Currency conversion

[upland12]

I run a double entry paypal account on my computer listing credits and debits, but they never seem to reconcile with what Paypal has. Is this because what I see on line at Paypal is US dollars while I use Australian dollars and of course there is an exchange rate issue ? Although my credits are always in Aussie dollars. I'm confused. I would like Pay Pal to list transactions over a much longer period automatically not just the last couple or so.   I like to keep a credit in my account and I have to log on to see it, but have no idea how it was calculated and even doing a currency conversion never gives me the same figure.

[sharpiemarker]

@upland12 

Good luck in figuring out how the exchange rate is calculated. The only thing that is certain is the currency conversion fee rate %. PayPal takes the wholesale rate quoted by their bank then probably add a little to come up with the base exchange rate and then apply the currency conversion fee % to it. You’ll just have to accept the PayPal exchange rate at it’s face value (what they say it is). 

That’s why I don’t mess with foreign currencies.

Are you using USD as your primary balance/default currency (sending and requesting) and holding only USD and PayPal displays the AUD equivalent of your USD?  

[upland12]

Sharpie Marker thanks for your comments.

I have to say I'm pretty new to all this and I just like to reconcile and check my debits and credits and I'm finding this impossible to do . I have to say I'm not even sure when I'm paying in US dollars or Australian dollars, I just have to assume the country that sells the article uses it's own domestic currency (?)  It's confusing, otherwise I like PayPal. I guess I will have to live with what I consider a very limited and inadequate form of accounting provided by them with a total credit sum provided (in my case) with no indication as to how it was calculated !