Getting screwed by international E -Tailers
 

Does anyone get screwed over on the exchange rates? I know the exchange rate fluctuates so it can't always work out in your favor but sometimes the etailers seem to wait until the exchange rate is really in their favor than they charge you. I once had an etailer wait a month after I had recieved an order before they charged my credit card.

I don't think many of them do this with intention due to two reason, one is cashflow. Not many etailers has the economy to wait for a month to get their money. The second reason is that one never knows which way the exchange rate will go, they could end up with loosing money.

It makes no difference to the etailer when they charge you - they will still get their $x in whatever currency they charge. They have no reason to delay charging other than poor business practice.

It is more to do with the fluctuations in the value of currencies (currently, the US dollar is weakening).

The foreign e-tailer shouldn't be doing the conversion into dollars, they should be charging you the regular price in their currency (with you paying via credit card). Then your credit card does the conversion and charges you in US dollars.

At least that's the way I thought it worked. Whenever I buy something overseas with a credit card, they charge in the local currency and my card converts it to dollars. Is it different when you place an order on line?

So the exchange rate wouldn't affect the store at all, they receive the same amount of money (in their currency) (or so I thought, I might be wrong about buying over the computer).