online buyer and seller, how to save bank exchange rate?

[revolta]

Hi, I am frequency online buyer, I purchase item in USD, sometime I sold my old item in eBay which are also in USD. The problem is I use sing dollar convert to USD for purchase and USD back to sing dollar for selling, the bank charge me 2 times the exchange rate.
The exchange rate is high, around 2.5 to 3 percent per time( bank rate)

is there any way that I can save the bank exchange rate.

[beppi]

Kepp the money as US$, e.g. in a US bank account, or Paypal.

[revolta]

Kepp the money as US$, e.g. in a US bank account, or Paypal.

Can i open US bank account without going US?
I tried to use my paypal account to purchase, it cannot go through, i think US merchant only accept US paypal account.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I have a Singapore PayPal account linked to a US Bank account as well as to a local credit card. I've made over 500 transactions in the past 4 years on the US eBay site, both buying & selling using my Singapore account with no problem.

[revolta]

I have a Singapore PayPal account linked to a US Bank account as well as to a local credit card. I've made over 500 transactions in the past 4 years on the US eBay site, both buying & selling using my Singapore account with no problem.

I think US ebay are able to use paypal from all country, since they are from same company.

But singapore paypal account are not able to purchase from some US merchant.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I purchase from any merchant. I think your problem is not paypal, but your shipping address. Lots of U.S us online store's online forms will not accept a non-US address for shipping address. Doesn't matter if you are using PayPal or a Credit Card. But paying for anything and using a US address, for instance, Paypal works just fine. Actually I've never had any problem with any merchant who accepts PayPal, because of my Singapore registered PayPal account.

[beppi]

The reason is Paypal, together with some merchant's overblown idea of security.
I had various cases where payment from my (Singapore-based) Paypal-account was not accepted for orders to be shipped to non-Singapore addresses. In one extreme case, I could not even pay my domain registration renewal (at Godaddy, one of the big registrars!) because my IP address was Malaysian and didn't match the Paypal account's nationality. Fact was, I was sitting in a Singapore office at the time, but Internet traffic was routed through a server in KL. After several calls to the hotline, they just told me that there is no solution and I should move my domain to a different registrar (which I did - no problems since!).
There is also no way to change a Paypal account's nationality (e.g. if you move). You have to close it and open a new one in the other country.

[sundaymorningstaple]

There is also no way to change a Paypal account's nationality (e.g. if you move). You have to close it and open a new one in the other country.

Yeah, that part sucks!

[revolta]

probably the merchant i purchase from do not support non us paypal, i use USA shipping address. i am able to buy using credit card, but not paypal.