Other than PayPal, is here another platform that will allow fund transfer from the US to Canada?

I am a Canadian host with a STR in the US, I have PayPal for guests to send funds to me if needed outside the rental platforms. I am starting to run into guests that do not have PP, or it ends up coming to me in CAD even though my account is in USD; and PP charges a currency exchange fee!
Does anyone know if there is another fund transfer service that will cross the border?

I can’t say for sure but check out Venmo. They are affiliated with PayPal. In USA I use them regularly.

Venmo offers Account to account transfers quickly up to $5,000 usd

Does Square operate in Canada? It lets me invoice Canadians and they can pay by card, but not sure it goes the other way.

No, unfortunately Venmo does not cross the border. I know most people are comfortable with Venmo, just won’t work us! Even though we have a US Bank account, it all seems to focus on cell phone numbers, and ours are Canadian carriers!

We do have Square in Canada! I will look into that!
So the guests would have to give me their card numbers etc for me to enter in to square…some may not be comfortable with that!
But certainly worth a little research!

You can just send them a square invoice- they input their own numbers

No, there’s a link in the emailed invoice that takes them to Square’s online payment system. There are a lot of options.

It’s not the cheapest card processing, but it’s designed to operate with as little hassle as possible, there are lots of options.

I like the invoicing, and the ability to invoice for multiple payments.

I like being able to take mobile payments.

Hi, this is a major issue for me now.

First, the call center is really poor at answering this question.

Second, I was blamed that it was my bank problem at first and then later, from the call center, it was confirmed that the problem is the exchange rate from my customer or their bank.

Third, the PAYout from AirBnB matches my bank deposit to the cent. However, when I use xe dot com, the payout doesn’t match my original statement from AirBnB.

Anyone have a remedy to fix this? I feel this is a bit sketchy and not legal at all as there is no statement that I found that the hosts “absorb” the currency exchange.

Let me know and thanks in advance.

AR

I get my payouts to my Canadian bank account, although my listing is in Mexico. I get the same payout regardless of where the guest is coming from or the currency they are paying in.

I’m not sure what you mean about xetrade. You say the payouts arrive in your bank account and are exactly correct. So what are you using xetrade for?

If you are converting the money you receive using any kind of currency exchange, of course you will lose some money on the conversion. This has nothing to do with Airbnb and I don’t understand why you think a currency conversion you initiate has anything to do with your payouts or hosts taking a hit. Whatever entity exchanges currency for you, be it xetrade, paypal, your bank, etc, they are going to take a cut, they don’t do it for free. The cut they take is reflected in the exchange rate they are giving. You always pay something for the service of converting currency.

Hi Muddy! Thanks for your comments.

I do understand the exchange point. The entire story is below.

-My apartments are in Thailand.
-This guest was from Europe. I never asked him what currency he used.
-The exact stated deposit from Airbnb (USD) arrived in my US account.
-I asked the call center why the deposit doesn’t match the payout when converted back into Thai currency (it’s off by about $15). My original booking confirmation was in Thai currency.
-Call center said it was my side’s exchange rates to me twice. The third time they admitted currency exchange from the guest’s side
-I use XE(dot)com for transfer exchange estimates. This was a short stay and shouldn’t be that much of a difference even with the exchange.
-Call center said they are correct and nothing was wrong. I asked to see the exchange rate or how their numbers match this. They said they can’t share this.

Losing a little in exchange is understandable. Having no explanation or proof in what was used is not correct. Again, the transfer was USD to a USD account.

Even if money was transferred from Airbnb in a foreign currency and not USD, I would still expect to see the exchange rate used.

The call center issue is a whole problem by itself.

I still don’t understand. You say Airbnb gave you the correct payout in US dollars, into your US dollar bank account. That is where Airbnb’s involvement ends- they have paid you the correct amount. Any conversion into Thai currency after that seems like something you would initiate, and it would be subject to the exchange rate given by whatever entity is converting the money.

You do realize that when you look at the conversion rate on xe, what you are seeing is the mid-market rate? That isn’t the rate you actually get when buying or selling (converting).

Maybe I’m just not understanding why or where you are converting the US to Thai and why you think that involves Airbnb.

Sorry for the unclear message. When I say Airbnb gave me the correct payout, I mean that Airbnb’s payout equaled the exact amount I received in my bank account. So any conversion happened before they deposited the amount in my bank account. So if Airbnb transferred $470, I also received $470.

