Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I pay Hetzner via PayPal, and I haven't had any fees attached. Online.net however charges a card directly so my bank does charge it as a foreign transaction and adds a percentage.


Paypal will happily do the FX for you "fee-free".

That's because they fleece you with the exchange rate. You're paying a many-points worse exchange rate, even against a stabilised market average.

For one recent actual example, Paypal recently gave me 1.339 USD for 1 GBP in a transaction. The raw market rate that day was 1.421. The week mean was ~1.410. Paypal already holds this cash, they're not exchanging jack on the open market.

A pre-pay FX card —shop around— would have given me $1.40/£ on that date.

Paypal work like a bookmakers. They cover the entire spread with very little risk. Nothing on Paypal is really free.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: