Would you be put off buying in USD in New Zealand?

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ryon

18 posts

Geek

#85634 22-Jun-2011 23:14

I have an online store soon to be open and was planing on selling the products in USD.
jbard from geekzone pointed out that if he was going to buy in USD he would rather buy from overseas and get it cheaper.

So my question is, Would you be put off buying in USD in New Zealand?

Do you think doing this would be okay, or would it drive customers away?

I would still have the option of viewing the product in NZD, but the transaction would ultimately be in USD.
The reason for this is one way I would only have to change prices when cost prices change, while the other way would involve individually editing the product prices whenever the cost price changes and/or whenever the exchange rate changes.. (of a few hundred or more products).

This question is open to everyone, no specific knowledge required.
Please give me your opinion.

jbard

1373 posts

Uber Geek

#484744 22-Jun-2011 23:42

I would also be interested to hear people responses to this.
I have a few other points though:

How can you show them the price in NZD but charge them in USD unless you are running some sort of script to get the current exchange rate (these do exist with some payment gateway/solutions). and if you can show them the price in NZD why not charge them in NZD?

I would suggest researching some existing APIs which will give you the current exchange rate, that way you use that on the site to do this: cost(US) * exchange rate * mark up(US) = sell price in NZD

nakedmolerat

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#484748 22-Jun-2011 23:52

Depends on the price. My credit card charged extra fees when paying in us dollar

nigelj

856 posts

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#484753 23-Jun-2011 00:05

I wouldn't buy from such a setup, here is why:

a) I'd be worried about currency fees that Visa+Bank add on (normally 2.1%)
b) I'd be worried about the legitimacy of the company I'm buying the goods from (i.e. is it just a shell website for a less reputable overseas company)
c) If I had to return/reject the goods due to CGA, a refund would likely be done in the same USD, and depending on the value of the item, leave me out of pocket due to fees, and currency fluctuations (although the CGA might protect me, I wouldn't like to risk it).

My view is, if you are in NZ, and you want to sell to NZ customers, let them pay in NZD, w/ a NZ Payment gateway (ASB claimed to me recently that they may charge (either the full, or a portion) of the 2.1% fee, if a charge comes via an international payment gateway, even if it's in NZD already), or in lieu of a payment gateway, direct credit.

nate

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#484754 23-Jun-2011 00:07

ryon: The reason for this is one way I would only have to change prices when cost prices change, while the other way would involve individually editing the product prices whenever the cost price changes and/or whenever the exchange rate changes.. (of a few hundred or more products).

I would put your online store, if selling primarily to NZ customers, in NZD.

When we used to sell a lot of products sourced from Australia, USA and China, we would build in a buffer to allow for currency fluctuations. We would then review this 3 monthly to make sure it was all still on track.

We also wrote a small little app to check all our cost pricing against our suppliers. Every morning it would grab the forex rates from ASB (our bank), download the latest pricing sheets from the supplier and compare to what we had in our database. Any differences were emailed to us in a report (oh the joys of being software devs)

Ragnor

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#484756 23-Jun-2011 00:18

I can't think of a single local online store that I buy from that doesn't charge in NZD.

You can store prices in USD in your database and store an exchange rate that you periodically update. This would allowing you to quickly update your listed NZD prices every now and then by just changing the exchange rate variable.

However, if you show NZD prices on the front end I'd expect to be charged in NZD and not see currency conversion fees on my credit card.

I also like sites that clearly show whether prices are inc or ex gst and are clear on shipping costs.

dickytim

2514 posts

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#484772 23-Jun-2011 07:12

nakedmolerat: Depends on the price. My credit card charged extra fees when paying in us dollar

This would be my point too, so I probably wouldn't.

SteveON

1917 posts

Uber Geek

#484809 23-Jun-2011 09:24

I wouldn't worry. Our website uses an inline JS script that keeps the prices all in check. dynamicconverter.com best way around it.

It works in drop down menus and all sorts of situations.

wellygary

4925 posts

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#484816 23-Jun-2011 09:34

ryon: I have an online store soon to be open and was planing on selling the products in USD.
jbard from geekzone pointed out that if he was going to buy in USD he would rather buy from overseas and get it cheaper.
So my question is, Would you be put off buying in USD in New Zealand?

Other than the currency conversion, the biggest point it would raise (as others have also mentioned)is, Are you a NZ based company or not?

If you have NZ based staff etc, why are you charging me the customer in USD, it would make me think that you are just a NZ web shell for a US based drop shipper or the like with no real commitment to the NZ market.

oxnsox

1923 posts

Uber Geek

#484853 23-Jun-2011 10:13

nigelj:
My view is, if you are in NZ, and you want to sell to NZ customers, let them pay in NZD, w/ a NZ Payment gateway (ASB claimed to me recently that they may charge (either the full, or a portion) of the 2.1% fee, if a charge comes via an international payment gateway, even if it's in NZD already), or in lieu of a payment gateway, direct credit.

+ 1

Why would I be attracted to an NZ based webstore that charges more in US$ than an overseas based one charging in the same currency?
After all isn't that what the net is about, looking for the best deal for my $$.

I'd be attracted to a kiwi$ site because it's local and, like many, are prepared to pay a small premium to deal locally. (We all like to think that local means we have a door we can go thru and faces to speak with if we have a problem... Not an option with anyone based overseas.)

robjg63

3145 posts

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#484855 23-Jun-2011 10:17

nigelj: I wouldn't buy from such a setup, here is why:

a) I'd be worried about currency fees that Visa+Bank add on (normally 2.1%)
b) I'd be worried about the legitimacy of the company I'm buying the goods from (i.e. is it just a shell website for a less reputable overseas company)
c) If I had to return/reject the goods due to CGA, a refund would likely be done in the same USD, and depending on the value of the item, leave me out of pocket due to fees, and currency fluctuations (although the CGA might protect me, I wouldn't like to risk it).

My view is, if you are in NZ, and you want to sell to NZ customers, let them pay in NZD, w/ a NZ Payment gateway (ASB claimed to me recently that they may charge (either the full, or a portion) of the 2.1% fee, if a charge comes via an international payment gateway, even if it's in NZD already), or in lieu of a payment gateway, direct credit.

+1 to the above.
But my BIGGEST concern would be that you were not a local company and just a shop front for an overseas outfit. You would be ringing alarm bells for many people with foreign currency transactions for a supposedly NZ business. Fair enough once you get going you may sell to other countries and have the user able to select their local currency though.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler