Hey guys, with AUD so strong against YEN I’m considering buying some as I’m heading back there again in Jan 25.
I know it’s far away, I’m not sure if Yen will further dip.
Where is the best place to buy Yen in Sydney?
Thanks in advance!
Best Place to Buy Some JPY?
sauce2k on 04/04/2024 - 19:16
Comments
Yeh I know but given the trip is awhile away, I want to lock in some now
Best place to buy some JPY?
John Paul Young albums are available at all good record shops.
Who is John Paul Young?
hahah u know that’s not what I meant but thx for a good laugh
KVB Kunlun / KVB Global was the best place for bulk cash to cash conversions last time I did it. You can book online.
R they still good? Have y used them recently?
Only if it is worth it.
Last time I used them was 2013 when the AUD to GBP rate was 0.69, an all time high. So worth the time and effort and financial considerations to go and change ~$10k AUD for some GBP travel money later in the year. When I finally travelled it was down to 0.58, so even including the penalties for exchange rates at a retailer, and the cost of holding cash versus direct withdraw from a competitive bank exchange rate and interest gained on savings it was quite significant. I calcluated at the time it saved around $1k AUD conservatively, allowing for costs associated with my time of going to the bank, withdrawing the cash, setting up a time at KVB, waiting.. exchanging etc.. Not to mention to hassle/stress of travelling with that much cash on you.
The AUD:JPY rate has been within 7-8% of where it currently is for more than two years now. Are you sure it is worth the effort considering "the penalties for exchange rates at a retailer, and the cost of holding cash versus direct withdraw from a competitive bank exchange rate and interest gained on savings" in 2025 when rates may still be north of 90+ ?
transfer some to a prepaid travel card
I would look at the prepaid travel card rates around. The rates wont be market parity but they are sometimes close enough.
I went to Japan last month and paid for almost everything on my Suica card. Get a digital card and load it up with your no international transaction fee credit card - this should cover most of what you need and will get you the best exchange rate.
Thanks for this I did this too last month.
Maybe I’m not being clear, my post mentioned I’m going 2025 hence why I want to lock in some currency rate now
Top up your Suica card now - this will lock in the exchange rate now and also give you the benefit of not needing to carry cash.
Most restaurants/shopping can’t use suica.
I’m wanting to potentially lock $3k
What is the exchange rate based on if loading the Suica card now. The banks rate the card is with? BTW - I’m travelling in Nov this year so just trying to work out the best strategy for money seeing the rate is good right now.
Yes, it’s based on the exchange rate of the credit card you use to top it up with
wise/revolut
This
Got an old JPY vinyl album , bit scratchy after all these years, but I could be persuaded to sell, :)
I've been loading up on my wise account, also going jan 2025. Great exchange rate rn!
What’s the rate on wise? Thx
100.1160
Is it like a bank account?
Wise.
But you’re probably too late. The Yen has already bottomed outWoot lol
Do it now. AUD1.00 = ¥100.2 (Wise)
Merged from Currency Exchange Sydney - Japanese Yen
Hi all, looking to buy some Yen before a trip.
Where do you guys recommend in Sydney?
I used to go to KVB Kunlun but keen to if anyone is better these days.
Thanks
Hurstville Westfield yesterday was around 106Y. The one close to Starbucks at the ground floor.
That would not be the sell rate, unless they were trying to go out of business.
lol imagine that’s was their sell rate 😂
Try QV.
I've been loading up JPY into my WISE debit card over time, which I plan to use there for an upcoming trip in July. I was there in Jan/Feb and it seems Japan is a lot less (physical) cash reliant than when I last went in 2020. Otherwise, I'll just withdraw JPY cash in 7-11 ATMs whilst there.
