Paypal fees when buying in dollars getting ripped

Don't know if this is in the right place but anyway.
When I buy using PayPal I always get ripped on the exchange rate. Can anyone tell me why this is?
For example the other day I bought some vintage star wars for $720 I use the currency convertor it say £515 but PayPal takes £540
Anyone got any experience of this how to avoid or even get some money back? Happens every time, it doesnt seem to matter if I have the full amount in my PayPal balance or it takes it out of my bank.
Thanks.

Basically it is just another way for PayPal to make money - they use their own exchange rate - and it works both ways

They get to charge you a fee for sending it to a foreign account and then also scew the exchange rate so it favours them at both ends. However when you look at the alternatives then none are as secure as PayPal and all charge a fee so it is the price of being able to send money around the world

Yep as above I'm afraid you will never get the true exchange rate on a currency conversion. However I do agree it's **** that eBay say it is one amount and then charge you more on the next screen, there is no good reason why they can't use the Paypal rate. It is just to suck you in.

As well as that the exchange rate calculator always uses a rate you will be unlikely to get on the high street or online, banks etc always offer worse than the official rate. If you sell as well as buy it can be worth having US as a currency on Paypal and when you sell to the states keep the money in $ instead of exchanging to £

Ok guys thanks for that.

You can set up a dollar account I think. I sold something and the guy paid in dollars and when I accepted the transaction it showed that it wasn't in my normal currency and I got a message asking whether I wanted a separate dollar currency account setting up.

I said no as I wasn't sure whether it would be a totally new PayPal account, or a secondary one within my main account and it wasn't worth it for me as it wasn't a big amount, but something to consider if you're planning on buying from America a lot.

They might shaft you when you put the money in I suppose but if someone pays you directly, then you wouldn't lose out on the exchange rate.