best place to change euro's

[Rich One]

Sorry, I thought you wanted to use an ATM, etc.
I will reccommend Mr Luis. in Galería Boston, Florida 138, lower floor,
cel 11-3744- 3508 or 810*7333. You will get the best rates in town probably.

Henry, Thanks for the tip, Lower Floor means Ground floor? a LOCAL number?

 

[che]

My advice would be to just deal with the official ARG rate. It's just too much work otherwise-- tracking people down, dealing with shady people, meeting in strange places, taking trips to Uruguay. I consider my dollars/euros/CDN to be a safety net and, if someone is desperate for them and wants to give me a good deal, then great. If not, that's okay too.

As they say advice is cheap, so take it or leave it. In this case, if you have currency that can be changed for 30% more than official rate this advice would seem manifestly poor. if you find good person to exchange with or use xoom you are way ahead. Compared to investing it is pretty tough to get 10% return never mind 30% so why one would send out this advice is beyond me. It is just D_U_M_B, IMO!

 

[ElQueso]

And it's not like it's a big hassle either. I spent a total of 45 minutes to get my month's expenditures down here yesterday. Hell, I can spend 20 minutes sometimes just finding an ATM that will give out cash. And ten of those minutes were spent chatting with a really nice and clued-in guy (my "broker") about Argentina, Miami and the economy here. All of that, for a 35% return on my investment.

 

[sleslie23]

As they say advice is cheap, so take it or leave it. In this case, if you have currency that can be changed for 30% more than official rate this advice would seem manifestly poor. if you find good person to exchange with or use xoom you are way ahead. Compared to investing it is pretty tough to get 10% return never mind 30% so why one would send out this advice is beyond me. It is just D_U_M_B, IMO!

Ha ha, that is one definition of dumb.

Another definition of dumb would be to walk down Florida with 1000 USD and hand it over to some guy whispering "cambio, cambio." Unfortunately, the whole situation is "dumb." And forces us all make "dumb" decisions.

I wouldn't change money with anyone that I didn't know personally or was recommended by someone I know personally.

 

[snowwhitebum]

My advice would be to just deal with the official ARG rate. It's just too much work otherwise-- tracking people down, dealing with shady people, meeting in strange places, taking trips to Uruguay. I consider my dollars/euros/CDN to be a safety net and, if someone is desperate for them and wants to give me a good deal, then great. If not, that's okay too.

i think your probably right. It sounds like too much messing around, looking for the man who wears a pink carnation in his hat standing next to the blue door whispering "cambio cambio"

 

[snowwhitebum]

If anyone actually knows a reputable place that they have dealt with I would be willing to give it a try, but it al sounds a bit 'Kentucky fried mouse' to me

 

[ElQueso]

It should sound a bit Argentinian. Welcome to Argentina.

I see little old Argentino ladies and men walking up to these guys and doing business with them. I've been in the actual office of one of these places when other Argentine clients come in. US and European women sometimes. Brasilians a lot.

The place you go to do the actual business isn't that much different than the more private "by invitation only" places. Plain, simple, but a bit more in the open. No more dangerous than going to More Money Transfers and walking out with 10,000 pesos, as far as robbery potential. As far as counterfeits, in 6 years, I've never noticed, nor had anyone else notice, a counterfeit that I've gotten from Florida.

The guy on Florida that mumbles "cambio" isn't going to change your money right there. He's just a guy out finding clients since these places don't exactly advertise what they're doing. You ask him the rate, he may ask you how much because the rates differ. Don't tell him how much you have, tell him you want to know how much it takes to get a better price.

If you want to do business, the guy takes you around the corner, still on a street, or into a nearby shop. You're not being taken anywhere strange and suspicious, not up any elevators to an apartment (which is where my private place actually does it). It's usually a little one-room office with a desk, a phone and a couple of chairs and a guy who changes your money.

Not a big deal, really. But to each their own.

Being able to change at a rate well above the official rate has allowed me to cool my heels a little related to thoughts of bugging out because of rising costs, since it means a roughly 30% bump in my real income here.

 

[HenryNisental]

As you walk in, there are some stairs going down, and then turn right and you will see two shops: one shows a "CAMBIO" sign and next to it a cell phone shop. I think this one offers betters rates than the one with CAMBIO sign.

 

[Lulu-Kyoko]

As they say advice is cheap, so take it or leave it. In this case, if you have currency that can be changed for 30% more than official rate this advice would seem manifestly poor. if you find good person to exchange with or use xoom you are way ahead. Compared to investing it is pretty tough to get 10% return never mind 30% so why one would send out this advice is beyond me. It is just D_U_M_B, IMO!

Sure, a 30% return is fantastic but the OP is European and I'm assuming (like me) that he can't access Xoom. I'm also assuming that the OP doesn't know any "good people" with whom to do the exchange from euros to pesos... otherwise, why would he be posting?

To get that 30%-- again, in the absence of good people or Xoom-- he would have to gather up all of his cash, make his way downtown by bus/subte/taxi, pray that he's not robbed, meet up with some shady character on a downtown street corner, follow this unknown person to some unknown location, hand over all of his money, hope that the money he's given is not counterfeit, and then make his way home by bus/subte/taxi, again praying that no one holds a gun to his head or more simply that the pickpockets have taken the day off.

I also think that having a stockpile of dollars or euros is actually better than not having them. It means that I have them when I need them, and can use them when paying for big ticket items-- thus, I get my 30% whenever I pay the rent... anyway, I don't really know why you would consider the advice to be D_U_M_B when there are clearly safety and security issues involved, especially for tourists.

 

[snowwhitebum]

Yes, it sounds a bit cloak and dagger to me.

The plan was to change enough to buy a car, however, the idea of walking up and down Florida looking for a whispering money changer is somewhat off putting.

I think ill stick to the ATM for now, if we decide to go ahead and buy a car i'd feel a lot more comfortable negotiating a better rate for my Euro's with the Fiat salesman rather than someone imitating a crack dealer in Dam square.