Amazon "Pay in euro" -Beware

power101 · 10-12-2014 11:54PM #1

Amazon now offer a pay in euro function when buying from Ireland. In my case I bought a phone for £134.35. They quoted €176.64 on amazon to Pay in euro, however I took the sterling price and was charged €171.26 on my AIB Visa Debit card. Saving of €5.38 or 3% off the exchange rate they offered.

Just something to keep in mind, especially at this time of year! Take the sterling rate on amazon!!

Kenny Logins · 10-12-2014 11:59PM

power101 wrote: »

Amazon now offer a pay in euro function when buying from Ireland. In my case I bought a phone for £134.35. They quoted €176.64 on amazon to Pay in euro, however I took the sterling price and was charged €171.26 on my AIB Visa Debit card. Saving of €5.38 or 3% off the exchange rate they offered.

Just something to keep in mind, especially at this time of year! Take the sterling rate on amazon!!

*Don't?

power101 · 11-12-2014 12:01AM

Kenny Logins wrote: »

*Don't?

Nope it's correct. Take the sterling rate. Don't take the euro rate.

flowerific · 11-12-2014 12:04AM

Yeh noticed that before and always pay in gbp now. Good to spread the word. Thanks

The Backwards Man · 11-12-2014 12:07AM

Always try and pay in the local currency you are buying from as a general rule

Kristopherus · 11-12-2014 12:08AM

power101 wrote: »

Nope it's correct. Take the sterling rate. Don't take the euro rate.

Did you factor in the currency conversion fee that your bank will apply?

I get a lot of stuff from Amazon.uk and I have found that there's sfa difference whichever way you choose to pay

meathman0 · 11-12-2014 12:09AM

I always use PayPal , and think they give a bad rate, would I be better paying by credit card direct?

Kenny Logins · 11-12-2014 12:10AM

power101 wrote: »

Nope it's correct. Take the sterling rate. Don't take the euro rate.

The Sterling price on Amazon, not the (exchange) rate, yeah? (Just to clear it up)

better call saul · 11-12-2014 12:11AM

Check out the visa currency conversion site it will tell you what you'll be charged, you can also input your banks conversion fee too. On mobile so can't link, but good advice OP, in general always charge to your card in sterling

ninebeanrows · 11-12-2014 12:13AM

It is just like on an ATM abroad, you never take the rate on screen as it is just a way to rip you off!

Ryanair often try it when youre booking a flight too.

Charlie-Bravo · 11-12-2014 12:22AM

My recent purchase on amazon was with a credit card...so out of 300 euro I saved 3 euro by selecting Stg. So 1% difference for me. Definitely go with Stg.

foggy_lad · 11-12-2014 12:31AM

Kristopherus wrote: »

Did you factor in the currency conversion fee that your bank will apply?

I get a lot of stuff from Amazon.uk and I have found that there's sfa difference whichever way you choose to pay

It is still usually more than a euro cheaper to pay in sterling when price is high unless you have several items and there is a suspicion that amazon in their wisdom split your order into a few deliveries costing you an extra 30cent charge per delivery on your card.

kn · 11-12-2014 12:33AM

power101 wrote: »

Amazon now offer a pay in euro function when buying from Ireland. In my case I bought a phone for £134.35. They quoted €176.64 on amazon to Pay in euro, however I took the sterling price and was charged €171.26 on my AIB Visa Debit card. Saving of €5.38 or 3% off the exchange rate they offered.

Just something to keep in mind, especially at this time of year! Take the sterling rate on amazon!!

Yip. I always click on the 'Pay in GBP' option on checkout and it saves a couple of percent or more.

TheDriver · 11-12-2014 12:38AM

This was done to death last week in black Friday thread....

liamog · 11-12-2014 12:45AM

I bought a pair of Sennheiser headphones from Amazon. £130 from .co.uk or €95 from .it didn't get free shipping but only cost me €5 and no currency fees.

There's a site called camelcamelcamel.com where you can set up price alerts, I set one up across all the EU amazon sites.

_Whimsical_ · 11-12-2014 12:46AM

I bought something for 175 on amazon a month ago and chose the sterling rate. Amazon failed to deliver the product, it was returned to them for reasons unknown somewhere along the delivery chain before it ever got to me. Amazon refunded me no problem but my refund was €14 short. When I contacted them they said that as I'd chosen to pay in the sterling the 14 quid was the charge my credit card company had applied for currency conversion with them and it wasn't part of my refund.

