A secret on exchanging $ for € in Paris
 

Most people do not need to exchange $ bills into € these days, if they have an ATM card.

But if for some reasons you have to sell your $ ( leftover drug money, etc http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif), here is a secret for you:

Use the chinese exchange shops in the 13th arrondissement. They are all mom and pop operations, and give you the best rate in town.

Today they bought $1 for €0.88.

My $900 yielded 792€.

American Express wanted to give me 702€. Thieves.

Metro Tolbiac, Avenue de Clichy, walk half a mile, you'll find them.

You are still getting scammed, $900 should yield €830.07 on todays exchange rate excluding commission. So the mom and pop rate is pretty decent and Amex tried to scam you.

Mom and pop on avenue de Clichy need to live.
Amex on Avenue de l'Opera need to pay the rent of the fancy office, hence the scam.

I don't think you can get the 830€ anywhere, as it is the interbank rate.

I think that the chinese exchange outfits have the smallest differential between dollar sale and purchase price (0.88€ and 0.93€).

I exchanged USD 100 for 88.3EUR at Amex in BCN yesterday.

Would be Metro Tolbiac Avenue de Choisy., because Avenue de Clichy is in the north of Paris.

There are some "mom and pop's" in Avenue d'Ivry also.

[This message has been edited by TGV (edited 09-04-2003).]

Well, it starts with C and ends with Y, close enough for me. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

I stand corrected, Choisy it is. Oops.

The mom and pop next to the musée de l'erotisme in the 18th is also quite generous with rates.

Turn to the right afterwards for a cultural visit, turn to the left and enjoy a sandwich grec.

yum! money sandwiches.

...and I also just checked the local "Chequepoint' near Les Halles, for the fun of it.

My $900 would have yielded a "generous" 681 € there!

I always thought those outfits were in the highway robbery business.

Are you talking about the daily "spot rate?" Nobody gets that other than banks and very large international trade companies. My supplier invoices generally run from 10K to 35K, and I've been told that I'm nowhere near the league where I would buy foreing currency at the spot rate.

Correct. That's the interbank rate, as mentioned above.

I thought the secret was dealing directly with blairvanhorn. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...um/biggrin.gif

Another good area is just north of the Bourse (stock exchange). There are several shops on the rue Vivienne with very competitive rates. The location is more central than the 13th, but they keep business hours (generally Mon-Fri 9-18).

[This message has been edited by Louie_LI (edited 09-08-2003).]