How to spend British Pounds and Australian Dollars?

December 7, 2008 6:22 AM

Through my various online transactions I've ended up with a bunch of British Pounds and Australian Dollars in my Paypal account. I could convert these to USD, but the exchange is currently pretty weak, and to make matters worse Paypal uses one that is even weaker by a bout 1.5% on average. So I was wondering if there's a way around converting this money in order to use it. Can anybody thinking of good ways to spend these GBP or AUD? I was looking through Ebay Australia, particularly for coupons and "e-items" where I wouldn't have to pay any shipping, but couldn't find any. It seems most items along these lines are only posted on Ebay US. Another idea I had was to hire out someone in the UK or Australia to do some graphic design work, but I've had trouble finding any one and am not sure where to look.
posted by grammalvsu to Shopping (5 answers total)

Just convert it - you're going to drive yourself crazy trying to game the FX market. And compared to 3 months ago the USD rates aren't bad.

BUT if you really want to spend it, there're plenty of GB and AUS freelancers on elance.com.
Or ebay something and pay for the shipping anyway.

Or there's craigslist.co.uk

Or just keep it in paypal until you have no more USD left and then ....
posted by Xhris at 7:32 AM on December 7, 2008

If you wanted, you could find a Great Britain/Australian charity to which to donate the extra money.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:13 AM on December 7, 2008

Is there no way that you can just directly transfer the money to your bank account? I agree with Xhris: you should convert it. Instead of (what I believe) is wasting money on things that you may not necessarily need, just take the conversion hit and be done with it. Otherwise, does PayPal still charge you a fee if you decide to withdrawal the funds directly to your bank account and let the bank handle the conversion?
posted by aloneinvietnam at 8:44 AM on December 7, 2008

Convert the Pounds, at least.

Things in the UK are significantly more expensive - in general - than in the US, even with the currency conversion taken into account. There are a few exceptions to this, but I doubt you'd be interested since they're all physical products (certain food products, generic drugs, certain raw produce).
posted by wackybrit at 3:09 PM on December 7, 2008

If you ever buy books online, check out thebookdepository.co.uk - who take GBP, offer free worldwide shipping, and seem price-competitive to Amazon or our local bookshops/sites. (I'm in Aus, so once the shipping's included, they're always cheaper for me!).

(not affiliated, just an astonished, happy customer)
posted by pompomtom at 9:46 PM on December 7, 2008 [1 favorite]