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Amazon/Ryanair Sterling/Euro ripoff

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  • 19-11-2016 5:35pm
    #1
    power101
    Registered Users Posts: 300 ✭✭


    It's that time of year again when people are buying gifts and flights etc so i think it's time to remind people that if you are buying in sterling make sure you pay in sterling. If you take the euro value on the website you are going to pay up to 7% more for your purchase. My previous thread dealing with this issue

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057342535

    Today's example is Ryanair but the same applies for Amazon.co.uk and many other UK websites.

    I purchased a flight from the UK to Ireland for £54.99. Ryanair automatically changed the price to €68.67 because of my euro denominated card. On xe.com £54.99 = €64.09 and I got charged by my bank €64.49 as I changed the amount back to sterling on their website.

    So in essence you can let your bank take a 40c exchange fee or you can let Ryanair take a €4.58 (7.1%) fee.

    xnqeD
    dWHHK
    [IMG][/img]yQ9wxsQ.png
    Tagged:


Comments

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    #2
    snubbleste
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 31,117 ✭✭✭✭snubbleste


    Yeah, we know.


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    #3
    SteoL
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,545 ✭✭✭SteoL


    I bought a phone on Amazon a few weeks back. Difference between xe.com and the € denominated amount on amazon was €2. Bank would have charged that in FX fees so end result was the same.


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    #4
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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    #5
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    Fred Swanson wrote: »
    This post has been deleted.

    Fred, I think you phrased that incorrectly as you are clearly saying that you should not take the vendor's exchange rate. The 'currency of the card' means Euros for Irish people but when buying from (e.g.) Amazon UK, you should always pay in sterling i.e. the vendor's currency.

    I made a note on several occasions of the Euro amount I was being offered by Amazon UK, I declined and paid in sterling and in every case, the credit card conversion was better that that offered by Amazon.


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    #6
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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    #7
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    It's also something you need to watch when checking into a hotel outside the Euro zone - they often present you with the CC machine and the holding amount they're looking for is in Euros. Don't think that you can sort it all out and flip back to the local currency when checking out as that causes all sorts of problems, you need to firmly tell them that you want the entire transaction to be in their currency from the get-go.


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    #8
    dudara
    Registered Users Posts: 33,519 ✭✭✭✭dudara


    Posters - while many of us may be aware of this topic, there are plenty of other readers who are likely not aware. Having a thread on this topic in this busy shopping period is beneficial. So no "yawn" comments please

    dudara


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    #9
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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    #10
    TheDriver
    Registered Users Posts: 12,409 ✭✭✭✭TheDriver


    I was buying on eBay and the PayPal bit came up embedded in the eBay page with no option to pay in the sterling currency.


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    #11
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    TheDriver wrote: »
    I was buying on eBay and the PayPal bit came up embedded in the eBay page with no option to pay in the sterling currency.

    Was the seller based in the UK? If he was, what did the GBP/EUR exchange rate look like? If he wasn't, why would you expect a sterling option?


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    #12
    CelticRambler
    Registered Users Posts: 6,718 ✭✭✭CelticRambler


    You do need to check your card's/bank's T&Cs aswell, though, when making non-Eurozone purchases. This mightn't be so much of a problem in Ireland with standard credit cards, but if you're using a pre-paid debit card, or a non-Irish card as I do, there's a fee for foreign currency transactions which can be more than the Ryanair/Amazon/Paypal margin.


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    #13
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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    #14
    CelticRambler
    Registered Users Posts: 6,718 ✭✭✭CelticRambler


    Not when there's a minimum fee of 2€50 ...


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    #15
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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    #16
    Sono
    Registered Users Posts: 2,382 ✭✭✭Sono


    Why aren't people using revolut cards when using any of these sites that's what I would like to know, thread on bargain alerts thread.


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    #17
    theteal
    Registered Users Posts: 7,593 ✭✭✭theteal


    Sono wrote: »
    Why aren't people using revolut cards when using any of these sites that's what I would like to know, thread on bargain alerts thread.

    people assume that such things are complicated or there's a catch. I tried to get 3 irish based friends who were coming over here to meet me to get revolut cards for easy sterling transactions plus to transfer money each owed to me. Not one of them did it. They all opted to pay charges to a bank to do it instead.


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    #18
    CelticRambler
    Registered Users Posts: 6,718 ✭✭✭CelticRambler


    Sono wrote: »
    Why aren't people using revolut cards when using any of these sites that's what I would like to know

    Because you need a smartphone.


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    #19
    Sono
    Registered Users Posts: 2,382 ✭✭✭Sono


    CelticRambler wrote: »
    Because you need a smartphone.

    Yeah I suppose, not many people have a smart phone these days.....


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