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Tips on avoiding the ridiculous currency exchange fees? (18)


03-16-2016 04:32 AM #1 alfiss (Member)
Tips on avoiding the ridiculous currency exchange fees?

Ok maybe a little impossible to avoid, but a nice reduction will be good.

Depending on which traffic source I use, if i use PayPal, I have to pay a ridiculous bank exchange rate PLUS the PayPal 2.5% exchange, and this is excluding any transaction fee the source may charge.

And once I get my payment, I'll have to use the ridiculous bank exchange rate too.

Since we're all affiliate we love numbers, here's an example
Deposit $1000 USD.
I get charged $1,440 in my local currency.

Withdraw $1000 USD
I get $1,330 in my local currency.

Here's a traffic source example
If I spend $450 today and make $500, I make a nice $50 profit right?
Depending on traffic source with txn fees, I am probably in the red for -$8 after the currency exchange.

This seems horrendous.

Anyone has tips for this?


03-16-2016 04:47 AM #2 lolzap (Member)

Open a bank account in USD.


03-16-2016 05:14 AM #3 bluecrayon (Member)

Having a usd bank account would negate ALL of the above said taxes? Or only certain (which) ones?


03-16-2016 07:04 AM #4 satori (Member)

USD bank account, CC in usd, transferwise.com = minimal fees


03-16-2016 07:12 AM #5 ackbar22000 (Member)

@satori, you mean US based Bank account or USD currency bank account in your home coutry ?


03-16-2016 07:15 AM #6 ackbar22000 (Member)

I'm interested in this, currently in Canada and exchange rate is killing me when I buy ads, but it kind of pay back when I receive payements (US network in USD to Canadian Dollar), not sure you can avoid paypal and Bank fee, but I'm curious how to optimize this. without going offshore and stuff, which sounds also interesting.... :-)


03-16-2016 07:20 AM #7 satori (Member)

I have an USD currency bank account in Czech republic, so it shouldn't be problem in your home country.


03-16-2016 07:22 AM #8 nomeus (Member)

transferwise.com


03-16-2016 07:36 AM #9 ackbar22000 (Member)

sound great, I actually have a USD account here, how do you use transferwise.com ?


03-16-2016 10:46 AM #10 ivocado (Member)

sounds horrible alfiss! there is many ways. main questions is, where are you located?


03-16-2016 10:48 AM #11 satori (Member)

@ackbar22000: Just for whatever currency conversions I need. They have way better exchange rates than your bank, so you'll save a good chunk of money.


03-16-2016 12:07 PM #12 cbrughmans (Member)

Open an account with www.kantox.com

They are a real life trading platform between currencies and their commission is a fraction of what banks are taking. We are doing all our foreign currency exchange trades with them and it saves us thousands of dollars per year.


03-16-2016 11:30 PM #13 bluecrayon (Member)

Don't get using 3rd party currency exchange plaforms. I assume its only for sending payments. Where do they come in to the equation?

Normal: send paypal payment (pays with your bank accnt) to traffic source

With platform: ??


03-17-2016 01:30 AM #14 kepe95 (Moderator)


The best and easiest way to save fees I've found so far is :


a) keep it in the same currency (many banks offer multi-currency accounts, I've got USD accounts in Germany and Hong Kong, doesnt have to be in the US)

b) make wire transfers - bigger amounts if it's an absolute fee (obviously only to trusted business partners, not worth taking risk of losing the whole amount for saving a little fee)


As a short-term solution, or for transfers where you absolutely need to change currencies, use transferwise.com

PS. paypal is the absolute worst in terms of fees


03-17-2016 06:57 AM #15 alfiss (Member)

Thanks all for the suggestions!

I'm based in SG, and it seems TransferWise doesn't work for my currency at the moment.

Going to (literally in the next hour) to set up a USD bank account, thats 3% saved so far.

A USD credit card is a little tricky here, and I'll see how it goes. (Could potentially save another 3-4%)


03-17-2016 08:55 AM #16 cbrughmans (Member)

Get in touch with Ernesto Giralt <ernesto.giralt@kantox.com> from Kantox. He'll set you up on a live demo to show you how it works.
They have exchanged +3$ billion so far at a fraction of the commissions that banks charge.


03-17-2016 09:33 AM #17 bluecrayon (Member)

^ Okay, finally had it with you. Every single one of your posts/threads intent is to promote Mobidea in some way instead of actually contributing to the topic. You even got warned before to "not use STM as a mailing list". I probably wouldn't be so annoyed if you didn't always end your posts with that stupid big ass banner.


03-17-2016 10:35 AM #18 cbrughmans (Member)

100% agree. Its OK to make a bit of (hidden) advertising for yourself/your company as long as you are contibuting to the conversation and deliver valuable content.

STM is such a great place just because of that, and that's why members pay for it. Mobidea should get a warning.


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