Cross border trade allows you to shop online from Canada on some Australian, New Zealand, US and UK ONLINE stores with your Afterpay account opened in your home country. Making it easier for you to purchase the things you love overseas from the comfort of your own home.
How does Afterpay work out how much I pay?
Afterpay converts the price of the goods from the retailer’s home currency to your currency so that you can see exactly how much it will cost you upfront. Unlike a lot of other international payment providers, we do not charge any other fees on top of the exchange rate so that you know exactly how much the order will cost before you commit to buy.
I googled the exchange rate and the rate from Afterpay is not the same, why?
- When you google ‘currency conversion’ or ‘fx rates’ online, you typically see a wholesale exchange rate which is the rate at which foreign currency conversions occur for central banks, major financial institutions and large corporations.
- Wholesale exchange rates are generally reserved for institutions who convert billions of dollars annually and is not the rate that a regular customer would receive from a bank or foreign currency company to buy lower value items in a foreign currency.
- Generally, customers will receive what is termed a “retail” exchange rate which is likely to be 3-4% higher than the wholesale exchange rate from a bank and potentially even higher from a foreign currency company.
- The “retail” exchange rate is a competitive retail exchange rate (typically what would be provided by a major bank) and in line with typical credit card and debit card exchange rates. The exchange rate will change regularly to reflect the currency fluctuations in the foreign exchange market.
- No set-up fees, transaction fees or foreign exchange commissions are applied to the exchange rate prior to or after performing the conversion. This ensures that you know exactly what you are paying when the cost of the order is displayed in your home currency during the Afterpay transaction process.
- A benefit of using Afterpay is that the payment taken from your credit or debit card is considered a local transaction. This means that you will not be charged the international card processing fee which is charged on all card transactions by your bank if you were to buy directly from a retailer overseas.
- Because of currency fluctuations in the foreign exchange market, the exchange rate applied will change regularly based on how strong or weak the currency is. To work out what you pay simply take the total order value in the Retailer’s currency and divide by the exchange rate displayed
For example,
- Let’s say the CAD is strong against the AUD and the exchange rate is 0.9090, if you purchased something for $100 CAD, you will have to pay $110 AUD.
- If the CAD is weak against the AUD and the exchange rate is 1.0100, if you purchased something for $100 CAD you will have to pay $99 AUD .
How do I see how much I pay?
- Choose your items and checkout as per usual
- Once you are redirected to Afterpay from the Retailers website you will see the full amount of the purchase in your currency. To work out what you will be charged in your currency, take the amount charged by the retailer in their currency and DIVIDE by the exchange rate displayed to you. There are no additional costs or fees applied to the exchange rate.
- For some merchants, when you checkout in your currency with Afterpay, you will see the same order value during checkout as you had seen on the merchant’s website. Afterpay works with these merchants to sell in your currency so that you aren’t charged any foreign exchange rates.
Does each instalment change based on the exchange rate?
- No, the order total and instalment amounts displayed to you by Afterpay (in your currency) are what you will pay for each instalment. These are fixed and do not change.
What about returns, do I get the same amount back that I paid?
- Yes you do, any refunded amount by the retailer will be converted back at the same exchange rate applied when you placed the original order so you will always end up equal.
Are there any fees?
- There are no fees applied.
- Afterpay simply applies the exchange rate to the cost of the good’s in the merchant’s currency to work out what you will pay in your local currency.
- Late fees may apply to any overdue payments that have not been paid in accordance with your payment schedule