Sending money to someone in Israel

[pwabrahams]

I'm trying to send money to a relative in Israel, but I only get messages telling me that Paypal isn't accepting tranfers to Israel at this time.  This problem was reported here in 2011 but no solution was given.

Now here's the peculiar part.  I tried sending money to a different relative in Israel and the transfer was accepted -- but so far he hasn't been able to retrieve the money.  On my side it shows as "unclaimed" and on his side it doesn't show up at all, although he got a message telling him that it was sent.  The difference between the relatives is that one has an email address at zahav.net.il and the other has a gmail address.

Does anyone know what I need to do to send that money as a personal payment?  Doing it commercially involves substantial fees.

[kernowlass]

Are you sending it in your currency or theirs and are you using funds in your paypal balance or another funding source?

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[pwabrahams]

The money is denominated in dollars when I send it, but I assume PayPal will convert it to Israeli pounds on the other end.  The money is coming from my Paypal balance.

There are quite a few posts on this subject according to Google, but they all date back to 2011.  At that time no one had solved the problem.

[kernowlass]

The money is denominated in dollars when I send it, but I assume PayPal will convert it to Israeli pounds on the other end.  The money is coming from my Paypal balance.

They can only convert it if you are paying via a card or from your bank account.

If you have funds in your paypal account balance then they have to be in the currency of the receiver OR they the receiver has to have that currency set up in his paypal account as an added received currency apart from his own countries currency.

That is why i asked if you were using your paypal balance.

You can convert the funds yourself via clicking on paypal balance > manage currencies (FEES APPLY) OR your receiver can set up his account to receive dollars by clicking on the drop down box and adding dollars as a receiving currency BUT he would have to convert them if he wants to withdraw them.

OR you can withdraw those funds and use your credit card to fund the payment.

               *************************************

I give up my time to help you so a thank you or kudos would be cool.

Marking one of my replies as a solution would be appreciated if I sorted your problem.

[pwabrahams]

I took  your suggestion and was able to send the right amount in shekels to my brother in Israel at zahav.net.il.  I don't yet know if he is able to retrieve it, since it's the middle of the night there.

But when, as a test, I tried to send a small amount in shekels to a gmail address, I got the message "Sorry, this recipient can’t accept personal payments."

Do you know what's going on?

[kernowlass]

sounds as if he may have some limitations on his paypal account, get him to check it out with customer services.

****************************************

I give up my time to help you so a thank you or kudos would be cool.

Marking one of my replies as a solution would be appreciated if I sorted your problem.

[sandypurins]

@pwabrahams

Please keep us updated as you learn more.  Thanks...

-Sandy

[pwabrahams]

Turns out that I had made an error in the address of the transfer that generated the "unregistered" message.  So the question remains: is it at all possible to send money to someone in Israel as a personal payment, not a business transaction?  Can anyone extract an answer to that question from someone at Paypal?

[saschaeh]

I had the same problem, also into israel and seem to find a solution.

Instead of "sending to a friend" i chose "pay for a service" and it worked fine.