Originally posted by jolepp In practice the Paypal fees are not bad compared to other means of getting the money around.
And their fees on international exchanges are hardly exorbitant. When I first drove to Honduras, changing Guatemalan quetzales to Honduran lempiras or back, the itinerant moneychangers standing at the border took a 2% cut. Returning, I didn't change all remaining lempiras at the border -- then found that no bank nor exchange service in Guatemala nor Mexico would touch lempiras!
Note: I hated to touch lempiras too. Filthiest money I've ever encountered. In other nations, worn-out paper currency is withdrawn and discarded. In Honduras, it's used until it disintegrates. Don't try to launder it! But I digress...
I did manage to exchange those excess lempiras for USA dollars in Sacramento California, but once again, no bank would touch them. I had to go to a Thomas Cook travel office, and their cut was TEN PERCENT!! So nobody should bitch or whine about PayPal exchange fees. And don't handle any obscure currencies -- you may never get rid of them!