Wow what did you do in Jan/feb? Snows? And then going back again in July which I heard gets hot and humid 🤪
So I just went in March but did you take any JPY from 7/11 atm? Coz we had Citibank and the atm still charges their own atm fee , was ¥100-200 each withdrawal. I heard aeon bank atm are free but didn’t get a chance. We brought $300 aud worth of yen but we ended up taking money would so we spent 1k in total cash for 2 weeks for family of 4 with the rest on card. Cash is still required depending where you are going as well eg you go Tokyo and most will accept card but go somewhere local then you’ll see them only accepting cash
Understand what your doing with wise but remember wise just only has 300aud worth each calendar month for withdrawals then it goes int the fixed / variable fee.
Anyhow to go to OP question, I would recommend United currency at Haymarket, they are the best rates and no fee for currency exchange.
Yes I remember kvb, they used to be at town hall but then looks like they moved and then you need to make an appointment to see them, too much trouble so yeah United currency !yup was there for the snows in Rusutsu, so the upcoming trip will be a very diff (and hot) experience…
In my Jan trip I was using a combination of Macq Bank ATM cash withdraw & credit card. Macq Bank charged no transaction fees, however, I found their FX rate was very far off the mid rate so you implicitly pay for fees via their FX rate, and the Japanese ATMs will still charge 100-200JPY anyway which cannot be avoided. Credit card was slapping a few dollars on everything I'm aiming to avoid that also.
My upcoming strategy for July is to spend using the WISE card directly (i.e. tap or chip & pin), as opposed to withdrawing cash with it. So instead of tapping my credit card I will tap my WISE card and if I understand correctly, tapping against its JPY balance (which I have been accumulating) should be fee-free. I'll still probably need a few hundred AUD worth of JPY in physical notes as an emergency, but overall I found that card tapping is much more commonplace now.
@ShoeyAU: Nice how was the snows?
You should’ve used other cards, ing direct has free international transactions, 28 degrees the same. I have the top CBA card and it includes free international transactions to the current Mastercard exchange rate and I liked it because the transaction statement shows how much yen you were charged for
I can understand you using wise for tap and go but the only disadvantage/ advantage is that it’s locked to the rate you exchanged it at. If you manage to lock in the current rate I think that’s good coz eventually it will go lower well that’s my theory but either way anything above ¥100 is good. But if it keeps going higher then using standard credit card which exchanges at that time is better than wise. Wise is kinda a guessing game when to lock it in, I locked in 6k worth when it was ¥100 then it went higher and I was like doh lol but I’m only doing this for a future trip since I went recrnrly
@prankster: We had a few powder days but it was not a good season as earlier years, but as an overall experience, still beats the Aust snow so can't complain right :)
Indeed I should have gotten one of the travel CCs like 28deg. In fact its probably a good time to get one now and just use whichever is more favourable on the day, although like you said right now its above 100yen per dollar so can't really go too wrong stocking up.
@ShoeyAU: ah damm sorry to hear it wasn't as good as last year, as long as you had some powder days then its all good and you are right, whatever you get in japan will still beat aus snow lol
enjoy japan in July, i'm pretty sure coz it'll be hot and humid, you might get away with walking with thongs and singlet? maybe if thats allowed in japan culture? lol
Anybody with Macquarie. What rate you get when withdrawing from debit Card in Japan.
From my own tracking, the Macq Bank FX rate is about ~5% worse than the Google mid rate, but no fees charged by MB but a small (100-200yen) fee charged by the Japanese ATM operator.
no fees charged by MB doesn't really offset their crappy bank fx rate overall yeah?
Similar to OP, but I’m travelling (family of 3) in Nov this year to Japan so just trying to work out the best strategy for money seeing the rate is good right now.
Option could be to preload a wise card, perhaps with 700AUD worth of JPY to lock in the 101 rate, or get a digital Suica card and preload now with an international fee free card (I’m not sure what the exchange rate would be though). Thoughts?
You will never get as good a rate as buying it in country.
Travelex currently in Sydney - 95.6072 JPY
Ginza Exchange - 97.00
Actual exchange atm - 100.07761