Paying in U.S. funds using a Canadian U.S. funds credit card

[catnip]

I live in Canada, therefore I have a Canadian Paypal account.  I have a U.S. funds credit card issued from a Canadian institution.  Many of my purchases are in U.S. funds, but Paypal always converts these purchases into Canadian funds (with an outrageous conversion fee, I might add.) 

I have added my U.S. funds credit card to my Canadian account.  Now how do I make it so Paypal will not convert my U.S. purchases into Canadian funds so that I may complete my U.S. transactions using my U.S. funds credit card?

[catnip · Accepted solution]

Never mind... I just found the 'conversion options' field below the credit card selection field.  Paid in U.S. funds using my U.S. credit card - very happy about that.

[CBNIGHTWING]

Hi catnip- I am Canadian too and would love to know how you get a US credit card from a Canadian bank. I do have a US account at my Canadian bank. Thanks for any help!

[catnip]

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@CBNIGHTWING wrote:

Hi catnip- I am Canadian too and would love to know how you get a US credit card from a Canadian bank. I do have a US account at my Canadian bank. Thanks for any help!

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Mine's a BMO Bank of Montreal Airmiles USD Mastercard, but I think all the big banks offer them. 

http://www4.bmo.com/creditcards/usdollar/0,4978,35649_78277448,00.html

[justforme]

I believe that is correct - that all major Canadian banks now offer US-dollar credit cards.  I use one issued by TD Canada Trust.

There is another way to avoid the outrageous conversion...I log into eBay.com rather than eBay.ca.  I don't think I am missing anything, and perhaps I see a wider array of goods (which could be a problem, depending on what you want).  Most of the sellers I deal with are in the US and want US$.  My Canadian bank US$ credit card is linked to my account, and I pay with it - no conversion, no toggle to worry about, since it is US$ default, and so is my credit card.  If you deal mostly with US sellers, you might want to give it a try - I believe you can use the same eBay account.

[pudding1128]

hi catnip, can u specify where the 'conversion options' is and which option u chose?

i'm having the same problem and using BMO mastercard now.

thanks for teaching me!!

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@catnip wrote:

Never mind... I just found the 'conversion options' field below the credit card selection field.  Paid in U.S. funds using my U.S. credit card - very happy about that.

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[catnip]

When you are sending money, it's in the final screen just before you hit 'submit payment.'  There are two choices: 

1. PayPal does the conversion for you, or

2. Your institution does the conversion for you - in this case, there is no conversion as it's a U.S. funds card.

[PayPal_Adrian]

catnip,

I just wanted to stop in and say thank you for assisting your fellow community members.  That's the kind of community spirit we like to see!  Kudos to you!

Adrian

[Smedley]

I don't know why Paypal won't accept a $USD Canadian bank account.  There is no explanation in their "Help" section.  When I have called I am only told that $USD transfers must be to a bank physically located in the US.   I have also read the Paypal explanations in other threads on this site and they are simply not credible.  Other financial institutions are able to do these transfers (see below).  I don't know why PayPal can't.  Probably because they don't want to give up the huge revenue from the exchange conversion.

The exchange rates that Paypal and  $CDN credit cards charge are rediculously high.  I too have discovered that it is much cheaper to pay for my $USD eBay purchases with my $USD BMO Mastercard and eliminate Paypal entirely.  I then pay my $USD Mastercard bill every month by a simple online transfer from my BMO $USD savings account. 

I have also found that I get the best exchange rate when buying/selling $USD, can be found online at XE.com.

XE.com does electronic funds transfers to/from almost any currency.  

That sort of confirms that PayPal has not done their homework and will continue to lose business from Canadian customers.  Too bad really.

[stkram]

I know I'm not on topic, but I am NEW with PayPal, and in need of assisstance.

I have $0.00 in my account (as I just signed up), and want to pay for a purchased item via my credit card. I have the seller's email address.

Can anyone tell me how I get PayPal to take the apprpriate amount from my credit card?

Thanks!

Mark