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Where can I get the best currency rate? At BKK airport? At any bank in BKK city centre? Do you use or recommend any in particular?

ILOVEBKKLONGTIME
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ILOVEBKKLONGTIME Apprentice Member

ILOVEBKKLONGTIME

Posted
Posted

I am at the airport on my way to BKK, and I am amazed how expensive the "currency exchange" places are. They are totally mad, a few years ago I used to pay 50 Euros commission max, now for the same amount of Euros that I want to exchange, they tried to charge 250 Euros commision, no fuc*ing way I am paying such a high rate/commission/fee.

 

Please advice.

Sparktrader Star Member

Sparktrader

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ILOVEBKKLONGTIME said:

They are totally mad, a few years ago I used to pay 50 Euros commission max, now for the same amount of Euros that I want to exchange, they tried to charge 250 Euros commision,

What? There is no commission

 

Who the mad one?

 

Airports always the worst rates lol

Lemsta69 Platinum Member

Lemsta69

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, stupidfarang said:

Never exchange money at airports as the rates are lower than outside, they have a captured audience. To check rates daily for exchange in Bangkok, check out this link

 

 https://daytodaydata.net/ 

I'd quite forgotten about that website, thank you very much. So a 50 satang spread between Vasu and Bank of Ayudhya. Well worth going to Vasu if the OP has a big chunk of EUR to exchange, as seems to be the case. Presumably he brought mostly large denominations with him.

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Sparktrader Star Member

Sparktrader

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Lemsta69 said:

I'd quite forgotten about that website, thank you very much. So a 50 satang spread between Vasu and Bank of Ayudhya. Well worth going to Vasu if the OP has a big chunk of EUR to exchange, as seems to be the case. Presumably he brought mostly large denominations with him.

Superrich 23.8 baht per aud

Bangkok Bangkok 23.03

 

BB nearly always low

stupidfarang Silver Member

stupidfarang

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Lemsta69 said:

I'd quite forgotten about that website, thank you very much. So a 50 satang spread between Vasu and Bank of Ayudhya. Well worth going to Vasu if the OP has a big chunk of EUR to exchange, as seems to be the case. Presumably he brought mostly large denominations with him.

Remember to check all the notes to ensure there are no rips, pen marks etc... Otherwise the large bundle of cash will be a lot lighter. Was surprised in Vietnam last week, the exchange took out an eraser and removed the pen marks off two UK bank notes, the joy of polymer notes.

 

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Lemsta69 Platinum Member

Lemsta69

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

All the same, otherwise arbitrage. 

 

The OP is confused. 250 euro in fees for what? 

he probably means the spread between airport rate and whatever site he's using to compare it to. xe maybe, or Google as the young people are wont to do these days.

Edited by Lemsta69
Sparktrader Star Member

Sparktrader

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Lemsta69 said:

he probably means the spread between airport rate and whatever site he's using to compare it to. xe maybe, or Google as the young people are wont to do these days.

250 euro spread? Thai spreads havent changed much in 20 years.

 

Euro might have fallen and confused him. Euro banks offer poor rates and large spread.

 

 

 

 

Sparktrader Star Member

Sparktrader

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ILOVEBKKLONGTIME said:

at the airport on my way to BKK, and I am amazed how expensive the "currency exchange" places are. They are totally

So he is in Euro airport with poor rates and large spreads.

 

 

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soi3eddie Platinum Member

soi3eddie

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted
12 minutes ago, blackshadow said:

never ever change money in an aiport.....worst rates all the time.....unless really desparate to change money.....!!!

Agreed. However at BKK the booths down by the City Line train station are not actually in the airport terminal and usually give same rates as their city locations.

 

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ILOVEBKKLONGTIME Apprentice Member

ILOVEBKKLONGTIME

Posted
  • Author
Posted
35 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

The OP is confused. 250 euro in fees for what? 

I am not confused, man. This is exactly what happened:

 

1. I went to several currency exchange desks (very popular franchise in airports, I will not mention the name in case they sue me) in different countries (I am connecting flights), and told the lady working there "How many baht would you give me in exchange for 1.250 Euros?".

2. She pressed a few keys on her computer and showed me in a small screen the amount of bahts she would give me, which was around 39.000 baht.

3. Using my smartphone, I used google currency exchange, typed the 39.000 baht to see how many Euros that was, and it was about 1.060 Euros, so basically they wanted to charge me almost 200 Euros for this exchange, total madness!!!!!!!! I told that to her face several times like "but that's about 200 Euros just for exchanging currency, that is super expensive?" and the Karen working there told me kind of "well, that is what it is". Apparently they have enough morons that are willing to pay crazy commissions/fees/spreads or whatever concept you want to use for that crazy abusive charge.

4. I tried to negotiate and they did not lower the price much to the point they told me that charging me like 190 euros is the best price they can give me.

5. I got annoyed about their insulting fares and the fact that they show the two prices in a screen so that it looks like the market (Forex) price, when really it is their own "rip off price". This changed just in the last couple of years, they used to charge me about 50 Euros and it still hurt me.

