Eurozone will collapse...

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

I am not sure what you mean.

You mean how do I spend them?

Its easy to exchange it into GBP if I need to spend it.

Anyone in the world can accept or spend euros.

As Damien said. For you to make a point of saying you use Euros even though you live in the UK, I'm assuming you mean something more than just using them whenever you happen to visit a country in the Eurozone, which I think goes without saying.

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by Damien

How do you use them then? Do you have a Euro bank account or get paid in Euros?

paypal.

but all credit card vendors will also typically allow payments recieved in euros (as well as usd).

I think even banks will take payments in euros but they will auto convert to GBP, at least thats what my bank does.

There isnt anything complex about it. But the whole thing becomes complex if the euro were to dissapear.

So you're selling to customers in the Eurozone?

If so, I can understand why you feel it's less complicated for you to deal with the single currency than to have to deal with multiple ones.

I take bookings deposits via Paypal for our B&B but I operate the account in GBP because that's where I spend all the income. I'm going to pay an exchange fee somewhere along the way so I just take the hit at the point where the guest uses their euro-denominated credit or debit card to pay an invoice issued for Sterling. It amounts to a few pence over and above the usual Paypal fee for such a transaction.

But considering that Paypal does all the conversion and calculation for you, regardless of the currency (i get plenty of non-Euro bookings from around the world), is there really a material advantage in operating your Paypal account in the Euro?

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

paypal.

but all credit card vendors will also typically allow payments recieved in euros (as well as usd).

I think even banks will take payments in euros but they will auto convert to GBP, at least thats what my bank does.

There isnt anything complex about it. But the whole thing becomes complex if the euro were to dissapear.

Hang on, there is something quite odd about this.

Presumably you have a British sterling bank account and you get paid in pounds. However when you purchase something online you deposit the money into PayPal and get the currency exchanged into Euros, you then purchase something with a sterling price tag and let it change back?

Now it's Spain.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/f...isis-live.html

Latest economic data from Spain has pushed 10-year bond yields on Spanish debt to 6%. Remember folks, the unlucky number is 7.

[Osem]

Read this earlier which sheds some light on the on what bond yields are and why the UK's are currently much lower than those of Italy, Spain and even France.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15717770

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by Damien

Hang on, there is something quite odd about this.

Presumably you have a British sterling bank account and you get paid in pounds. However when you purchase something online you deposit the money into PayPal and get the currency exchanged into Euros, you then purchase something with a sterling price tag and let it change back?

I dont get paid a fixed salary.

My income as I said is mostly in euros and most of the rest in us dollars.

Most of it goes to paypal and sits in a balance the same currency its recieved in, paypal can store multi currency balances.

I can transfer from there to my bank, and I convert it to GBP before hand if I do this so it arrives in my bank as GBP.

People can send euros to my bank account, if they do this my bank converts it to GBP.

All credit card merchants accept payments in euros and as such they also deal with any conversion as well.

This is nothing unusual in the modern world of commerce, I think some of you guys stuck in the stone ages only dealing with GBP and this has confused you.

When I spend the money in this country it is already GBP, as I spend either with my debit or credit cards.

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

This is nothing unusual in the modern world of commerce, I think some of you guys stuck in the stone ages only dealing with GBP and this has confused you.

Seriously Del Boy, get out from up yourself. You're an online merchant (what is it? Ebay? Amazon? Other?), not an international commodity trader.

Most British people don't routinely transact in Euros; the questions Damien and I asked of you were perfectly reasonable given the rather vague nature of your earlier postings on the matter.

[Osem]

Well I must say that whilst making currency transactions simpler for businesses and travellers alike is a good thing I never considered that a sufficiently powerful argument to warrant joining the Eurozone. IMHO the inherent dangers and restrictions of the resulting 'one size fits all' economic policy could never work across such diverse economies.

And that hits the nail right on the head. To view a currency as merely a convenient unit of exchange is to completely miss the point. That is almost the least of the roles modern fiat money plays in our capitalist system.

The Euro doesn't exist to allow Europeans to buy stuff more easily in countries other than their own. It exists because currency control is essential to the life of a nation state, which is precisely what the Euro's architects want the EU to become. That they have put the cart before the horse and implemented the currency without also implementing full central governmental management of it is the reason the Eurozone is now in the mess that it is in.

