Good to know:
We Buy = Converting local currency back to USD, the place is buying back their local currency
We Sell = Converting USD to local currency, the place is selling you their local currency

Whenever you travel, the first thing you'll have to do is exchange some local currency because there will always be some places that accept cash only. Even in the US, there are restaurants that only accept cash or much more recently, Venmo.

Anyways, let's get down to business. So having been in Singapore for a week, I needed to exchange money twice. The first time, we just walked from our hotel in Bencoolen and then exchanged money at the closest money exchange shop. At that time, I didn't know this was one of the best USD to SGD conversion rates I've seen during my time in Singapore.

At Raffles Place

The second time I exchanged money, I actually searched up the best money exchange places in Singapore and clicked on the first article from Money Smart. I've decided to go to the Arcade in Raffles Place since it was walkable from Irvin's at Raffles Place.

By the way, it was March 4th, 2019. On that day, the exchange rate was1 USD to 1.35 SGD. The exchange rate at the Arcade was 1.35, which means they were offering to sell 1.35 SGD for every USD.

Now, how do these money changers earn a profit especially if they are selling at the market rate? I did a little research and the answer is they've simply bought the currency at a lower rate so even if they sell at market rate on that day, they still profit a bit.

At Bencoolen

Even though it is simply a 1-cent difference but if you exchanged 1000 USD (ten 100s), you are losing 10 SGD, which is enough for you to order a bowl of noodle and a drink at a hawker center.

I wanted to go back to the money exchange at Bencoolen to do a comparison so I deliberately got off the subway on my way back to Admiralty. I remembered the first thought I had when my mom came out of this shop was that this place had a really good rate. I walked in and guess what? The rate was1 USD to 1.36 SGD!

I didn't know the name of the place but with a simple Google search, I found out the place is called Top Xchange, which surprisingly has a 2.3 stars rating. It offered a great USD rate but I guess other rates weren't as great?