eBay, PayPal and Me

Salam and Good Day!

For past 3 weeks i m handling a customer from Canada. I supposed she browse into ebay.com.my since that is the only way she could reach Malaysian eBay stores (i did not list my store for international trade because i want to save money from listing fees - eBay Malaysia is FREE). Probably she knew the strategy to get cheap items by browsing directly into Asian eBay sites because usually items listed in eBay.com/eBay.uk/eBay.au is far more expensive than Asian stores. Smart eBayer!

She ordered 2 items and ready to pay via PayPal. Being first-time handling cross-border transaction, i was quite worried and panicked on how to charge her. I know the transaction only could be done via PayPal but, what about PayPal fees?

After few hours of studying the Paypal fees and with help of a calculator, i manage to come out with a formula so that what i get is still nett payment (not eaten up by PayPal charges). Here's how:

Step 1
Login to your Paypal account. Look out for tab 'CURRENCY CONVERTER'

Step 2
Using its currency converter, convert the total payment (items price+shipping cost) in MYR into USD -> X

Step 3
Simply use this formula:
[(X*4.5%)+USD5.30] + X -> Y

Hence, total payment that i have to charge the buyer is: (Y)

*Tip: To double check whether the result is correct, kindly use this formula:
Z - [(Z * 3.39%) + USD5.30] = X

This way i dont lose my profit to PayPal.

And within a day she send the total payment to me. I make around 85% NETT profit with this single transaction (^-^)

See you soon for another great sharing!