We are a Canadian based company. We currently use 2checkout but are now getting our own merchant account. Our new merchant account is in Canadian funds. Our prices are in US dollars. What I am proposing to do is keep the US prices but charge the equivilent in Canadian funds. This would be the world exchange rate. We wouldn't charge more or less. It would be {(The hosting price) X (The exchange rate)} How do you think our current customers will react to this change except for the Canadian ones loving it.

We use the credit card processing services of QuickBooks 2002 Pro.

It allows us to charge in both CAD and USD.

Have you ever thought of doing things that way??

PS - We are from Saskatchewan...

United States want US price not crazy canadian stuff.

Originally posted by appletreats
United States want US price not crazy canadian stuff.
The price would be the same. For example it would list $9.95 US on the web site however their credit card would be charged the Canadian equivilent at the time like $16.09 or whatever. When they got their credit card statement it would appear as $9.95 US

Originally posted by The Thinker
We use the credit card processing services of QuickBooks 2002 Pro.

It allows us to charge in both CAD and USD.

Have you ever thought of doing things that way??

PS - We are from Saskatchewan...
I didn't know you could do this. Who is your merchant provider?

Use do the processing manually through the Quickbooks software. It is a free merchant account and they only charge a small percentage.....I forget off the top of my head, but if you look into their web site, you should be able to find it...

The software is one of the best accounting pieces of software I have ever used.....

We can charge VISA, MasterCard and Discover Card, US or CA dollars......we can also charge FirePay cards either currency.

Also, if you log directly into the Firepay secure area, you can charge someone in almost any currency that exists...

I think the web site for the company is: http://www.quickbooks.com/

We use Quickbooks 2002 Pro

If you have any other questions about it, feel free to PM me...

Greetings,

From my past dealings with DonHost, I recall my credit card company charging a small (like 3-5%) currency exchange fee. The buyer would get dinged on this twice (not favorable exchange rates) and on the fee itself.

The only way I'd go for it would be if you gave a comporable discount, and I actually wanted you hosting service : )

Originally posted by netsolutions

The price would be the same. For example it would list $9.95 US on the web site however their credit card would be charged the Canadian equivilent at the time like $16.09 or whatever. When they got their credit card statement it would appear as $9.95 US

What, so it's completely... transparent (?) to the customer?

Uhm, that would wierd me out as a consumer I think. And probably confuse me some. Dunno if I'd do it to customers or not, I'd try and find a way to charge "real dollars" so they don't go 'er what's this mean' :D

I think it'll be confusing for the customers, some might think they are getting ripped off and end up calling and saying "i thought i was paying $9.95 for this, not $16.09." just an idea.

When I was overseas in Europe on a trip, purchases made on my Visa were indeed converted to dollars on my statement. However, my card issuer also did tack on 3% for the 'hassle'. I think many US customers would be annoyed by this. Enough to not sign up? Well I don't know about that.

Naw,,, if you have ever bought anything overseas the bank or credit card statement shows the amount in US dollars. For instance if I buy something in OZ and it is $40.00 AUD when I get my statement it shows $21.00 US charge.

Be honest with your customer! Are you not going to tell them you are in Canada? If you are then make sure they know the charge in US dollars and as long as that is what shows up on their statement they will not mind.

I have two offices, one in Australia one in the US, I process some of my transactions thru the OZ location and I just tell the customer upfront and I have yet have one say NO>

Remember honesty is the key.

Monte

Originally posted by netsolutions

The price would be the same. For example it would list $9.95 US on the web site however their credit card would be charged the Canadian equivilent at the time like $16.09 or whatever. When they got their credit card statement it would appear as $9.95 US

Two things come to my mind:

1) My own VISA is in Kuwaiti Dinar(KWD), and when I get the statement. It tells me specificly the amount I was charged, in what currency, and then, the KWD equivalent. This might be the same for other banks, and in that case, they will know what you are doing (but I'm not sure if they will even care).

2) Are you sure you will be that precise?
I think that exchange rates depend on who you ask. The differences are tiny, and the customers won't care, but they will probably notice it. So it will appear in the statement as, for example, 9.94$ this month, and then 9.96$ the next month, etc.

