PayPal introduced high fees from gift/friends option

[Marcin]

At last two payments I have discovered that paypal payment with friends option is almost 3 times more expensive than at standard payment fee.
How is in your country ?

[cvandijk]

I saw last month that it depends on the payment method. If I pay with my creditcard it's more expensive then direct payment with my bank account. I think it also depends in which county the recipient lives.

And also always let your credit card manages the conversion ratio, PayPal is more expensive.

[Marcin]

I only do payment using funds at PayPal balance. A month ago sent money to my cousin in Germany without paying anything. To Vegeta (Russia) and bccwchan (Hong Kong) fees were very high.

[cuttingedgecs]

You would have to check the fees page for your country, but I know in Australia, for the last 2 months they charge a flat 5.99AUD fee for transferring money to friends (+ more for transfer from credit cards). Before that it was free. So for anything less than about 70EUR, it's now cheaper for me to pay the 4.5% fees than pay as a friend.

[Robev]

Not only are they charging high fees for friends option now but their conversion rates are way worse than the official conversion rates between currencies.

[CPUShack]

they charge $2.99 per payment for friends now (international, domestic is free from a PP balance)
If its a $5 payment, they add $2.99

If its $500 though, still only $2.99

Huge racket

[Robev]

They may find that there will now be an opening for a competitor to come into that market as that is what happens when monopolies get greedy

[Marcin]

@cuttingedgecs
Right, there is some kind of flat fee that I have to check.

In the past I have used moneybookers (later Skrill) they were cheaper than PayPal. After many years I don't know if they exist and how they work now.

[Chook]

Its somewhat understandable as many people would have been using the friends option to avoid paying the usual fees. I usually just put up with the usual fees and consider it the cost of having the convenience of Paypal.

[CHips]

Time to use crypto and leave these thieves :p.

[debs3759]

I prefer bank transfer whenever possible. xe.com makes international transfers painless, and gives a good exchange rate.

[Marcin]

[debs3759]