Exchange rate

[elissea]

There is something I genuinely don't understand. 

I'm constantly checking exchange rates and especially before withdrawing money. Yet everytime I withdraw money on Upwork, it doesn't match any of the data I can find.   1$ is always below 0.90€ which makes absolutely no sense with the data I find.  I know it fluctuates. I know it's the rates applied by your "partner". But why is it so far from the actual exchange rates on the market? 

You take fees, VAT even when we give you a valid VAT number, 0.99$ per withdrawal AND your exchange rate seems to come out of nowhere. It just feels like you're not being transparent with us.  Can you please clarify and find a way to be more transparent? We should be able to see the exchange rate in real time, and we should know exactly who those partners are.

[g_vasilevski]

Hi Elissa,

The difference in exchange rates is not something Upwork can control. When a bank converts a transaction, they will mark up the interbank rate to buy or sell a currency. Online calculators will not take into consideration the mark up that is applied. Since rates constantly change throughout any given day, the rate you received is the rate offered by our bank at the time your specific transaction was processed.

Regard VAT, Upwork won't charge VAT if a freelancer or agency has a valid VAT number added on their profile. Thank you.

[elissea]

What I don't understand is why your bank applies the worst rate? I know it
fluctuates, that's why I check all the time. Of all the rates I could find,
yours is the worst and it represents a huge loss given all of the other
fees you already charge, and given that you have no policy against people
asking for free work (yes, 20$ for hours of recording is free work).

Also, I gave you a valid VAT number a while ago and it never worked. I
contacted you to no avail...

[petra_r]

---

Elissa M wrote:
What I don't understand is why your bank applies the worst rate? I know it
fluctuates, that's why I check all the time. Of all the rates I could find,
yours is the worst.

---

In fairness, you can't calculate with the mid-market rate you find on the Internet. That is the rate banks use between themselves. That is never available to consumers.

I just ordered something from Amazon in Euro from my US Dollar card and the rate I got was 0.876 Euro per Dollar.

That said, I don't use direct to local bank anymore because of the poor exchange rate offered either.

Just checked PayPal and it's the exact same. (€ 0.876) - The mid market rate is € 0.91 per Dollar right now. The difference between the mid market rate and the rate available to consumers is what the banks charge for exchanging and handling our funds.

[kochubei_valeria]

Elissa,

Goran escalated your concern with VAT and the team reached out to you to sort that out. Please, continue communicating with them over the support ticket to resolve it.

As for the exchange rates, as Goran and Petra noted, the rate the bank uses will differ from interbank rate. Unfortunately, that's not something Upwork can control. We do offer several options for withdrawals so that freelancers could choose which one works best for them. 

[1e79153c]

Hi upwork! yes I am doing this also. please update it regularly. thank you so much!

[mixaz]

When I used Payoneer withdraw method, the exchange rate (in ATMs in my country) also was below lowest exchange ratest on the market. In a talk with Payoneer support I got an explanation of that - the fee we pay for currency 'exchanging' is actually a transfer fee for money crossing country borders, something like we pay using Western Union or MoneyGram. And the fee (about 2-3%) is quite moderate comparing to other money transfer services, that's true.

That's the oldest source of bank's business, you know. And they always will charge for that, unless a free global payment system appears, probably a crytocurrency. Something like Durov's TON which could work for all Telegram users, but banks lobby managed to eliminate it. IMO