So here is my experience.
I am a frequent ebay buyer. I mean lots of stuf I need, I can find on Ebay far cheaper than my local market, if I those are available in my local market which is usually not the case.
So OK, I get it, ebay and paypal since they are one company, provide a global marketplace with prices far lower than average and a vast variety of products. However I would like to be a little bit more transparency in how they make their money.
To the point. Ebay provides an "aproximate" price in my currency, in thes care Euro, when the items unde consideration are listed in US dollars or other currency. If you decide to buy the item though, you go to paypal which decides how much you will pay in your currency, and more often than not this price is higher than the "aproximate" price shown in Ebay.
Now I do not know how their websites are structured, but it is reasonable to assume that the exchange rate comes from somwhere and is used for those calculations.
for example:
retrieve exchange rate from www.exchangerate.com, calculate price depending on currency, show price on listing, update every 10 minutes, loop.
I cannot for the love of God understand why would Ebay show a different exchange price from Paypal. Also why all the times I have noticed a discrepancy the price I pay is higher on Paypal than the one shown on Ebay.
Now a couple of pennies, wouldn't constitute a problem for me, but 2-3 euros seems like a robbery in my book when considering the global scale of the business.
Now Ebay makes money from listing fees.
Paypal makes a % of money from sold products.
Both say that they do not charge buyers, although of course buyers are those paying the fees, since the products on ebay tend to sell for a bit higher price than on the sellers personal e-shop websites. And all that is well, as long as it is known to the public.
But when paypal charges more than whats shown in Ebay, doesn't that mean that they make money from currency exchange as well? Which in the end is another fee for the buyer to bear? Last time I read the charging policy of both websites I do not recall anything of the sort.
And unless paypal and ebay want people to belive they rip them off every step of the way, better make that difference in shown and paying prices go away. Assuming of course they do care.
I am a frequent ebay buyer. I mean lots of stuf I need, I can find on Ebay far cheaper than my local market, if I those are available in my local market which is usually not the case.
So OK, I get it, ebay and paypal since they are one company, provide a global marketplace with prices far lower than average and a vast variety of products. However I would like to be a little bit more transparency in how they make their money.
To the point. Ebay provides an "aproximate" price in my currency, in thes care Euro, when the items unde consideration are listed in US dollars or other currency. If you decide to buy the item though, you go to paypal which decides how much you will pay in your currency, and more often than not this price is higher than the "aproximate" price shown in Ebay.
Now I do not know how their websites are structured, but it is reasonable to assume that the exchange rate comes from somwhere and is used for those calculations.
for example:
retrieve exchange rate from www.exchangerate.com, calculate price depending on currency, show price on listing, update every 10 minutes, loop.
I cannot for the love of God understand why would Ebay show a different exchange price from Paypal. Also why all the times I have noticed a discrepancy the price I pay is higher on Paypal than the one shown on Ebay.
Now a couple of pennies, wouldn't constitute a problem for me, but 2-3 euros seems like a robbery in my book when considering the global scale of the business.
Now Ebay makes money from listing fees.
Paypal makes a % of money from sold products.
Both say that they do not charge buyers, although of course buyers are those paying the fees, since the products on ebay tend to sell for a bit higher price than on the sellers personal e-shop websites. And all that is well, as long as it is known to the public.
But when paypal charges more than whats shown in Ebay, doesn't that mean that they make money from currency exchange as well? Which in the end is another fee for the buyer to bear? Last time I read the charging policy of both websites I do not recall anything of the sort.
And unless paypal and ebay want people to belive they rip them off every step of the way, better make that difference in shown and paying prices go away. Assuming of course they do care.
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