Travelshots Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 This morning I received some US$ into my paypal account, which I then converted into sterling and withdrew to my bank account in Uk. As you know the pound plummeted this morning June 24th (BREXIT) and so I thought that at least I would be getting more pounds for my $. HOWEVER it was not so and I received a much different exchange rate from the actual LIbor rate at the time I made the transaction. I questioned this with Pay Pal and was told that their exchange rate quoted is NOT REALTIME and is only updated by their bank twice a day. I have never found this information anywhere on their website. BEWARE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrumu Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 Happened to me as well in Januar 2015, when the Euro fell sharply against the Swiss Franc. I immediately bought a new DSLR from an online shop in France. On the checkout page PayPal showed me the current exchange rate, but when I got the confirmation a few minutes later, it was still the 15% higher exchange rate of a few days ago. In the end I asked the online shop to cancel my order so I could order again but then pay directly by credit card, not by credit card via PayPal. Christoph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Clemson Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 I think I may have some frugal Yorkshire blood lurking in my true Lancastrian veins because I realised some years ago that Paypal didn't change the exchange figure in real time, and I've always tried to take advantage of the fluctuations in exchange rate where possible. My past observations suggest that they update twice daily at about 6am to 7am and again about 12 hours later, UK time. Whenever I have some dollars in my account it becomes something of a game to watch the £/$ exchange rate graph on the BBC website to try and judge whether the next update is going to be in my favour. I rarely gain very much, but every penny feels like a small victory. Having said than, waiting today until this very moment has increased my balance by some £3 over what it was this morning, so I think now is the time to cash in. I can imagine if the OP's balance was substantial, the difference between what was expected and what was received could be significant. What I don't yet know is how Alamy calculate the exchange rate for their payments and whether any fees are involved, because their $ figure arrives as £ in my bank account and I have no control over the timing on the exchange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 The Alamy rate is about 3% off the one on xe.com which is as close to the 'real' rate as you can get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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