$2,800 USD in CHF according to Google is 2,536 CHF. The blog is complaining that Paypal actually converts it to 2,474 CHF, a fee of 62 CHF. The title of the b

$2,800 USD in CHF according to Google is 2,536 CHF. The blog is complaining that Paypal actually converts it to 2,474 CHF, a fee of 62 CHF. The title of the blog post is very misleading and baity. Fees to convert like this are completely normal and you will find them with just about every money service. Banks and financial institutes will offer two different rates for buying and selling. The difference between the two is known as the spread and is how banks make money. A lot of high street retailers dress up their expensive currency conversion fees by saying "0% commission to exchange money!", although technically true they often have very expensive spreads. An example would be Thomson buying USD at a rate of 1.3169 and selling at a rate of 1.0910 (the rate they show on a screenshot on their homepage). I come along with £1000 they give me $1091. If I don't spend any of it and come back to swap back to £ they will give me £828 for my $1091. That's a nice tasty profit of £172 which originates entirely from the ludicrously expensive spreads these types of places offer. Don't forget though, 0% commission! As much as I dislike Paypal their fees are OK. We pay a Brazilian artist in $r from £, and the total fees for the transaction are around £50-£60. Compared to high street solutions it's pretty much in line with them and only around £10-£15 more expensive which we're OK to pay for the convenience. I am not a fan of spreads being hidden in this way but unfortunately it's standard in the industry and there's very little chance of ever escaping it as it's incredibly lucrative for the money exchanges. Interestingly I've found the type of currency with the most abysmal spreads to be travellers cheques, I avoid these like the plague now. Good luck finding a way to exchange money without having to pay an expensive spread. As much as I generally am not Paypal's biggest fan this blog post seems to be a lot of noise over nothing. If you're going on holiday, the cheapest way to exchange your money is to swap it with someone from that country coming to visit your country! You both save a lot of money. If only there was a service that could match these types of people up... I'm looking forward to Stripe being available in the UK at some point, they advertise 'no hidden fees'. When I contacted them to ask about the spread they offer they assured me that they would consider an adjusted spread for their benefit a hidden fee, and that they give the customers the same spreads as the bank make available to them.