On line payment systems available

This is a general question regarding payment systems available when buying overseas. 

At the moment, I am using Paypal, and I have been using that for more than 20+ years. When I first used Paypal, the exchange rate was bearable. Now, I can see that the rate of exchange is always between 2.5 to 3 cents difference, and in some cases when making payment to Poland, like I did on Tuesday, I have to go via the USD first, which I believe is a double whammy, in my opinion, in term of the exchange rate.

I wonder if anyone knows what other payment systems that are cheaper and still have the same security features as Paypal. To me, having recourse up to 180 days is good in case something goes wrong. Claim via Paypal is also quick too.

Credit card secured payment is good too, but very tedious should the purchases go wrong. Bank disputes can go on for up to 40 days for an outcome. My bank rates are good too, but they charge a fee of 3% for overseas purchases, and I worked it out more or less the same as the rate charged by Paypal. 

Just wondering if anyone can share his/her experience here with me.

Thanking you all in advance.

Use of Paypal depends on whether I receive funds via Paypal and when I purchase online directly from a retailers own website with deliveries from abroad. There is great respect towards Paypal when it comes to claims of non-delivery.

For any other use I have an account with Wise ( https://wise.com/ ) to both receive and spend money, especially in foreign currency.

I’ve been using Remitly to make payments to friends and families in Europe and Asia. 

there are modest flat fees depending on the transaction amount, or no fees if the amount is beyond a certain threshold.

you also have options between bank transfer, credit card payment and interac (the typical tap system payment we use here in Canada). The FX conversion is best with a bank transfer. 

I haven’t used it to make merchant payments however. But there would be nothing preventing you from doing so if the seller is good with giving you their banking details