What astounds me even more is that even now, wilfully blind federalists like Tony Bliar continue to assert that removing the Euro, which is the root cause of the ongoing disaster in Europe, could somehow make things worse.

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by Chris

Seriously Del Boy, get out from up yourself. You're an online merchant (what is it? Ebay? Amazon? Other?), not an international commodity trader.

Most British people don't routinely transact in Euros; the questions Damien and I asked of you were perfectly reasonable given the rather vague nature of your earlier postings on the matter.

Depends who your clients are. If I am doing business with people in europe then I will use a currency that makes transactions easier.

Now you are just been nosey.

Looks like I have upset someone who hates the euro, given a valid example of the currency increasing trade and they dont like it so now I am been called del boy.

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

Depends who your clients are. If I am doing business with people in europe then I will use a currency that makes transactions easier.

Now you are just been nosey.

Looks like I have upset someone who hates the euro, given a valid example of the currency increasing trade and they dont like it so now I am been called del boy.

No, you're getting called Del Boy for being both pretentious and patronising with your comments about people getting 'confused' by the Euro.

As I said earlier, you posted that you do transactions with the Euro; most people in the UK don't do that, therefore the follow-up questions were polite enquiries for further details.

As it happens, I think it's the people who think the Euro's primary purpose is to ease commerce between member states who are a bit confused. I'm assuming, seeing as you don't consider yourself to be among the confused, that you are familiar with the deeper economic ramifications of monetary union, over and above the impact on eBay sellers.

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

Depends who your clients are. If I am doing business with people in europe then I will use a currency that makes transactions easier.

Now you are just been nosey.

Looks like I have upset someone who hates the euro, given a valid example of the currency increasing trade and they dont like it so now I am been called del boy.

The Euro in this case isn't really increasing trade. Those customers could pay in whatever their local currency is and the banks exchange it.

The only confusion is when you said you use Euros which suggested you use it to pay for goods to day to day life rather than accept payments in Euros.

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by Chris

So you're selling to customers in the Eurozone?

If so, I can understand why you feel it's less complicated for you to deal with the single currency than to have to deal with multiple ones.

I take bookings deposits via Paypal for our B&B but I operate the account in GBP because that's where I spend all the income. I'm going to pay an exchange fee somewhere along the way so I just take the hit at the point where the guest uses their euro-denominated credit or debit card to pay an invoice issued for Sterling. It amounts to a few pence over and above the usual Paypal fee for such a transaction.

But considering that Paypal does all the conversion and calculation for you, regardless of the currency (i get plenty of non-Euro bookings from around the world), is there really a material advantage in operating your Paypal account in the Euro?

I could sell in GBP but I choose to sell in euros as I have hardly any uk clients. A decision made to maximise sales. Also I have costs in euros as well as I buy services from eu countries, so it simplifies things. To be honest I am not going too much into it, but the point is the euro has made life easier and if it didnt exist I expect I would have much less work and have issues buying the services I buy, as national currencies would be an obstacle.

A big argument behind not joining europe and hating the euro seems to be based on that there is no global market, and we as a little nation can survive just as well with more restrictive trade, that I disagree with.

---------- Post added at 13:01 ---------- Previous post was at 13:00 ----------

Originally Posted by Damien

The Euro in this case isn't really increasing trade. Those customers could pay in whatever their local currency is and the banks exchange it.

The only confusion is when you said you use Euros which suggested you use it to pay for goods to day to day life rather than accept payments in Euros.

More likely they would find someone else who gives them a price in a currency they use.

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

I could sell in GBP but I choose to sell in euros as I have hardly any uk clients. A decision made to maximise sales. Also I have costs in euros as well as I buy services from eu countries, so it simplifies things. To be honest I am not going too much into it, but the point is the euro has made life easier and if it didnt exist I expect I would have much less work and have issues buying the services I buy, as national currencies would be an obstacle.

A big argument behind not joining europe and hating the euro seems to be based on that there is no global market, and we as a little nation can survive just as well with more restrictive trade, that I disagree with.

An eminently sensible and informative answer to my original query. Thank you.