sethomopod Posted July 11, 2009 Hey, Can anyone.. (maybe Torsten) explain why when buying something from SAB.. an Australian store!, and paying via Paypal, I have to pay in USD?? This is crazy!!! I put in an order of $133.50, but I end up paying $140.55 because of currency conversion.... A transaction made within my own fucking country!!!! What the fuck is up with this??? Maybe I don't understand a certain business principle, and therefore get upset with this.. But I would love to know why.... Maybe the very small fee involved with Paypal transactions? Even though $7 extra is alot more than the percentage charged by Paypal...... Anyone able to help me understand this???? Cheers.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted July 11, 2009 I've been running paypal accounts since long before paypal was available in australia, so my oirignal SAB account was in US$ simply because no AU$ option was available. When paypal came to oz a few years ago I tried to get the webstore to work in AU$, but it wouldn't. I then got a new AU$ paypal account thinking that this might fix it, but again no luck. A few months ago I hired an oscommerce developer and he also could not solve the problem. He seems to think that I have modified oscommerce so heavily that I may have removed or disabled bits of code that may make this possible. Until 12 months ago this wasn't much of an issue. Currencies moved so slowly that as long as I did a weekly currency update it would never be out by more than a few cents [up or down]. Then the credit crunch happened and currencies started drifting at phenomenal rates - sometimes overnight. I've been updating the currency twice a week, but even that doesn't seem to be enough. It's a fucked up situation. When the exchange elaves me short it's bad for business and if it leaves the customer short it's even worse for business. All I can suggest is to either pay by a different method or check out using 'cash in mail' and then make payment via paypal to [email protected] in AU$. [i am happy to either refund the full amount to you seth so you can pay the exact amount in AU$, or I can try and approximate a partial refund. I am redesigning the whole shop and will hopefully move to new software in the next few months. This payment problem is one of the main reasons for the change. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sethomopod Posted July 12, 2009 I've been running paypal accounts since long before paypal was available in australia, so my oirignal SAB account was in US$ simply because no AU$ option was available.When paypal came to oz a few years ago I tried to get the webstore to work in AU$, but it wouldn't. I then got a new AU$ paypal account thinking that this might fix it, but again no luck. A few months ago I hired an oscommerce developer and he also could not solve the problem. He seems to think that I have modified oscommerce so heavily that I may have removed or disabled bits of code that may make this possible. Until 12 months ago this wasn't much of an issue. Currencies moved so slowly that as long as I did a weekly currency update it would never be out by more than a few cents [up or down]. Then the credit crunch happened and currencies started drifting at phenomenal rates - sometimes overnight. I've been updating the currency twice a week, but even that doesn't seem to be enough. It's a fucked up situation. When the exchange elaves me short it's bad for business and if it leaves the customer short it's even worse for business. All I can suggest is to either pay by a different method or check out using 'cash in mail' and then make payment via paypal to [email protected] in AU$. [i am happy to either refund the full amount to you seth so you can pay the exact amount in AU$, or I can try and approximate a partial refund. I am redesigning the whole shop and will hopefully move to new software in the next few months. This payment problem is one of the main reasons for the change. Cool, Thanks for clearing that up Torsten, I'll just stick to bank transfers until the new software comes about.. No need to refund, an extra seed packet would make me a happy customer tho! Cheers... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TG83 Posted August 16, 2009 (edited) Paypal tend to be a bit dodgy in their exchange rates also, when you pass them an AUD amount and request it to be changed over to USD they usually add a little bit on top of the actual going exchange rate at the time. I've usually always forked out an extra $3 or so on $60USD purchases when using Paypal due to their incorrect exchange quotes. There may be a way to link directly to XE to grab the current exchange rate details, and pass the information directly into the database using a cron script set to update every hour or so. I'd have to see if XE offer that kind of service for free of whether it is subscription. Is the store pointing to paypal.com/au/... or just paypal.com/... I found that fixed the problem in a lot of cases where USD was enforced also. Your Australian account will still work via the US server, its basically the same just minor changes, except when pointing to the worldwide site it will automatically render the price in USD. There is a few other things too in terms of the Paypal modules, I use an API system on all the OSC installs which is much more secure than the standard ones and resolved a lot of related issues including the currency problem. I've got a bit of experience working with OSC and Paypal so I could offer some free advice if needed, feel free to pm me Edited August 16, 2009 by TG83 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted August 16, 2009 that .com/au issue seemed to easy to be the solution. and it was. It didn't fix it. will contact you by pm. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dbbard Posted August 17, 2009 I just got a discount in the conversion of about $2.5 on $65! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted August 17, 2009 like I said, it works both ways. however customers rarely complain if it's in their favour ;) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dbbard Posted August 19, 2009 like I said, it works both ways. however customers rarely complain if it's in their favour ;) Make that 2 discounts in last 2 transactions!!!!!! (Had some go the other way before, what to do?) Cheers No complaints either way. Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paymmerbimimb Posted November 28, 2009 Is there a way to change the currency conversion default on my Nuvi 1300. I am taking a trip to Japan and would like it to stay on Japanese Yen to US Dollars as the default when I turn it on. Then I wont have to set it up every time I am looking for a conversion rate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
