Received an email from Nancy stating payment either by Paypal or Bank Fee where she states something about 40 dollars.

Does that mean it costs me an additional 40 dollars to pay a bank account?
Could I pay by Paypal and get my bank to convert to sterling rather than paypal’s own conversion which is usually poorer?
If so how do you do this?

Thanks

When I’ve been billed by Paypal in non-GBP currency then I’ve always had the option of paying in GBP (and therefore Paypal apply their own conversion) or in the original currency (so my credit card conversion rates apply). If you don’t have a credit card linked to Paypal and only have your bank then I’m not sure what’s possible.

Paypal do hide the above option away somewhere so the default will be to use their conversion rates BTW 🙂

Think $40 is to cover the paypal fees for Nancy, so you’re always paying that with paypal, regardless of whether it’s coming from a credit card or bank acct.
The currency conversion fee on the transaction on a credit card is another issue – not sure what’s the cheapest approach there.

Yes, I did this recently. They charge extra for paypal fees but I decided on this occasion I wanted the protection. I let the Nancy’s know I wanted to pay by paypal so they raised an invoice which I then paid using my Halifax Clarity credit card linked to my paypal account. This card is very good for foreign currency transactions check what yours charges as it may be as bad as paypal. You must make sure you have selected the correct method of payment and that you want to pay in local currency. The options are in there but not the default and not obvious. Google it and don’t press the pay button until you are sure. Paypal’s rates are a rip off but not enough to lose sleep over unless you are buying wholesale.

I saved about 8% on a transaction recently from a Chinese supplier by not using Paypal’s FX rates. I had to pay a small fee for using a card but it was about $40 cheaper overall.