Please help! Buying from ebay france & already its complicated...

[Aluxe]

Hey everyone, I appreciate any help and advice you can offer.

I just purchased a pre-owned bag (Balenciaga weekender) from a seller on ebay.fr. We agreed to €670 and I paid promptly.

When I used Google to do the conversion math, I thought I would be paying just over $900, however, Paypal charged me $924.67. I couldn't understand why. And then the seller let me know that she only received about €643. She sent what appeared to be a screen shot from her ebay/paypal account and asked for an additional €27 to cover the shipping.

Has anyone been in a similar situation before? I am not trying complicate my life or anyone else's and quite frankly almost asked her to cancel the transaction. I have had so many issues buying balenciaga weekenders over the last few months - lost bids, sellers wanted to complete transaction outside of paypal, another one told me she was robbed, then put the bag up for sale again and then when she couldn't get as high a price offered it to me, missed a bag by seconds on Ruelala... I almost believe that once a transaction gets stressful, its not worth it. But this is my holy grail and I'd like to do the right thing to get it but this situation stinks...already.

Again, please give me some advice. I truly need it. Thanks.

 

[sunnysideup8283]

I have no experience with your issue but thought I'd throw this out there anyways...is it possible she is getting charged fees? So while you sent $670 it came out to $643 because of the fees?

 

[Aluxe]

Thanks so much for chiming in. That is what I am thinking as well, but is it fine for me to now pay additional money? Hope someone can help with this. Thanks again

 

[lalachka]

Thanks so much for chiming in. That is what I am thinking as well, but is it fine for me to now pay additional money? Hope someone can help with this. Thanks again

i don't think you should have to, that's first of all. the fees are her responsibility and i think (99% sure on this) that once she charges her fees to the buyer she loses seller protection

and there's some thing about using 2 payments to pay for 1 item, i think you lose buyer protection.

so wait until someone else confirms but imo it's a bad idea all around


PS how come you got charged extra $20 though?

 

[girliceclimber]

The PayPal exchange rate isn't as good as the current market exchange rate, which is probably why you got charged more than you calculated. As the amount of the transaction increases, even little differences in the rate can make a $40-$50 difference. Credit cards generally have a better exchange rate, but you have to a pay a foreign transaction fee, so you can think of it as a sort of foreign transaction fee.
She's probably seeing the deduction of her fees.. you definitely don't need to pay her more since those are her responsibility to pay.

 

[mizsunshyne]

I think you should just cancel the transaction. Fees will be higher for the seller because it's an international transaction. You paid the amount agreed upon. I think your seller didn't think about the higher fee percentage.

 

[girliceclimber]

^^Interesting, didn't know that PP fees were higher for international. I've sold items to people overseas, but that was through Etsy where everyone works in their own local currencies.

 

[jenayb]

Did you use XE for the exchange rate? Not everyone goes by XE... Paypal has its own that it uses. That could explain it. I know my bank is always higher based on their exchange rate from what I look up via XE.

 

[Aluxe]

i don't think you should have to, that's first of all. the fees are her responsibility and i think (99% sure on this) that once she charges her fees to the buyer she loses seller protection

and there's some thing about using 2 payments to pay for 1 item, i think you lose buyer protection.

so wait until someone else confirms but imo it's a bad idea all around


PS how come you got charged extra $20 though?

That extra payment is what is so worrisome. Having had my fair share of 'issues' with certain sellers, I am hesitant to take any silly risks. As for the extra charge from ebay/paypal, it turns out that paypal's exchange rate, as noted by another tPFer is very different from what Google told me. As such, I paid approximately $20 more than the actual exchange rate calls for for the bag. Apologies for the confusion from my initial post.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I'm glad someone mentioned the issue with the extra payment. I would definitely not be protected if I took that step. Will have to mention that to the seller. I think God is trying to tell me that a weekender is not in my future

 

[lolakitten]

Paypal charges us non-USers 4%
So $670 - 4% ($26.80) = $643.20

Paypal also has the worst exchange rate in their favor ever. That's why you got charged $924 instead of $900 - because you pain in Euros & let Paypal exchange it for you.

You should not have to pay any extra - anyone who's ever accepted payment via PP knows there are fees.

 

[lalachka]

That extra payment is what is so worrisome. Having had my fair share of 'issues' with certain sellers, I am hesitant to take any silly risks. As for the extra charge from ebay/paypal, it turns out that paypal's exchange rate, as noted by another tPFer is very different from what Google told me. As such, I paid approximately $20 more than the actual exchange rate calls for for the bag. Apologies for the confusion from my initial post.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I'm glad someone mentioned the issue with the extra payment. I would definitely not be protected if I took that step. Will have to mention that to the seller. I think God is trying to tell me that a weekender is not in my future

))))))))) or, at least, not from this seller
and you're welcome

 

[Aluxe]

The PayPal exchange rate isn't as good as the current market exchange rate, which is probably why you got charged more than you calculated. As the amount of the transaction increases, even little differences in the rate can make a $40-$50 difference. Credit cards generally have a better exchange rate, but you have to a pay a foreign transaction fee, so you can think of it as a sort of foreign transaction fee.
She's probably seeing the deduction of her fees.. you definitely don't need to pay her more since those are her responsibility to pay.

Ah, it was your comment that helped me understand why I paid much more than expected. Thank you so very much.

I honestly feel bad for the seller. I really don't want anyone to be out of money, after all, it is just a bag. My holy grail nonetheless, but just a bag. Not sure how to break the news to her, but I guess I'll have to very soon.

What if she refuses to ship? I guess we can simply cancel the transaction. Hopefully she will give me my money back immediately. *sigh*

Thanks girliceclimber!

 

[Aluxe]

I think you should just cancel the transaction. Fees will be higher for the seller because it's an international transaction. You paid the amount agreed upon. I think your seller didn't think about the higher fee percentage.

Yup, it's looking like it might have to end that way. She clearly had no idea about fees on her end. Probably has never sold abroad before and I had no clue either. Sad. There goes my holy grail when it was within reach ....

Thanks for your advice though.

 

[Aluxe]

Did you use XE for the exchange rate? Not everyone goes by XE... Paypal has its own that it uses. That could explain it. I know my bank is always higher based on their exchange rate from what I look up via XE.

I actually just used the Google currency converter function, but as you note Paypal has its own crazy exchange rate system. Gosh, I had sworn to not deal with ebay and of course, I break my own rule and here I am again with a quandary...

Thanks, though...

 

[Aluxe]

Paypal charges us non-USers 4%
So $670 - 4% ($26.80) = $643.20

Paypal also has the worst exchange rate in their favor ever. That's why you got charged $924 instead of $900 - because you pain in Euros & let Paypal exchange it for you.

You should not have to pay any extra - anyone who's ever accepted payment via PP knows there are fees.

Ah, a 4% 'tax'...I'll mention it to the seller and hope she will still ship the bag, but God knows, this is already taking more time than I wanted. Its my fault for wanting a balenciaga with the right amount of smooshiness...