Foreign Credit Card Processing Fees

A quesiton of Ethics.

[lgn]

We are in a ethical delima regarding Foreign Credit Card Processing Fees.

We advertise our prices in American Dollars, and we use the daily wholesale exchange rate plus the 1% charged by Visa and MasterCard International.

We recently found out that American Credit card companies are adding additional surcharges from 0 to 3%.

We have had no complaints as of yet, and when the consumer gets their credit card bill, they will see the conversion.

We are not prepared to adjust our credit card rates by 3%, just because some banks want to rip off there customers on the exchange rate.

However, I do have an uneasy feeling in my stomach, as we are not telling them that the credit card is being billed in Canadian Funds, and the rate charge may vary. If the customer explored the site carefully, they would however realized that we are a Canadian site.

If a customer was to complain, we would gladly refund the bank fee charged.

After all we are talking a buck or two on an average order. And we are not profiting from this, the American Banks are. And who actually compares their credit card statement that closely to that big pile of sales reciepts.

Am I being unethical?

This problem will go away in a few weeks anyway when we get our American Dollar Credit Card machines in Canada.

[silverphoenix]

Well, I'm not sure if unethical is the correct work for this. As I do work in the payment processing field (Banking side), I know that in some countries it is illegal for a merchant (physical or ecommerce) to charge more than what the sales receipt states.

If you are charging more, you might want to put a disclaimer or a warning to the customers about a slight difference in the charge amount.

[Shakil]

However, I do have an uneasy feeling in my stomach, as we are not telling them that the credit card is being billed in Canadian Funds, and the rate charge may vary. If the customer explored the site carefully, they would however realized that we are a Canadian site.
=========================================

make it absolutely clear to them, they will thank you for being honest, rather than getting an unexpected shock.

or alternatively use multiple currencies, which are widely available from a # of merchant account providers.

Shak

[lgn]

I would not consider it illegal, as it is the bank that is adding the surcharge not us, and messing up the total charged.

As soon as you mention currency conversion, you lose 50% of your American sales.

We spent a lot of time and effort, making our site look American, and we doubled our US sales.

I will probably adjust my conversion up another 1% to cover the bulk of the cards, until our American Dollar merchant account is setup.

I hear that their is one credit card company out there that charges 5% Foreign Conversion. I hope I have no customers that are stupid enough to deal with that bank.

[daisho]

Hello,

I faced the same problem. I am also in Canada. The way I went it to get US Fund Merchant accounts. Check out moneris.ca. I maintain a US Funds account at the Royal Bank. Show US, Charge US everything works good.