FALSE REFLECTION OF EXCHANGE RATE

[sjponce]

Hi Upwork,

I hope someone in the community will notice this discussion,

During withdrawal, I always find out that Upwork exchange rate is very low compared to the  actual exchange rate in the market. I wonder if this has something to do with their fix 0.99 USD fee since they will gain a percentage from the USD exchange due to wrong/very low conversion rate they were using. Their conversion rate is always short, imagine how much would they gain from 500USD with that. Any one who can enlighten me on this matter?

I can provide screen shots of the actual market exchange versus the exchange rate used by Upwork.

[tlbp]

The financial institutions processing your payment decide the exchange rate. Contact your bank and ask them why it isn't the market rate you find on the internet. 

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

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Tonya P wrote:

 Contact your bank and ask them why it isn't the market rate you find on the internet. 

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With "Direct to local bank" the funds arrive at the recipient's bank in local currency, so asking her own bank would be pointless because they haven't done any exchanging of currencies at all.

Sarah Jane is mixing up the mid market rate with what is actually available to retail customers, and is also forgetting that all financial institutions charge for moving and exchanging funds. Banks are not charities. They charge for their services. That is why there is a difference.

SARAH JANE A wrote:

imagine how much would they gain from 500USD with that.

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Absolutely nothing.

Upwork isn't earning any money on the exchange rate. They send the money out in Dollars, the exchange is done by and charged for by the financial service providers who handle the funds between Upwork and the recipient bank.

[sjponce]

was it much better if they reflect the charging fee(including the bank processing fee on their side: note that the receiving banks, receives the value of the exchange not in USD) rather than rooting on false exchange rate? the 0.99 processing I believed is for Upwork's burden but to use a different exchange rate is that I need to be enlightened

[petra_r]

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SARAH JANE A wrote:

was it much better if they reflect the charging fee(including the bank processing fee on their side:

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Upwork can't, because they have nothing to do with the process of changing the Dollars into foreign currency. They send Dollars, the rest happens outside Upwork and outside their control.

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SARAH JANE A wrote:

 rather than rooting on false exchange rate? 

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It is not a "false exchange rate" - you are mixing up the "mid market rate" with what is really used by payment processors.

It is very hard to follow what you are trying to say, but ultimately what it boils down to is that you have several withdrawal options at your disposal, and it's up to you to choose the one(s) that work best for you. For example, for withdrawals over $700 wire-trasnsfer in Dollars works better and you end up with more. For me personally both PayPal and Payoneer work better than direct to local bank.