Hey there, are you one of those tech-savvy folks who chooses to use the Internet to make purchases? If you answered anything other than “It’s 2018, of course I do,” then you’re not going to be too pleased with the news that PayPal are now charging flat fees on any international payment that you might make.
As a user on Reddit recently pointed out, PayPal’s current policies changed on April 5th so that money sent from an Australian bank or PayPal account to an international one will now incur a fee.
“Previously, sending money to a friend or family member with a non-Australian PayPal account incurred a fee depending on a combination of the payment method used and the recipient’s country,” the company’s ‘Changes to PayPal Legal Agreements’ announcement reads. “Now, a flat fee of $5.99 AUD will apply.”
“In addition, if any portion of the payment was funded by a credit card or debit card, you paid between 3.9% and 5.2% on the whole amount (depending on the recipient’s country) plus a fixed fee in the currency of the payment. Now, in addition to the $5.99 AUD flat fee, a 2.6% + fixed fee will apply, but the 2.6% will only apply to the portion of the payment for which you used the credit card or debit card.”
So what does this all mean? Well, while the PayPal announcement mentions a flat fee of $5.99, that only starts once you attempt to send an amount equal to or higher than $5.99. Anything lower than $5 doesn’t incur a fee, and anything between $5 and $5.98 incurs a fee equal to what you are sending, meaning that $5.50 you’re sending is about to become $11.
Understandably, this has left people pretty pissed, namely because of the fact that, y’know, sending money to overseas bank accounts is something of a daily occurrence for a large amount of Aussies.
While you might already be looking for different alternatives to send your cash to your American in-laws or your cousin that lives over in London, you might remember that the global reliance on PayPal appears to be loosening, with eBay announcing back in February that they’re about to end their 15 year relationship with the service, choosing instead to partner up with Dutch service Adyen.
Will this flat fee be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back here in Australia, or will Aussies continue to be creatures of habit for the ubiquitous payment service? Only time will tell at this stage.
