UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has written to the foreign exchange company, eurochange, raising concerns that customers appear unable to sell Israeli shekels back to the company, despite eurochange’s website expressly advertising a shekel buy-back service.

Eurochange’s website has a dedicated page headed “Sell Back Your Israeli Shekels”, inviting customers to exchange leftover shekels for pounds online at one of more than 240 branches. It also states that customers can exchange shekels “whether you bought them from us or elsewhere”.

credit: Luthfi Nur Amalia, Google Maps

However, UKLFI found that attempts to sell Israeli shekels through eurochange’s website produced messages including “We can’t buy Israeli shekel right now – check back soon!” and “Unavailable Currency – ILS is not available at this store”. The same result appeared when a number of branches around the UK were selected.

UKLFI’s concerns were increased by a call to eurochange customer support on 14 August 2026. The customer-support agent said that eurochange would only buy Israeli shekels if they had originally been purchased from eurochange. When asked whether that restriction applied to all currencies, the agent said that it applied only to Israeli shekels. The reason given was that shekels were low in stock and eurochange did not use them much.

That explanation appears difficult to reconcile with eurochange’s website, which says shekels bought elsewhere can be exchanged, and with the fact that eurochange continues to sell Israeli shekels to customers.

UKLFI also tested eurochange’s online buy-back facility with a range of other currencies. Kuwaiti dinars, Colombian pesos, Peruvian soles, Icelandic krona, Vietnamese dong, Kenyan shillings, Thai baht and Mauritian rupees were all accepted with live buy-back rates and sterling values.

By contrast, when Israeli shekels were added to the same basket, the system displayed “₪undefined”, then “£NaN”, and a notice stating “Buy rate not found for currency ILS”. The screenshots supplied with UKLFI’s letter show the shekel failing alongside other currencies that were accepted normally.

UKLFI has asked eurochange to clarify its policy and to explain whether any special restriction applies to Israeli shekels and, if so, why.

It has also raised concerns that the apparent treatment of the shekel may have implications under the Equality Act 2010. UKLFI says a policy of refusing to buy Israeli shekels, or accepting them only when originally purchased from eurochange, could particularly disadvantage Israeli nationals and members of the British Jewish community, who are more likely than others to hold Israeli currency acquired elsewhere.

UKLFI has has also pointed out that advertising a buy-back service which is either unavailable or subject to an unpublished restriction could constitute a misleading commercial practice contrary to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

UKLFI has also written to Western Union, which owns Eurochange.

A UKLFI spokesperson said:

“Eurochange’s website expressly tells customers that they can sell Israeli shekels back to the company, including shekels bought elsewhere, yet its online system appears not to permit this and customer services has reportedly described a restriction applying only to Israeli currency.

“Eurochange should explain clearly what its policy is, why Israeli shekels appear to be treated differently, and ensure that customers are treated fairly and without discrimination.”