Amazon US Conversion to AUD Overcharging?

Lalox on 10/07/2017 - 12:10
Last edited 10/07/2017 - 13:52 by 1 other user

Hello all!

I've just bought a 1080ti from Amazon.com, as I saw it for $699 which equates to around $940 according to Google.
It ended up being $722USD including shipping.

I expected to see a charge of around $950, but the Amazon converter said it would be $982… I thought this was odd, but thought it was because of a surcharge using Amazon to convert the currency. So I paid in USD, hoping it would cost MAX $955.

Now, my account has been charged OVER $982… Not only am I annoyed that it's around $30 more than I thought it should have been, but I'm also really concerned that I'll have to pay import tax.

I am very tempted to cancel the order, but I'm wondering if this is normal.

I noticed people have uploaded Amazon deals in the past that seem to have correct currency conversion.

Thank you in advance for any help provided!

Financial

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Comments

  • scotty on 10/07/2017 - 12:20
    +2

    If you are paying in USD, what credit card do you use? If you use credit cards without foreign transaction fee, it should just be using Visa / Mastercard's conversion rate, which is still slight worse than what Google would quote you but should not be over $30 more.

    • alox on 10/07/2017 - 12:46

      I paid in USD, using my MyState (VISA) debit card. Didn't expect it to be more than what Amazon quoted :(

      Do you know what the limit is for not paying import tax? I feel that I'm very close!

      Thank you for your response!

      • scotty on 10/07/2017 - 12:57
        +1

        If you pay in AUD on Amazon, it has very bad exchange rate.

        However if you pay in USD but does not use a card that has no foreign exchange fee, you'll probably pay 2-3% more in fees, which might be the case here.

        Check out Cards with no No Overseas Transaction Fees. Every OzBargainer should have at least one of these cards :)

  • pantsparty on 10/07/2017 - 12:37
    +1

    Amazon always has a bad exchange rate if you pay in AUD. I always pay in USD using my 28 degrees card.

    • CLoSeR on 10/07/2017 - 14:27
      +1

      Citibank Plus Debit card works well too; great rate and zero fees!

      • Amaris on 10/07/2017 - 14:41

        And now Commbank Platinum or Diamond Amex cards too. Can get points at 2/2.5 per $ and as I found out recently a great exchange rate.

  • NotJustChickenDinner on 10/07/2017 - 12:59
    +3

    wait .. $699 which equates to around $940 according to Google.
    but adding $23 USD more and you expect it to be $10 more you said you expected $950 ..
    It ended up being $722USD including shipping.

    • alox on 10/07/2017 - 15:08

      Oops, mistyped. Sorry about that. Google says 722 = 749. So it's like $34 more than expected.
      Not the biggest deal, but it's just annoying as I was on the fence about buying it for $950.

      Thank you all for the help!

  • indium on 10/07/2017 - 13:42
    +2

    Your mystate debit card should have charged you a 3% fee which would have been similar to the amazon exchange rate of $982. How much over this amount were you charged? You are actually lucky you did not select to pay in AUD. Even though you choose AUD your bank would still charge you a 3% fee as it counts as an overseas transaction and you would have been charged 1.03 x $982 = $1011

    If I were you I'd sign up to citibank or something similar with no overseas transaction fees for future purchases and maybe not cancel the order because it takes time to receive card to be able to make the purchase again.

    • Baysew on 10/07/2017 - 13:52
      +2

      You have paid US$722 including shipping. Amazon has not done any "converting" or "overcharging" at all.

      As phew states, the extra is what your bank - MyState- has added on to the transaction.

      The GST threshold is $1000, which you are below.

      • alox on 10/07/2017 - 16:03

        Thank you for the explanation. I'm new to having money and being able to buy things ..

        Damn MyState! Going to get a card for this purpose for sure…

  • foxmulder on 12/07/2017 - 13:55

    Hi I didn't realized such thing happen to Amazon purchases, have been purchasing them for a year with 28 Degrees credit card.

    Here is my finding yesterday:
    I purchase the same item twice of USD 12.99 each
    1. AUD conversion selected, it charged 17.77
    2. USD conversion selected, it charged 17.10 - 67c (3.77%) cheaper

    Purchase in eBay.com is also similar, with card conversion is cheaper than PayPal conversion.

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