Are the exchange rates used by *Amazon Currency Converter* good or bad? I usually pay with my credit card and I pay an extra 1.3% commission for Euro payments in addition to an exchange rate determined by the credit card company (I assume). But how can I do a simple comparison? Right now I could either surf the net for an hour (which probably wastes more time than all future savings are worth...) trying to find the exchange rates my credit card company would use today if I would in fact pay today. Or I could just decide to support Amazon instead of my credit card company. Or I could make two Euro purchases on the same day and discover the truth a few weeks later... Hmm...
Time passes.
Right now Amazon says it is using
1 USD = **1.607047778** CHF
That’s weird, since the bill is listing Euros. 😄
xe.com says
00 EUR = **1.55336** CHF
Looking for “Devisenverkaufskurs” on the websites of the two banks I use:
1 EUR = 1,53315 CHF (Tagesmittelkurs) ¹ 1 EUR = 1.5532 CHF (Devisenkurs, Verkauf, less than 50k CHF) ²
So, my Swiss bank is in fact offering the best exchange rate!
But **the credit card company is asking for a 1.5% commission**. Does that compensate?
(1.6070-1.5532)_1.5532 = .03463 _
I guess **Amazon is asking for the equivalent of a 3.5% commission**.
Aaaaah.
#Web
(Please contact me if you want to remove your comment.)
⁂
Ok, must remember this:
Bestellungsübersicht Amazon.de Artikel: EUR 23,27 Verpackung & Versand EUR 0,00 Gesamtsumme ohne MwSt.: EUR 23,27 MwSt.: EUR 0,00 Gesamtbestellwert: EUR 23,27 Rechnungssumme: CHF 35,79
I’m ordering in EUR anyway and want to compare. 😄
(The same book at Analph costs CHF 43,70.)
– Alex Schroeder 2009-01-21 11:32 UTC
---
Well, it turns out that I was charged CHF 35.15 + a commission of 1.25% _ 0.45 = CHF 35.60 for the EUR 23.27. That’s *very* close to what Amazon would have charged. I guess the Swiss banks are not overcharging. 😄_
– Alex Schroeder 2009-01-30 23:38 UTC
---
Don’t know which card type you’re using. If you’re using any kind of Visa card, you have the exchange rates here:
http://www.corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp?src=ex_rez
Select “My card is in: Swiss francs (CHF)”, “Convert to: Euro (EUR)” and “Enter bank fee: 1.25”. This should give you the exchange rate used for a Visa card with the same bank surcharge. If you’re using Mastercard or some other kind of card, there is probably an exchange rate available somewhere else.
Note that if you select Amazon’s currency converter, the exchange rate is determined instantly when you buy the items, but if you use your card company’s currency converter, the exchange rate is typically determined a couple of days after Amazon has sent the item. The currency exchange rates may change during these few days.
My experience is that it is almost always more expensive to let a shop convert the currency for you, than letting your card company converting it.
– Anonymous 2009-09-02 20:46 UTC