PayPal Price Comparison Disclaimer: USD to GBP

Are you using PayPal in your business to pay or get paid internationally for goods and services? If so, you could save a bundle by opening a business account with Wise. That’s according to independent research agency Consumer Intelligence. The details of the research, including the raw transfer data, is available below.

Research Methodology

The research was carried out on the 16th January by market research agency, Consumer Intelligence, in conjunction with Wise. The data was ascertained via a series of transfers carried out by Consumer Intelligence and partners in various geographies.

There are three types of fees recorded for this price comparison:

• Fee 1: an upfront international money transfer fee
• Fee 2: the markup PayPal added to their exchange rate
• Fee 3: the recipient fee PayPal charged when business receive international payments

Research took place on 5 routes within the same day. Date and timestamps are provided.

The Research

• Route 1: Sending 2000 USD to GBP
• Route 2: Sending 2000 USD to EUR
• Route 3: Sending 2000 GBP to USD
• Route 4: Sending 2000 GBP to AUD
• Route 5: Sending 2000 GBP to EUR

Route 1: Sending 2000 USD to GBP

As part of the research, Consumer Intelligence made a USD 2,000 payment from a US PayPal business account to a UK PayPal business account.

This business payment incurred sending fees of USD 72.44 with PayPal, and only USD 8.43 with Wise.

Wise saved the sender USD 64.01

PayPal charged the UK business who received this payment a recipient fee of GBP 61.92. Wise charged no recipient fee.

Wise saved the recipient GBP 61.92

The total amount that arrived at the UK business via PayPal was GBP 1,340.80. Via Wise the amount was GBP 1,447.27.

Using Wise meant the UK business got an extra GBP 106.47

Here’s the raw data:

Sending USD 2000 to GBP: Wise vs PayPal business

Fees/cost	Wise	PayPal business
Amount sending (USD)	$2000	$2000
Rate quoted by provider (Reuters’ exchange rate = 0.7267)	US$ 1 = £0.7267	US$ 1 = £0.7013
Provider exchange rate markup (%)	0%	3.5%
Provider exchange rate markup (USD)	$0	$72.44
Upfront transfer fee (USD)	$8.43	$0
Total sender fees (USD)	$8.43	$72.44
Amount sent to recipient (GBP)	£1,447.27	£1,402.72
Recipient fees applied (GBP)	£0	£61.92
Recipient fees applied (%)	0%	4.41%
Total recipient fees (GBP)	£0	£61.92
Final funds available to recipient (GBP)	£1447.27	£1340.80
Total cost of transfer (USD + GBP)	$8.43 + £0	$72.44 + £61.92

All data was obtained independently by market research company Consumer Intelligence Ltd on January 16 2018, 07:07 UTC.