This may be off-topic but is nonetheless relevant to some members.

I am wondering if anyone has had problems in exchange rate transactions when buying goods.

For example, I recently bought a piece of software for $149 US - the company handling the transaction charged my credit card about $170 Canadian, even though there was only a difference of a couple of cents between the US and the Canadian dollars.

I complained to the software vendor who passed it onto the company handling the transaction. That company told the software vendor it was a fair difference, that martket rates are taxed diligently, and it was more reasonable than if my credit card had been directly charged.

I said I didn't think so, and checked with my bank manager who agreed with me.

So I wonder how common this sort of a situation is.

Thanks.

Daly

I live in the U.S., but I've seen the same discrepancy in pricing both for software and books.

Does Canada have a VAT? That may explain the difference. Also, at one time the Canadian dollar had a lesser value than the U.S. dollar. It may be that sellers are unknowingly or knowingly (=cheating you) using a years-old exchange rate.

There is also a slight charge for currency conversion, but if the software comes from a country other than Canada or the U.S., that charge should be essentially the same.

Cassius, thanks for the reply.

We have a VAT, which is called the GST, but which is not an issue in this case

Our dollar has been hovering in a few cent range below and sometimes above the US dollar for long enough that the good folk at Digital River should know what the rate is. However, that didn't stop DR from telling NovaMind that it was all a fair deal and I would have been charged more if it had gone through directly on my credit card without DR's benevolent intervention.

I think NovaMind is embarrassed by this situation. It's a company which works hard to put out a good product at a fair price and, because a lot of software companies use Digital River, probably thought it was a good company.

After I saw my bank statement and the almost $20 more than the pruchase price which DR charged my credit card, I then remember I had a similar problem with DR and MyInfo. At that time DR mislead Petko, and I couldn't be bothered fighting.

But I'm on a long term medical disability, have a car which just died, and I'm damned if I am going to let some company which is getting a commission from his client for the services provided to further enrich itself by playing interest rate games.

Even my bank, which has been rated by Bloomberg's as the strongest in North America was put out by the slur DR cast its way.

I guess I am very angry at this situation.

Thanks again for writing. :)

Daly

Cassius wrote:

I live in the U.S., but I've seen the same discrepancy in pricing both for software and
books.

Does Canada have a VAT? That may explain the difference. Also, at one time the
Canadian dollar had a lesser value than the U.S. dollar. It may be that sellers are
unknowingly or knowingly (=cheating you) using a years-old exchange rate.

There
is also a slight charge for currency conversion, but if the software comes from a
country other than Canada or the U.S., that charge should be essentially the same.

Hi from a fellow Canadian. I have never experienced what you're describing from a transaction "handler", including Digital River, but DR sounds like a bunch of creeps on this, and I hope you continue to pursue them.

The only thing that could remotely make sense is that they are charging you 13% HST, which brings the total close to 170. However, that's not what they appear to be saying, and it certainly isn't THEIR business to charge you taxes of any sort anyway.

I do thank you for sharing your experience. It'll make me think twice about having any transactions handled by DR in future.

Regards from Central Ontario!

Jon

Another strange story (has nothing to do with Digital River, in this case): In the US you can buy a download licence for Inspiration for $59 (at the moment, you get it even at a discounted price of $29). The SAME product (English, no German version, download only) costs in Germany 69 Euro - which is $86.
Argh.

Franz

Franz Grieser wrote:

Another strange story (has nothing to do with Digital River, in this case): In the US
you can buy a download licence for Inspiration for $59 (at the moment, you get it even at
a discounted price of $29). The SAME product (English, no German version, download
only) costs in Germany 69 Euro - which is $86.
Argh.

Try some of the UK dealers through the Inspiration website, the prices seem better (e.g. £36.58) than in Germany. You might even get a further discount if you have an academic affiliation.

Dr Andus

Try some of the UK dealers through the Inspiration website, the prices
seem better (e.g. GBP36.58) than in Germany. You might even get a further discount
if you have an academic affiliation.

Sorry, that's excluding VAT. So it's more like : GBP43.89

Dr. A.

That's better. Yes.
I downloaded the trial and will see if it's worth the price for me.

Franz

Oh yeah - ShareIt, Digital River, RegNow - all the same parent company and all do the same rotten "fee on top of conversion rate". Must be because each of the branches of Digital River seems to have their own unexplained mark-up on currency conversion purchases. I first noticed this with ShareIt a few years ago. (Actually in March 2006). The overcharge can be astronomical.

If the vendor offers more than one ecommerce processor - even though all are part of Digital River - check the price with them all; you will be surprised at the differences you find. As a test, try placing a copy of Archivarius (desktop search engine) in their shopping cart and then look at the check-out price with both ShareIt and RegNow. I tried it again in July 2012 and got the following prices:

Personal License = 29.95 €
Xe.com converts this to $36.75 US (Basis)
Share*It shows price as $40.04 US ( 9% Adder? )
RegNow shows price as $46.70 US ( 27% Adder? )


Plain old-fashioned robbery IMO.

Jim McGowan

(copied from the Inspiration U.S. thread)

These sites may offer a possible solution; and, as long as you use an intermediary like Paypal for payments, there would be no mismatch between your credit card address and shipping address:

http://bongous.com
http://www.myus.com
http://www.usamail1.com

Please I have not tried them myself.