How to Know Final AUD Amount When Buying from Overseas Online Store (Item in USD)

Lurbancartel on 05/10/2017 - 20:24
Last edited 06/10/2017 - 20:14 by 1 other user

Hi guys,

I'm wondering if anybody knows how I can work out the price that I will be charged when purchasing an item from an American online store…The store is Walmart and I was planning on buying an item and shipping back to Australia via Shopmate.

Options are to pay by either Credit Card or PayPal and I can't work out the best way (cheapest) for the transaction.

I don't have a fee free international transaction card - just a NAB credit card.

If an item is $100 USD what's the best way to tell what I will be charged AUD on my statement -
If I check the NAB foreign exchange rate it says
https://www.nab.com.au/personal/international/foreign-exchan… $133.35
If I check google rates it's 100 US Dollar equals 127.71 Australian Dollar

Do I just wing it and see what the final amount is or is there a way going forward to know in advance what the amount will be

Also not sure wether to pay PayPal or by CC

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers

• 

  chcse on 05/10/2017 - 20:31

  I am with NAB as well and even with the transaction fee on top it is better than Paypal's rates (but not by too much). Rough estimate I use is just knock off 3c from exchange rate from Google as the conversion (so 75c AUD to USD, A$133 sounds about right).

  • 

    urbancartel on 05/10/2017 - 20:39

    So still no sure way to find out? Hoping someone has some information to know exactly what I will be charged…Thanks for the info though ;)

    • 

      chcse on 05/10/2017 - 21:00

      The best I can find is the fees section https://www.nab.com.au/personal/help-and-guidance/personal-b….

      So I'm guessing you will be charged NAB's official exchange rate plus 3% as the transaction fee.

      • 

        Kenb0 on 05/10/2017 - 21:19

        +3

        Ignore NAB's exchange rates, they're not relevant to what you're asking about. Do you have a visa or MasterCard credit card? You'll be getting either the visa/MasterCard exchange rate+an extra 3% on top

      • 

        urbancartel on 05/10/2017 - 21:37

        @Kenb0:

        Ahh I see - yeah it's a NAB Visa Card, is there a way to check the Visa exchange rate that the bank would use? Thanks heaps for the info

      • 

        urbancartel on 05/10/2017 - 21:42

        @Kenb0:

        Think I found it https://www.visa.com.au/travel-with-visa/exchange-rate-calcu…

        It has the option to add the 3% so is great - cheers

      • 

        Kenb0 on 05/10/2017 - 22:30

        +1

        @urbancartel: no worries mate, and looks like you found the right site to check visa's exchange rates as well.

        One thing to be aware of is that you'll get the exchange rate when the transaction is actually processed, which may be a few days from when you actually made the purchase through the store. So if the exchange rates fluctuate a fair bit from when you made the purchase, expect the rate you'll end up getting to change as well

      • 

        ilikeradiohead on 06/10/2017 - 18:53

        @Kenb0: Just expanding on this if others are wondering, the exchange rate calculator is relevant for money transfers or if you go into a branch to exchange money (two things you should not do if you're trying to keep costs down). As mentioned below Visa/Mastercard list their forex rates and what you are charged will be very similar to what is listed on the website (but unlikely to be identical due to the timing of the payment).

        If you want to do a money transfer I've heard that transferwise is cost effective (although I haven't used it myself).
        If you want foreign cash go to an ATM when you land and take money out then. Nine times out of ten this will be better value than going to a forex counter at a bank or the airport.

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  spackbace on 05/10/2017 - 20:39

  What's the item? I doubt it will be cost effective with Shopmate

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    urbancartel on 05/10/2017 - 20:41

    It's a HDD so pretty light - i'm looking at buying a few to keep postage down… Estimate it would be around $40 shipping for 4 units which will then be cheaper than buying off Amazon

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  sschen on 06/10/2017 - 02:57

  +5

  I know this doesn't answer your question.

  If you regularly shop on international websites that charges in US currency (or other foreign currency), you really will be better off in the long run and will save lots of $$ by using an international transaction fee free credit card like a GE Money 28 Degrees card. This card doesn't charge you an annual fee anyway.

  I used to pay using my ANZ credit card, and on bigger ticket items, the transaction fees really do add up. One day, I decided enough is enough so I started taking snapshot of the exchange rate using xe.com on the day the purchase was made, then I compare it against the final amount on my ANZ credit card statement. That was when I found that it was consistently 3-4% more. So if you are buying a A$100 item, you are paying $3-$4 to the bank!!

  When I switched to the GE Money card, I used the same practice, and the charged amount that appeared on my statement was consistently within a few cents (small price items) of the snapshot figure I took off xe.com.

  Also, you can pay using paypal without incuring foreign transaction fee, as long as you chose to let the credit card (28 degrees card or other international fee free cards only!) handles the foreign currency conversion.

  • 

    CLoSeR on 06/10/2017 - 08:02

    +2

    or CitiBank Plus Debit Card

  • 

    urbancartel on 06/10/2017 - 11:29

    Thanks for your response - I didn't want another credit card so took the advice of the forum and applied for a Citibank Plus account with Debit Card :) Great Info so thanks again!