Yes, I do understand that XE is a mid-market rate. But even so, for such a small payout amount the difference shouldn’t be that great and Airbnb should be transparent with the rates that were exchanged/received on their end. I can not get that information anywhere.

I was told that the guest could choose the currency used to pay. This has yet to be confirmed as I can not find this info anywhere.

My guest stayed for 5 weeks recently. The first payout was in Thai Bhat. The second payout was in USD. Both currencies, added together are short of the booked payout stated by Airbnb. It was a small payout but still.

So, if your properties are overseas, how much of a normal percentage is absorbed by you the host?

Cheers!

As far as I’m aware, guests pay in whatever currency they deal in. So a guest who is French will pay in Euros, a guest from Canada will pay in Canadian dollars, a Mexican will pay in Mexican pesos.

Then Airbnb gives you your payout in your currency of choice. I live in Mexico and that’s where my listing (homeshare) is, but my bank account is in Canada, as I am Canadian. I have had guests from all over the world and I’m sure they paid in their own currency, yet I always get exactly what my place is listed at in Canadian dollars. So I really don’t know what is happening with your payouts.

Airbnb does do some weird things with currency exchanges, though. I had a guest who had been to my town the previous year, staying in another Airbnb. I know the host whose place she stayed at. Airbnb charged the guest and the host for currency conversion, although the host was American and her payouts went to her US bank account in US dollars, the guest was American and was using US dollars. Both the guest and host argued endlessly with Airbnb, pointing out that no currency needed to be converted, but Airbnb insisted that because the listing was in Mexico, the US dollars had to be converted to pesos, then changed back to US dollars- 2 currency conversions (at a bad rate, like happened to you) for no reason.

Yet that has never happened to me.

It sure sounds like an illegal scam to me and why they would do that on some bookings and not others is a mystery.

None. Our listing is in US dollars, our bank is in the US, and the payments are always in US dollars, even though our property is in the Caribbean where the official currency is not US dollars.

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Hi PitonView!

Do you feel your payouts fall short of the stated pre-check-in amount from AirBnB?

AR

Hi Muddy!

Thanks again for your comments.

I have someone that wants to take this case, and although it seems to be a small matter, I fear retribution.

The lack of transparency is strange. The call center in the Philippines is stranger.

My price was listed in Thai Bhat. My first payout was in Bhat and second payout was in Dollars. Both payouts went to my US bank account. Before they arrived, Airbnb stated what would be transferred. First Bhat payment was deposited in Dollars (of course) to the US bank account. The second USD amount was exactly what they stated. I added these up and used a currency converter and it didn’t make sense. It was such a small payout and the difference, even if it was a currency issue, shouldn’t have been that much.

So do owners have to absorb any currencies discrepancies from guests?
Does anyone see this anywhere?
Call center said guests can decide how they want to pay. Does that make sense?

I have a 3 month Vrbo guest coming in February. I don’t have high hopes for this either.

I am still shocked by this situation.

AR

Have you looked at the transaction breakdown for the second payment to see what has been deducted from your payout? If they charged you a currency conversion fee it should show up there. Or if they deducted something else from the final payout.

Yeah. I did. I only count the final payout amount minus any fees. That is what my main comparison number is. Nothing else was deducted after that. No conversions were stated. Again, strange that the call center said guests can choose what currency to pay with.

I don’t find that strange at all. How would someone whose credit card is issued in Mexico with that credit card tied to their Mexican peso bank account pay in US dollars? The payment required for their booking would be shown to them in Mexican pesos.

The question is at what stage and by whom does that payment get converted to US dollars for a host who gets paid out in US dollars. By the credit card company? By Airbnb? By your bank? Who did the currency conversion? That is what Airbnb seems unable to make transparent.

For instance, my credit card is Canadian and linked to my Canadian dollar bank account. If I order something online from the US that costs $100US, my credit card statement will show my purchase as $125CAN (more or less) plus the credit card company’s currency conversion fee. The vendor has received the funds in US dollars, I have been charged in Canadian dollars and paid for the conversion, and the credit card company has profited from the currency conversion.

Have you asked your bank how the funds for your lowered payout was received? Did they receive it in Bhat and do the conversion to US, or was it received in US dollars, having already been converted by Airbnb?

No. But nearly 100% of our guests that book through AirBnB are from the US. It’s been at least three years since we had anyone book from another country, and I don’t remember anything odd about their payout.