Amazon USA. Pounds or dollars?

bigpat

Hi,

I'm purchasing an item on the Amazon.com site, rather than the UK site, and I'm having it shipped to a USA address. I'm using my normal UK£ credit card.

I have the option to have Amazon do the conversion at a rate of approx 0.775p per dollar, including all fees, or to pay in pounds. Which should I select?

Thanks

eDicky

Assuming the the article is priced in dollars, isn't the Amazon rate quoted for paying in pounds?

bigpat

Yes, but it gives me two options.

I can pay £232.50 which is the default and includes currency conversion and fees, or I can choose the other option and pay $299.99. If I do that, presumably my card issuer, Santander, will do a conversion of their own and apply a fee.

I have read many times on this site that when shopping abroad, you should pay in the local currency, since many merchants will give you a really bad deal on the exchange rate, worse than your own back would. Without spending a long time on complicated calculations, I wonder if that rule holds true in this case.

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> Sorry, my first post was misleading. They can do the conversion or I can pay in DOLLARS.

heatherw_01

Also depends on what fee your CC charges for the conversion

dj1471

You need to check what Santander will charge you (depends on which specific card you have) and compare:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/travel-credit-cards

$299.99 is £223.91, so allowing Amazon to do the conversion will cost you around £8.50. If your Santander card costs the usual 2.95% (some charge a fee per transaction on top) that'd cost you around £6.60.

If your card charges I'd apply for a virtual Revolut card through the app, top it up and spend using that in $. Zero cost.

bigpat

dj1471 wrote: »

If your card charges I'd apply for a virtual Revolut card through the app, top it up and spend using that in $. Zero cost.

Interesting. I never heard of that. But won't I have to to it up in pounds, thereby incurring a conversion fee when I come to spend in dollars?

eDicky

bigpat wrote: »

Interesting. I never heard of that. But won't I have to to it up in pounds, thereby incurring a conversion fee when I come to spend in dollars?

No, Revolut will convert without fees at the interbank rate (that's if you wait until after midnight tonight, they put a slight spread over the weekend when markets are not active). Sign up on the Revolut app when you have installed it, load enough pounds, use the virtual card for the purchase, withdraw the leftover back to your bank unless you have further need. The only cost will be 1% if you load funds with a credit card, free by debit card.

bigpat

I'll certainly look into that, thank you.