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Avoiding Skrill's high exchange fees?

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Moth
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Avoiding Skrill's high exchange fees?

Sun Aug 31, 2014 11:22 am

Those who deposit to Skrill in EUR, USD or GBP in particular need not concern themselves with this...

But I am feeling a lot like my profit potential while loading AUD in particular is being hampered somewhat in particular by Skrill's exchange fees for currencies outside of those above mentioned. I'll explain...
Okay, so I'm looking to set myself up for arbing again and moving to load my Skrill e-wallet (a EUR account for betting) but I will likely be loading the deposit in Australian Dollars.

I've noticed that doing this instantly incurs a foreign currency exchange fee of 3.99% on Skrill's side for accepting the cash and converting it to EUR. Now, I know that Skrill VIP will reduce the fee to 3.5% (if I recall correctly) but I'm aiming to completely remove this unnecessary charge all together.

Of course, I am happy with paying *some money* for a currency exchange and that's all well and fair but from my perspective (and I'll bet the this few poses a roadblock to people out there who are newer than me and looking to take on arbing as well!) but the whole idea of loading $5k to a Skrill account for betting, and to be scraped $200 instantly just for sending the cash is well... pretty bad... not ideal.
Worse still, this fee will apply for every deposit so long as I keep sending them AUD.

For me, after looking around for some time, I found a solution that involved setting up a "foreign currency account" with my bank.
My bank (that being the Commonwealth Bank of Australia) charge a maximum of $11 for an exchange to and from Euro to this account.. Muuuuch more reasonable. The account itself is still being 'set up' with the bank (whatever that means) but I'm told there will be no monthly fees for it. Using this account, I'll be able to send EUR direct to Skrill and skirt the 4% charge.

Update: A "foreign currency account" with my local bank apparently is only good for sending and receiving international money orders and can't be used to load Skrill.

So my question out there for all who this situation applies is, do you just tolerate these exchange fees (ultimately, making the money back is is more than feasible, I just don't wanna have to) or have you found a way like mine for avoiding them? What's the usually done thing? If so, please let us know your ideas and take on this...
Last edited by Moth on Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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arbusers
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Re: Avoiding Skrill's high exchange fees?

Sun Aug 31, 2014 11:37 am

AUD is always difficult to deal with simply because the vast majority of arbers are using other currencies, EUR, USD, GBP (with this oreder). You can avoid some fees by making your Skrill accounts VIPs. I m not sure what is the exchnage fees for VIPs, but I m more than sure that it is lower than 3.5%. Then, you could exchange some money with a fellow arber that has multicurrency accounts, but again, as previously said, AUD is always difficult.
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Re: Avoiding Skrill's high exchange fees?

Sun Aug 31, 2014 8:21 pm

The solution you have with your local bank is the one with the least expenses.

Regarding your question, I can speak for myself but it guess it includes most arbers out there. Any pro arber has at least one GBP/EUR/USD account at the bigger VIP level either at skrill or neteller, which is set at low fx fees (around 1,5-2%). In that case you can send xxx AUD from the diamond vip e-wallet account to the account which is set on AUD and the fee will be the "privileged" one, i.e. the smallest one. Still it would be more than what your bank charges.
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Re: Avoiding Skrill's high exchange fees?

Thu Sep 04, 2014 8:50 am

Fellow Aussie here, I feel your fx pain.
I have only dabbled in offshore bookmakers and even then I've limited it to those bookmakers which accept AUD, so I have no practical experience to speak of.
The extra hassle of fx fees/exchange rate risk will most likely keep me from fully exploring opportunities with many offshore bookmakers.

However, I was under the impression that with a certain level of VIP in ewallets one could have dual currency accounts. As in, deposit to AUD account, transfer AUD to Euro/GBP account (free of charge) and voila, problem solved. So would a dual currency account solve the problem? Or am I living in fantasy land and fx fees are charged regardless?

Or perhaps you could deposit to Pinnacle, ask their support to change your denomination from AUD to Euro, pray you win/break even at Pinnacle and withdraw Euro to ewallet?

Sorry I could not be of more help, and even more sorry that the $11 fee for a foreign currency account is no longer an option :(
Moth
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Re: Avoiding Skrill's high exchange fees?

Thu Sep 04, 2014 1:04 pm

Update: The foreign currency account I talked about in my earlier post that would allow for much lower fees has been revealed to be an account only good for sending and receiving international money order, so useless to an arber because it can't be used to load Skrill.

So if anyone thinks of a way to avoid or lower these fees, or comes across an idea even worthy of consideration, please let us know!

Just to clarify, in case anyone new ends up here in the future...

Skrill's VIP offering is tiered, so big spenders (who become eligible for Skrill VIP Diamond) for instance, get foreign exchange fees as low as 1.75%, though one needs to transact €90,000 within 90 days to get that... I for one am unfortunately not that liquid.
Still, even the lowest level, Skrill VIP Bronze will ask for a 3.49% exchange fee on AUD (or non-main currencies in particular) but a 2.49% exchange fee for conversions involving USD, EUR, CAD or PLN.

A dual currency account is unlocked at the Silver level for Skill VIP Premium members that transact over €15,000 within 3 months, and would be good for playing on abroad books, but you still then incur the exchange fees for loading AUD to your wallet anyhow.

These may change in the future of course, so make sure you look at what the current rates are before you take any firm actions.
Last edited by Moth on Thu Sep 04, 2014 1:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ISIN
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Re: Avoiding Skrill's high exchange fees?

Fri Jan 06, 2017 5:27 pm

I wonder if it's the new norm that Skrill will not pay bank wire withdrawals in EUR if your bank account is not in the Eurozone.

So in fact, they'd force you to use their currency exchange services and only allow you to receive local currency.

Is this really the case or is it for non-VIP accounts only?
Is Bronze VIP enough to get an EUR withdrawal no matter where? And what's up with USD payouts? Is it a no-go?
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Bubbles
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Re: Avoiding Skrill's high exchange fees?

Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:24 pm

It's an “old norm”. With vip account they will transfer your money in any currency they offer for subaccounts.
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Re: Avoiding Skrill's high exchange fees?

Sat Jan 07, 2017 8:57 am

Bubbles wrote: It's an “old norm”. With vip account they will transfer your money in any currency they offer for subaccounts.
thanks. is the lowest VIP level (bronze) enough for this?

and what about USD? Skrill said: "Please be aware that we no longer accept deposits or facilitate withdrawals in US dollars."
Is there a way to get a payout in USD and not converted to EUR?
Bubbles
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Re: Avoiding Skrill's high exchange fees?

Sat Jan 07, 2017 2:25 pm

Bronze should be ok. As for USD, I don't use it but the best way, as for all your other questions tbh, is to call them and ask. It's not any secrets you want to know.

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