Note for Aussie's: Buying in AUD from Amazon

[karen73]

Just wanted to share my recent experience....

I recently compared a purchase I made in $US and one that I made in AUD via Amazon's conversion.  Amazon charged almost AUD$15 above my credit card's conversions charges. The wholesale exchange rate had barely changed between these two purchases. I will do my research in future.

My advise -  compare your bank/financial institution's fees and charges for a foreign currency purchase before using Amazon's conversion option.

Karen

[anivyl]

ah, personally I have never attempted to use their conversion rates. i didn't even know that was an option?

thanks for the heads up though.

[Pushka]

What will happen if you dont convert, is that the Bank will charge a percentage for converting to AUD.  Maybe a few cents.  Are you saying you were charged $15 on top of what you would have expected to pay?  Ouch.

[karen73]

What I found was that converting via Amazon added an extra $15 compared to the bank conversion purchase.

ie - Amazon's fees and charges were over and above those which the bank charged for the same service.