If you are Canadian, then you will be likely rip off by PayPal, since PayPal charge you 2.5% when you withdraw U.S fund to your Canadian Bank account.(assume your account in CND currency)
even you try to open bank account with U.S currency in most of major banks such as CIBC, RBC, Social Bank, TD, PayPal will stop you to add your Canadian account with U.S currency in PayPal.
The reason is simple, because they can't charge you 2.5% fee if you can withdraw U.S fund to U.S fund.
I have called PayPal about the issue many time, and I have tried to add a few banks account with U.S currency in PayPal. But All are failed without any reason. and I call PayPal and ask them the issue, they have no explanation rather than give you some non sense reason and ask you to try again!
...
one simple solution is to open U.S bank account, but how?
first, you don't need to drive to U.S and open a U.S account, I'm not sure whether it is easy to open account if you don't have SSN for Canadian.
you can go to
http://RBCbankusa.com and call them and make an appointment to open a U.S account, if you have RBC account in Canada, then it is better because you can transfer fund from your Canadian account to your U.S account.
then you can add your U.S account to PayPal,
save you 2.5% for exchange fee.
share your ideal if you have better idea to save money from PayPal..
