,

yes in Canada we seem to get the short end of the stick -- here is an example

cdn dollar is 1.02 vs US Dollar
Corvettte ZO6 $72,500 US
Corvette ZO6 $104,000 Cdn --
anyone want to try to explain that??

my neighbor down the street bought a lexus in the US 2 weeks - drove it back, paid the duties and GST, taxes, etc -- and save $14,000

They take a cut on the exchange rate. When it was 1.09 US the Canadian dollar was definately worth more on Paypal.

Paypal doesn't follow the currency rate, they always give you less. I used to like it when the US dollar was higher, I got a lot when I converted it. Now, I don't make too much.

Exchange rates bug me and especially USD to GBP. Maybe one day it will all bounce back for a while.

I don't think banks ever do, when dealing with customers. At the very least, they need to take a risk margin, if not actually make a profit out of each curency exchange.

Hey Michael:

I know it hurts, but they make a profit every time they process a transaction. It is particularly painful for us Canucks now given the strength of the CAD, but we have no choice. The up side is that the buck has recently gone from $1.10 to $0.98, so we're regaining some ground...

Vito

True, but at least the bank is giving me a better rate than Paypal. Since the Canadian dollar has gone up, I haven't converted any USD to CDN. There is no real point, I'd rather store it or spend it. It's not like a few years back, where converting mean't I could collect a lot more.

As a Canadian, I'm pissed about Paypal and 2CO's exchange rate, too.

It's almost enough for me to go out and get my own merchant account, but I'm not sure if that's going to help or not. Seems nobody follows the exchange rates very closely.

Look, I think that since PayPal is free of charge for most average users, it needs to feed off something, so foreign exchange play provides a terrific opportunity. PayPal has the muscle and a definite leader of the pack, so with scale comes ability to reap premiums. They do what any of us would have done in their chair.

And yes, it kills me, too.

PayPal, and all banks which do allow currency conversion show the actual value per C$ or US$ you get after deducting ther conversion fees, which is 2.5% in case of PayPal. It might be different for your banks.

The market value you see is the Actual Value of C$ or US$, but if you need exchange in currency/in hand, then you pay the conversion fees, which keeps your 3 cents or sometimes more.

Sure, paypal has this issue and a long with others as well, but it may have seem that they have control most of the online paying market. We have about 80% of our clients pay with paypal, and so to not bite out tougne with their outrageous cut they take on each order, what else are we going to do?