Joined: May '15
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 29 (M)
Posts: 6
hi there i am from the uk and play on pokerstars and i want to make a deposit on it but i dont no about all the currency changes like if i use paypal to make a deposit is it better to convert the money from GBP to USD after i make the deposit of when i am making the deposit and can i cash out in USD if my paypal is GBP or do i have to convert from USD back to GBP to cash out please help
Joined: Jun '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 1343
as bowie has said... just jumping in to say welcome to the forum benson,hope you enjoy it,any deposit i make is through visa and like bowie said they convert it into usd ,i only play usd so not sure if they charge for conversion within the site....good luck ....
Joined: May '15
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 29 (M)
Posts: 6
so if i just kept my ps accout in USD when i deposit with my paypal it will be change automatically and if i want to with draw the money should i convert from USD to GBP on ps or let paypal convert it
Joined: May '13
Location: Mauritius
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 2688
Hi i hope you doing fine , this is some mistake most new players do or a current problems encountered by many online players they make an e wallet account with one currency and then they mate poker accounts and all in other currencies therefore when depositing or cashing our there is always a risk of losing out all your profit due to the exchange rates , anyway good luck hope you are getting the answers you are looking for !
Joined: Jun '13
Location: Canada
Age: 81 (M)
Posts: 3700
I am a Canadian and i will tell you what is the best for me and will probably apply to you just the same.
First i am using E-check for deposit and withdrawal. For me there are no service charge with this option.
I deposit at pokerstars to a Canadian funds account and then ask them to convert it in U.S. funds this way i am getting a better exchange rate than with my bank. An for wuthdraw i do the opposit i ask stars to transfer the U.S in Canadian funds and the cash out in Canadian again with better exchange rate. Welcome to this forum and have fun here and on poker tables.
Watch out with this... Pokerstars applies currency exchange fees of 2.5% on both deposits and withdrawals, since about half a year ago.
I've discussed this in earlier threads I created; you can get around paying these fees, by creating another currency in the pokerstars cashier (in your case add GBP as a currency). When depositing or withdrawing with your GBP e-wallet, credit card or bank account, deposit into this currencies tab in the pokerstars cashier. When the money is safely in your GBP pokerstars account, you can convert it back and forth to USD inside the cashier, free of charge!
If you don't do the above, and deposit/withdraw GBP <==> USD, you'll pay 2.5% each time (unless you let your bank/credit card or e-wallet do the conversion, in which case you'll likely pay 5% in fees).
Pokerstars is still the best in this, but you have to know about this, and most people don't... Good luck!
Joined: May '15
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 29 (M)
Posts: 6
ok thank for your help when i go to deposit it asks me how much do i want to deposit in GBP and it show how much USD that will be so put in my accout so it must change it by its self but if i want to withdraw i will convert it from USD to GBP in the cashier of ps then withdraw it to my paypal
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 48 (F)
Posts: 14196
So far i havent seen another ewallet with multi currency besides paypal. And i was waiting some changes in this direction with the Neteller Skrill merge, but they havent even made possible inner transactions between the two wallets.
Posted by bensonboii: ok thank for your help when i go to deposit it asks me how much do i want to deposit in GBP and it show how much USD that will be so put in my accout so it must change it by its self but if i want to withdraw i will convert it from USD to GBP in the cashier of ps then withdraw it to my paypal
Don't do that... This will cost you 2.5%
Read my post. (Add GBP as currency (with the plus symbol on the right side of the tabs), and select that tab, and then deposit, it wont tell you how much that will be in USD, because it goes into your GBP account without conversion). Once the money is in your GBP account, you can convert it into USD for free (and back again when you want to withdraw).
B.t.w. if you want to know how much you should be getting, just google "convert 10 GBP to USD".
Attached a picture that shows it (relevant parts highlighted in red):
Posted by bensonboii: ok i got it now and that way i wont get charged anything for converting it over
Exactly. Just check google if you are unsure about the amount of USD you should have gotten, when converting inside the cashier. Most people don't notice the 2.5% difference, and explain it away with currency fluctuations, or don't care. It can really make a difference in being a profitable player, since you get hit with this fee twice (both on deposit and withdrawal). It's hard enough to beat the rake, let alone these (hidden) fees...
Most (all?) other sites are far worse, both in percentage, and in that they don't offer this multi currency trick.
Posted by bensonboii: does it matter if i use paypal or my credit card all the charges will be the same like for with draw and deposit
I don't believe Pokerstars impose any fees on deposits and withdrawals, but some e-wallets do. So check T&C for your card. E.g. "Entropay" charge a fee for loading their debit card (i.e. withdrawing from pokerstars into entropay will cost 3% extra I believe. Pokerstars has nothing to do with that, is entropay that charges you. Usually I'm quite careful with these things, but that cost me about $40 once). Also note you must withdraw all deposits back to the card you deposited with, before you can withdraw to any other card or bank account. So make sure you deposit with a card that won't charge you when you have to withdraw again.