home
in

Warning on Post Office exchange rates

Last post Tue, Jun 16 2009, 9:57 PM by jim3h01. 6 replies.
Sort Posts: Previous Next
  •  Tue, Jun 16 2009, 9:57 PM

    Re: Warning on Post Office exchange rates

    well said zigthedog.

    regards

    jim

  •  Tue, Jun 16 2009, 7:49 PM

    Re: Warning on Post Office exchange rates

    If you're not going to use Euros again as it will normally be best to keep them why not sell them to friends at the current advestised rate and you'll all be quids in. Take it as it stands today with the US dollar, I'm using that as an example as I'm buying some tomorrow. The advertised rate for a pound is around $1.64, the Post office sell rate is $1.57 and their buy rate is $1.71. Now if I sell $100 to the post office I will get £58.47, if I buy $100 from the PO it will cost me £63.69.

    Now let's say I have $100 dollars I want to get rid of I can do one of two things, sell it to the PO at their buy rate or to a friend at the POs sell rate, My friend is happy as he has his money at the regular high street rate, I am happy as I have passed the $100 dollars on at probably a similar rate, or may be, if I'm lucky, at a better rate than I bought them and have an extra £5.52 in my pocket.

    One final bit of advice I always give is never use the High Street banks or larger high street companies for your currency, use the smaller travel agents or money shops and be prepared to barter. Buy the maximum amount you want as the more money you want the higher rate you can demand. Do your homework and know what the rates are in town, look on the internet for the online exchange rates and pitch yourself somewhere in the middle. The two rates will often be 4 cents apart so I can assure you if you are going to change up £500 in to US dollars you should get on the high street 2 cents higher than their advertised sell rate. Two cents on that £500 will put another $10 in my pocket.

  •  Wed, Feb 18 2009, 11:32 AM

    Re: Warning on Post Office exchange rates

    I have found a place in Dover called Dover Eurochange which offers rates better than the banks for selling Euros...and they give special rates for large amounts...give them a try
  •  Thu, Feb 12 2009, 6:59 PM

    Re: Warning on Post Office exchange rates

    Can anyone tell me the best place to go to sell the euros i have, i am not sure whether to go to the post office, bank or travel agent.

    Thanks

  •  Fri, Apr 18 2008, 9:48 PM

    Re: Warning on Post Office exchange rates

    no one will give you the same rate that's how they pay thier overheads.HOWEVER THE POST OFFICE HAVE RECIEVED AWARDS FROM THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY FOR THEIR PRODUCTS, CAN'T BE THAT BAD???
  •  Fri, Apr 18 2008, 7:00 PM

    Re: Warning on Post Office exchange rates

    I work in a bank and the buy back rate for foreign currencly is always higher than the sell rate, which does work out worse for the customer. I always advise customers to either spend all their spare cash or keep the currency to use on a future holiday. This obviously only works if you are planning to visit the same country in the future, I always advise people with euros to hang on to their cash till they next visit 'euroland'.
  •  Sun, Apr 06 2008, 12:41 PM

    Warning on Post Office exchange rates

    Something the Post Office doesn't advertise in their 'commission free' currency deals is their very poor exchange rate on buying back currency. It is much lower than their sell rate and you may wish you had given away the few pounds before you left the holiday destination. I expected around £20 on some Kenyan currency and got £13. The teller even smirked when I complained.