I had to argue over it but I got it back eventually. Just thought I'd mention it in case anyones buying high value items over Christmas that might need a return- be sure to check your credit card statement once you're reimbursed.

red_bairn · 11-12-2014 12:54AM

_Whimsical_ wrote:

I bought something for 175 on amazon a month ago and chose the sterling rate. Amazon failed to deliver the product, it was returned to them for reasons unknown somewhere along the delivery chain before it ever got to me. Amazon refunded me no problem but my refund was â‚¬14 short. When I contacted them they said that as I'd chosen to pay in the sterling the 14 quid was the charge my credit card company had applied for currency conversion with them and it wasn't part of my refund.

That sounds wrong all together. You aren't choosing the conversion currency in Euro so they charge you the amount that the company has set up.

Stinicker · 11-12-2014 12:59AM

Always chose the Sterling Rate, also as a frequent traveler I know never to allow a Foreign ATM to charge me in Euro which is often offered as you will always end up with a worse rate.

The downside to getting charged in Sterling is that you will pay a cross-border handling fee if you are using a Credit Card. In recent times I have been ordering more from Amazon.de as I find they have slightly lower prices and you get charged in Euro as it is the German site. I saved over €15 compared to the amazon.co.uk price and the two hard drives I ordered still came from the UK the same as if I ordered from amazon.co.uk itself. Only downside was trying to navigate through the German site but my basic german and Google Translate allowed me to get around it.

ucd.1985 · 11-12-2014 01:21AM

TheDriver wrote: »

This was done to death last week in black Friday thread....

So what?

The Amazon Black Friday thread is an awful pain to trawl through.

Thanks OP

Gaw_ · 11-12-2014 01:40AM

meathman0 wrote: »

I always use PayPal , and think they give a bad rate, would I be better paying by credit card direct?

Amazon don't allow you to pay using PayPal?

Stinicker · 11-12-2014 01:52AM

Paypal give a really bad rate and I always allow eBay purchases denominated in Sterling to go through in Sterling and its a better rate than Paypal will give. You cannot pay on Amazon using Paypal however.

loki7777 · 11-12-2014 10:20AM

But if something is cheap always pay in euro - PTSB charge .46 or 2% if i am getting it correct, so buying something for less than a dollar will save You more than 50% vs paying in USD.

Atomic Pineapple · 11-12-2014 10:35AM

Indeed, blanket advice of always select the sterling option is incorrect for all cases, generally for more expensive stuff you are better off but I've bought some cheaper books and blu rays and when adding in the conversion from my bank and handling fee the euro rate on Amazon was cheaper.

cruhoortwunk · 11-12-2014 11:29AM

Very sly that they convert by default now. It used to be offered to you at checkout, but now it's a default which will catch a lot of people

shamelessidiot · 11-12-2014 11:36AM

power101 wrote: »

Amazon now offer a pay in euro function when buying from Ireland. In my case I bought a phone for £134.35. They quoted €176.64 on amazon to Pay in euro, however I took the sterling price and was charged €171.26 on my AIB Visa Debit card. Saving of €5.38 or 3% off the exchange rate they offered.

Just something to keep in mind, especially at this time of year! Take the sterling rate on amazon!!

They've done it for over a year at least. Nothing new.

cruhoortwunk · 11-12-2014 11:44AM

shamelessidiot wrote: »

They've done it for over a year at least. Nothing new.

No they havent pushed it on people by default for that long. A few months at the most.

Nollog · 11-12-2014 11:46AM

They've offered that for years, rates change so often it's always better to just go by your own bank's rates
Also, Amazon would do the exchange on their end with a specialist, who would charge them more, or add extra costs for them, so they pass it to you.

shamelessidiot wrote: »

They've done it for over a year at least. Nothing new.

It was the default for me before even the 3ds came out, I changed it to gbp back then too.
I did notice they ignored my chosen default last time I was price checking something though, maybe that's what OP means?

deathtocaptcha · 11-12-2014 11:57AM

it's all fun and games until your bank issue you with end of month or end of quarter transaction fees for 'currency conversion fees'...

Allyall · 11-12-2014 12:12PM

meathman0 wrote: »

I always use PayPal , and think they give a bad rate, would I be better paying by credit card direct?

Yes. Always. There is no advantage to using paypal. There may have been originally, but you get the same consumer protection from your bank or credit card, without the charges/crazy exchange rate.

Corvus Libros · 11-12-2014 12:26PM

Stinicker wrote: »

Only downside was trying to navigate through the German site but my basic german and Google Translate allowed me to get around it.

There's a Firefox add-on called S3.Google Translator that you can set up to automatically translate whole sites.

Doodah7 · 11-12-2014 12:51PM

deathtocaptcha wrote: »

it's all fun and games until your bank issue you with end of month or end of quarter transaction fees for 'currency conversion fees'...

Then you need to change bank!!! Absolutely no way I would put up with that nonsense...

Amazon "Pay in euro" -Beware

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