One more point ..

3) Are you sure that your merchant allows it?
I read in some merchant accounts provider website before that your prices has to be listed in your website in the currency that you have registered for. If you need to list/charge in other currencies, you have to ask your merchant account for that.

Originally posted by netsolutions

The price would be the same. For example it would list $9.95 US on the web site however their credit card would be charged the Canadian equivilent at the time like $16.09 or whatever. When they got their credit card statement it would appear as $9.95 US I just terminated a relationship with a Canadian-based host.

While they are no longer our host for reasons having to do with service and performance, I must say that it was annoying paying $1-$1.50 extra every month because the lag between when they submitted the bill to their credit card processor -- and when my credit card company sent me out my statements -- *always* resulted in the rate fluctuating one way or the other. I have to think that this hosting service built a little bit of a cushion into their Canadian $ base rate, which is why the rounding error always came out in their favor.

So, I signed up to pay $40 a month, but was never, not once, billed $40 a month. IMHO, you will not be able to find the utopian situation in which both your processor will be willing to eat the losses arising from adverse swings in the global currency markets *and* a set of consumers with credit cards issued by providers equally willing to absorb exchange rate swings. I'm not sure how you're going to guarantee that your customers will be insulated from these fluctuations. As a matter of course, these are always passed through, otherwise the firms involved would be dabbling in currency futures. Not gonna happen...

The bottom line is, there are numerous U.S.-based hosting alternatives that don't have a currency fluctuation issue. Effectively, you will be outsourcing the pain and agony of dealing with the world currency markets to your U.S. customers in order to provide relief to your Canadian clients. Your U.S. customers who are rational (there may be one or two...) will seek a U.S. provider who doesn't have this problem.

I think your real questions should be:

1) What percentage of my business comes from Canadian clients?

2) Can I afford to alienate a certain percentage of my U.S. clients?

3) Can I offer dual credit card processing services, one for Canadian $, one for U.S. $?

HTH. Good luck.

YokoOno

There is absolutely nothing wrong at all with charging US clients in CAD.

However, we Americans are probably the most xenophobic people in the world. Most Americans have never once been charged in a foreign currency, and a scary amount don't even understand the concept of foreign currency (they think everything is in US dollars).

I know this because I've worked in several international corporations (both US-based and foreign-based), and my father has traded in FX.

If your customer base is about half-and-half American/Canadian, or if it has more Americans than Canadians, I would suggest you keep charging in USD. Canadians are better able to comprehend the concept of Canadian dollars and US dollars than Americans, so I would trust them to handle it better.

Too bad, because you really should be able to charge CAD. I just think you would lose too many clients and have too many confused and angry (especially since CAD is valued lower than USD--so to the uninformed American, it looks like they are being charged more). :rolleyes:

As a Canadian, I'll share my opinion (which is much the same as the opinion above)

As citizens from a Country with a very small population, most of us have grown used to "converting".

We're stuck with KM instead of miles
We're stuck with Litres instead of gallons
When we convert to gallons, our gallon is bigger than the US gallon...so we have to convert it again.

Moreso, if we are netizens, we are very used to converting US Dollars to CDN (even to Canadian Tire money...which has a better exchange rate today)

As a consumer...I know exactly what I'm paying when I pop onto eBay and buy that Woody Hayes Bobblehead. List your prices in both CDN & US Dollars, make sure the currency you are *NOT* processing in has an "aprox." in it, process in US Dollars.

Just my opinion.

BTW...does it ever stop raining in Nashville?

If your customer thinks it is confusing, they won't buy.

Make it as simple as you can. The easier it is for them to understand, the less they do reading and figuring out what is going on, and more time buying your services!

Originally posted by Ahmad
One more point ..

3) Are you sure that your merchant allows it?
I read in some merchant accounts provider website before that your prices has to be listed in your website in the currency that you have registered for. If you need to list/charge in other currencies, you have to ask your merchant account for that.
Our merchant does allow it, I checked