Best way to withdraw USD funds from paypal to GBP?

5 replies
Hello,

I receive much of my paypal income in USD $ and I can then withdraw it to my UK back account in GBP £, but paypal always offers a poor conversion rate.

Today it's 1 US Dollar = 0.620720 British Pounds at paypal
and xe.com states 1 US Dollar = 0.637322 British Pounds

It doesn't sound like much but I'm losing about $100 every time I withdraw my money.

Is their a better way to get my funds out?

Lee
#funds #gbp #paypal #usd #withdraw
  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Not that I know of. You are always going to get stung on currency conversions whether through Paypal or a bank. They are not there out of the goodness of their heart. They are out to make money.

    If you do find a workaround, let me know. But I don't think one exists.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      When you look at conversion rates on sites dedicated to those rates - you are viewing the conversion rates for BANKS. Only banks get those particular rates - and then the banks add on a percentage to make a small profit. Paypal and other companies that provide conversions also add on a small "middle man" percentage.

      Paypal takes the conversion rate of the day from its own bank, adds the fee (2 or 2.5%) and that's the rate you get.

      Even if you went to your own bank to make currency conversions, you wouldn't get the same conversion you find on xe. You would get the bank to customer rate.
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      • Profile picture of the author Tintomatoes
        Currently looking for a similar solution and came across this old thread; I dont have a solution yet but some related services that may help others:

        Transferwise - the closest thing you will ever find to mid market rates, this is for international transfers. They are also working on various other services like website payments. Fingers crossed - one day we can all use them rather than paypal! Transferwise is the best unless its a currency/country they do not currently support!

        WorldFirst Bank - they will move your foreign currency Amazon sales proceeds to the UK and circumvent Amazon's poor exchange rate. This is for Amazon Sellers - I have no idea about affiliates.
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  • Profile picture of the author spearce000
    Ask your bank if you can open a USD account - most high street banks offer this service. Then you can transfer your funds to GBP at the bank's internal rate which may be better than PayPal offers.
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    • Profile picture of the author trayfoot88
      You can do the above. But as Tintomatoes says using a service like World First works a lot better for me. I get quoted about 2-2.5% better than paypal (4%) and 1.5-2% (3.5%) better than my bank on the rate. I also have my paypal account in EUR linked with them. However they cant do my USD paypal account, just amazon.
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