Fall in value of pound v dollar really helping British bloggers

Many British bloggers earn most of their money in dollars, and the strength of the pound versus the dollar in the last two years has been really painful for us, especially as Paypal charges a "premium" or commission for conversion that makes things a couple of percent worse.

However, one outcome of the credit crunch is that Americans are repatriating their money en masse, which means that the dollar has been strengthening against sterling. It's a huge relief to us Brit bloggers. To illustrate, a year ago, $20 converted to £9.51 in Paypal (the effective rate they used was $2.1 to £1). Now $20 buys £10.59 (Paypal use a rate of $1.88 to £1). The true rate in the forex markets is $1.70 to £1. But still, even with Paypal's forex commission, this is an 11.35% improvement. If you earn a lot of dollars, it really adds up. Long may it last.