International transaction fee?

Talk about anything you'd like! Play games, tell jokes, and share your life.
Post Reply
User avatar
theultimatebrucelee
Senpai - Elder
Posts: 968
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 3:55 pm
Contact:

International transaction fee?

Post by theultimatebrucelee »

So I linked a credit card with paypal recently, and paid for my purchase from mandrake with it. Before sending the payment, paypal message of international fee poped up telling me the CC might charge the international transaction fee outside of paypal. I went through with it anyways but was wondering, is there anyway to prevent this charge when buying from intentional company?

I called paypal and they told me to call my bank for the answer, I then called bank, and they said that there would be a fee initially, but perhaps, because my card is being charged in dollar(went through paypal exchange rate) that I might not get charged this extra fee....I have a feeling though the guy didn't know what he was talking about-_-" Anybody had exp on this that could shed some light?
User avatar
zerospace
Taiyo - Sun Fearer
Posts: 2714
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 10:31 am
Location: stuck in an infinite loop =P
Contact:

Re: International transaction fee?

Post by zerospace »

Many credit card companies (e.g. the issuing bank) charge an international transaction fee if a transaction takes place outside of the country. Some only do it for transactions that are done in other currencies. My bank charges in both instances, sadly. With PayPal, my experience has been that I don't get charged an international transaction fee as long as the charge is made in dollars. However, there is a supply company that I often purchase from that is located in Canada. If I use my credit card directly on their web site (transaction in US Dollars), I get charged an international transaction fee (just as I used to get charged a fee when using my CC directly with Mandarake -- one of many reasons I stopped doing that and started using PayPal to pay Mandarake), but if I use PayPal, there's no fee. It depends on your bank and their policies, so if the person at your bank that you spoke to didn't know, you might want to call back and ask for someone who can adequately explain the policy for international transactions.


I hope this helps!
User avatar
theultimatebrucelee
Senpai - Elder
Posts: 968
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 3:55 pm
Contact:

Re: International transaction fee?

Post by theultimatebrucelee »

Thanks for the explanation zerospace! I will have to see how my CC company works with mandarake when linked through paypal,when the billing statement arrives. I'd be very attempted to use CC to pay for all international transactions since it tend to have a better exchange rate than paypal and the difference would add up over time not to mention the reward, but this transaction fee is such a deal breaker. Cross my fingers on the statement.
User avatar
Quacker
Kishin - Fierce God
Posts: 317
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:01 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: International transaction fee?

Post by Quacker »

Lesser of the two evils dude.

I am hooked into the FX-markets on a real-time basis. When dealing in FX, businesses 'skim' or "take a cut off the top" which usually depends upon the size of the total transfer being requested - the larger the amount, the smaller the skim. Nowadays the average "cut" the majority of Banks/Firms take off is between 0.015/0.02cents.

Compare that with the FX (foreign exchange) rates between "RipPal" and the actual markets at any one time where there is on average a difference of AUD0.05 (basis: converting AUD to JPY (Japanese Yen)). That is mind-blowingly huge, and this is an average - I have seen differences as large AUD0.065! What this translates to is that RipPal earns an extra 0.03-0.04cents on every transaction completed.

Using a Credit Card (Bank-issued, Visa/Mastercard) gives you access to the FX-rates used by the Bank, which means you are a lot closer to the actual market - but in turn, most basic C-Cs will charge a straight up "International Fee" of 3% of the total transfer once it is converted into another currency. This additional Fee is supposedly to cover the 'Back Office/Admin' side of things - but is really the Firm double-tapping you for the same thing.
You can side-step around this additional International Fee - while opening a new C-C, you can request that the International Fee be dropped altogether for a slightly lower FX-conversion. Otherwise some Business-related C-Cs will completely do away with the International Fee as long as you can provide proof (Business Number/Registration).
My Cel Gallery can be found here:

http://celsphoenix.rubberslug.com/gallery/home.asp

A growing collection of Escaflowne, Evangelion, FMP, Fate/Stay Night plus other cels that are among my Favourites. No cheap & nasty stuff here.
Come, check out the cutesy female & Mecha madness!!
User avatar
theultimatebrucelee
Senpai - Elder
Posts: 968
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 3:55 pm
Contact:

Re: International transaction fee?

Post by theultimatebrucelee »

Thanks for the details James! I realized that paypal tend to double dip the sellers pretty harshly. Being a consumer though I always thought paypal exchange rate was current minus 2.8% ish(from your description the amount seem to be much higher? ), which I thought would be a bit better than having a 3% fee and a slight dip by the bank. I should ask the banker here and see if its too late to waive this fee in favor of a slight lower exchange rate. I think there is also a traveling CC they offer which doesn't have this fee, but I wonder if the card would have a different exchange rate than my current card-_-"

I figure maybe linking the card with paypal would avoid me the fee for future international transaction, in which I'll be getting the lower exchange rate but also the bonus reward from the card too which is like 1% I think. I don't think the travel card have this bonus.
Post Reply