Completely inaccurate currency conversion

[SFADuncan]

Hi...

I'm installing Website Payments Standard on a website.  All going well so far.  Testing in the sandbox is going well...

EXCEPT...

I cannot understand the currency conversion rate I'm getting.

eg am attempting to put through a sale of $5.97.  This should equal something like £3.75.

Instead, PayPal is showing the following:

PayPal Balance£3.07 GBP 

PayPal Conversion Rate as of 29 Jan 2011: 1 British Pound = 1.94961 US Dollars

Can anyone from PayPal explain this? 

Simon

[jugnoo]

Hi,

I m not from paypal,

But  according to your conversion rate it is correct it is 3.07 pounds

[SFADuncan]

🙂

Sorry.  Perhaps I should have been clearer.  I'm not complaining about the maths.

The conversion happening right now in my sandbox is working things out based on:

1 British Pound = 1.94961 US Dollars

Currently, an accurate, real world exchange rate should be using something closer to:

1 GBP = 1.58680 USD

... in which case, I should expect something like:

5.97USD = 3.76GBP

Anyone?

Simon

[SFADuncan]

ie can this really be right? :

PayPal Conversion Rate as of 31 Jan 2011: 1 British Pound = 1.94961 US Dollars

If so, there's no way I can offer the option of different currencies via PayPal....

Shouldn't the rate be closer to 1 British Pound = 1.599100 US Dollars

Is this a Sandbox anomaly?

Simon

[PayPal_barry]

Hey there, the currency conversion you see in Sandbox accurately reflects our rates at that time. Here’s how we set our exchange rate:

• We receive a wholesale rate quote from our bank twice a day and add 2.5% to determine the retail foreign exchange rate to apply to transactions that involve a currency conversion.

• Our currency exchange rates are competitive with conversion rates used by banks and by currency exchanges.

Visa or MasterCard typically adds 1% to provide a currency exchange. Your issuing bank typically adds between 1% and 3% to provide a currency exchange. The total cost through PayPal is usually less than many international multi-currency bank transfers.

For more information on the exchange rate with international payments, click ‘Legal Agreement’ at the bottom of any PayPal page and then choose ‘User Agreement for PayPal Service’ under ‘For All Users.

[AndrewB_Ncle]

According to XE converter I should be paying around £40 for an item but when I go to pay for it Paypal is charging me almost £55. How do they justify the extra £15?

The amount I need to pay is $70.

[PayPal_barry]

Hi there, please note that XE generally deals with commercial rates of conversion. I would advise sticking to what the charges are on the PayPal site as a true measure of the currency conversion rate that you will get. Most payment processing sites will have a rate higher than XE due to the service charge in facilitating the conversion. Hope that helps.