Sparktrader Star Member

Sparktrader

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, ILOVEBKKLONGTIME said:

I am not confused, man. This is exactly what happened:

 

1. I went to several currency exchange desks (very popular franchise in airports, I will not mention the name in case they sue me) in different countries (I am connecting flights), and told the lady working there "How many baht would you give me in exchange for 1.250 Euros?".

2. She pressed a few keys on her computer and showed me in a small screen the amount of bahts she would give me, which was around 39.000 baht.

3. Using my smartphone, I used google currency exchange, typed the 39.000 baht to see how many Euros that was, and it was about 1.060 Euros, so basically they wanted to charge me almost 200 Euros for this exchange, total madness!!!!!!!! I told that to her face several times like "but that's about 200 Euros just for exchanging currency, that is super expensive?" and the Karen working there told me kind of "well, that is what it is". Apparently they have enough morons that are willing to pay crazy commissions/fees/spreads or whatever concept you want to use for that crazy abusive charge.

4. I tried to negotiate and they did not lower the price much to the point they told me that charging me like 190 euros is the best price they can give me.

5. I got annoyed about their insulting fares and the fact that they show the two prices in a screen so that it looks like the market (Forex) price, when really it is their own "rip off price". This changed just in the last couple of years, they used to charge me about 50 Euros and it still hurt me.

Wrong no fees on forex

 

You are confused

Buy n sell rate thats it

Sparktrader Star Member

Sparktrader

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, ILOVEBKKLONGTIME said:

Apparently they have enough morons that are willing to pay crazy commissions/fees/spreads or whatever

Nobody pays fees. You get the buy rate which is the lowest of the 2 rates.

Sparktrader Star Member

Sparktrader

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, ILOVEBKKLONGTIME said:

got annoyed about their insulting fares and the fact that they show the two prices in a screen so that it looks like the mark

Buy rate is what they pay to give you baht

 

Sell rate is what they want to give you back euros

 

The spreads are small in Thailand. The forex market is 24 hours M to F. Banks adjust rates twice a day. They cant lose money so rates arent as good as interbank rates.

 

 

 

soi3eddie Platinum Member

soi3eddie

Posted
Posted (edited)
30 minutes ago, ILOVEBKKLONGTIME said:

I am not confused, man. This is exactly what happened:

 

1. I went to several currency exchange desks (very popular franchise in airports, I will not mention the name in case they sue me) in different countries (I am connecting flights), and told the lady working there "How many baht would you give me in exchange for 1.250 Euros?".

2. She pressed a few keys on her computer and showed me in a small screen the amount of bahts she would give me, which was around 39.000 baht.

3. Using my smartphone, I used google currency exchange, typed the 39.000 baht to see how many Euros that was, and it was about 1.060 Euros, so basically they wanted to charge me almost 200 Euros for this exchange, total madness!!!!!!!! I told that to her face several times like "but that's about 200 Euros just for exchanging currency, that is super expensive?" and the Karen working there told me kind of "well, that is what it is". Apparently they have enough morons that are willing to pay crazy commissions/fees/spreads or whatever concept you want to use for that crazy abusive charge.

4. I tried to negotiate and they did not lower the price much to the point they told me that charging me like 190 euros is the best price they can give me.

5. I got annoyed about their insulting fares and the fact that they show the two prices in a screen so that it looks like the market (Forex) price, when really it is their own "rip off price". This changed just in the last couple of years, they used to charge me about 50 Euros and it still hurt me.

1) You are likely comparing buy vs sell rates so it will be quite different

2) Many place outside of Thailand charge a commission in addition to the exchange rate

3) The places in the terminals are often more convenient for those who only want a small amount of currency but don't want the hassle of searching out the best rate

4) The overheads (rent and fees) charged by the landlord - the airport - are likely very high. In addition, the airport may impose rules such as they have to remain open 24/7 even when few customers.

 

 

Edited by soi3eddie
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suzannegoh Advanced Member

suzannegoh

Posted
Posted

The best exchange rate that you'll get is from ATM cards and credit cards that have no foreign exchange fee.  Some ATM cards, such as ones from Schwab and Fidelity, refund the 220 Baht fee charged by the bank that owns the ATM machine to boot.

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KhunBENQ Star Member

KhunBENQ

Posted
Posted (edited)

Buying Thai baht at some airports in arbitrary countries and then surprised about bad exchange?

Hard to find words.

 

Exchange rates at airport rail link(!) at BKK might be worse 0.05 than in the city. Multiply by your amount and decide whether it's worth to run around Bangkok city.

From 20000 Dollar/Euro aka 1000 Baht I might do.

 

Before some know betters start again: rail link is not "the airport" (AOT) where you should not change any significant amount.

Edited by KhunBENQ
tjintx Advanced Member

tjintx

Posted
Posted

Another vote up for SuperRich, any location in town.    Green seems to consistently be better than Orange ones (different companies with the same names, apparently following a familial split).  Look for the color in the sign.   Download both of their apps and you can check all of their locations real-time rates.

  • Like 1
Lemsta69 Platinum Member

Lemsta69

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, tjintx said:

Another vote up for SuperRich, any location in town.    Green seems to consistently be better than Orange ones (different companies with the same names, apparently following a familial split).  Look for the color in the sign.   Download both of their apps and you can check all of their locations real-time rates.

OP's long gone mate, he's converted all his EUR cash and is now having a big party upcountry ????

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