I Want a PayPal Debit Card
scotty on 15/02/2007 at 4:46 pm, filed under General
I have been a PayPal user for many years, but I have only recently started receiving money in my PayPal account. Funds that I have received were in two different currencies — Australian Dollar and US Dollar.
Using up Aussie dollar in my PayPal account is easy. Many online shops would let you pay in PayPal (Deals Direct, OO.com.au and SoldSmart for example), and the competitions at OzBargain are mostly funded by the AUD I have in my PayPal account.
Using up my US dollar portion part of the fund is another matter. First of all, I rarely buy things from the States. Maybe I should, as things are usually far cheaper than the rip off price we pay here, even including delivery. Moreover, while PayPal is even more acceptable there, it was surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) not supported by one store that I visit occasionally — Amazon. Neither is my hosting company supporting PayPal, so that I have to pay them using my Australian credit card.
That’s the main problem, you see. I have USD in PayPal — but I cannot buy things in my preferred US shop. I do not want to transfer USD in PayPal into AUD in my Australian bank account, and then pay those US goods and services using my Australian credit card either. I would have to pay the currency transfer fee twice in this case.
I was happy to find out that PayPal has a MasterCard debit card which allows you to use your PayPal fund everywhere MasterCard is accepted! That means I can buy from Amazon and pay my hosting bills using USD in my PayPal fund! “Signing up is easy… click Continue to get started.” So inviting! That’s exactly what I need.
Until the sign up process barking at me, saying that the country I have entered is Invalid. Its user agreement says:
The PayPal ATM/Debit Card is available only to US members with an address in the 50 states, and select Canadian users.
D’oh. Looks like I am living in the wrong place.
Anyone got any suggestion on how I can spend USD in my PayPal account with the least overhead?
I believe you can convert the USD into AUD within your PayPal account itself (using the “Manage Currency” link). So no need to send it to your australian bank account first, and their conversion rate is usually quite reasonable.
From the PayPal fees page, Currency Conversion attracts a 2.5% fee (or buy spread).
For example, as of now 1 USD should be 1.273 AUD, but PayPal is only willing to sell me 1.24 AUD.
Not as bad a many credit cards (3%). But still… Bankers want every squeeze of my money :(
Not sure if there is a way around it but HSBC has a multi currency account which allows you to hold US and AUS dollars. If you often have to transfer currency then this account will probably be suitable for you.
I saw something on web a while back that was set up to make p2p currency conversion. For example, someone is flying to US, they want to exchange x amount of AUS money to US money. Another person has currency from a previous trip to US and wants AUS currency. They meet, agree to a rate, and money is exchanged without having to deal with a bank fees. I can’t recall the website but may be worth looking into.
The amount of US-only services is really quite annoying isn’t it?
Neil — thanks for the info. I’ll take a look at HSBC account, but I still need to think about what I can do with my USD in my PayPal account. The P2P idea is interesting. Bypassing government and banks, but also potentially dangerous. I am actually not thinking of getting them back to AUD. I am happy to keep them as USD as long as I can spend them (in Amazon for example).
Jonks — I agree. But what can you do when some of them don’t know there are actually population outside the Unitied States? :)
eBay and Half.com are your friends… as long as you find a seller that ships internationally.
It is about time for you to start building a list of shops who accept PayPal. Or maybe there is one already?
What I found in US online shops was, most of them accepts PayPal and it’s probably easier to come up with exceptions. Unfortunately the one I am most interested, Amazon.com, don’t take PayPal for obvious business reason.
Thanks to suggestion on eBay and Half.com though. I guess I can buy almost everything from eBay.com…
Get a USA Address. Apply for Paypal Card. Job Done.
Vov, How do I do this and is it legit? PayPal won’t cause any problem?
Hello, I am from the year 2013. We have flaying cars and Paypal debit cards. Things are awesome. Nanu-nanu!
lol nice necro future boy :)
I was surprised at the amount of flaying cars that exist in google.
I had us and au dollars due to a refund and when I spent the au balance I was able to spend the us one at the same places just by logging in with my paypal