# Android Marketplace and foreign exchange rate charges



## mrs quoad (Feb 25, 2011)

Oh, hello, I hadn't noticed this until just now. I hope this is relevant to someone's interests.

For my (perhaps, retrospectively, idiotic) sins I don't tend to check transactions <£10 particularly rigorously.

However, I've just been browsing my bank account online and noticed that an "≈£0.81" / 1 Euro app (that bridge-building / trains game, fwiw) had been charged at £2.11.

"The fuck?"

I thought. 

Turns out that I've been charged £1.25 for a foreign exchange transaction by Natwest. Understandably. 

I guess this hadn't crossed my mind as this isn't an issue with Paypal, and it sure as shit isn't an issue with iTunes app store.

So, yeah, in short, i've probably ordered something like 50 apps over the last year. I'm guessing 2/3 of those were non-UK apps. Maybe more. So that's probably £50 pissed away without realising it.

I've got a track record of being pretty massively unimpressed with Android apps / games; I think, after this, I won't be ordering any more. Certainly not from non-UK sources. And the dire quality / layout of the marketplace (in comparison, again, with Apple's app store) isn't exactly an incentive.

8 months left on my 18 month contract; bring on the iPhone 5.


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## mrs quoad (Feb 25, 2011)

Oh, also, I've probably ordered another handful of apps and then had them refunded. I'm now wondering what's happened with them. Because paying a £1.25 charge on a £0.81 app refund... would be a pretty special kind of special.

I'm hoping that google marketplace handles the payment / refund process internally (so hasn't been putting both transactions through my account) but may check later...

Massive


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## mrs quoad (Feb 25, 2011)

Oh, yes, a widely recognised problem, for people who think about shit before going through with transactions:



> It would be fine if Google Checkout converted and charged your bank in the local currency, but it does not. Instead, its just the middle man to pass on the payment instructions, thus, creating an unknown charge to the users bank.
> 
> If an app, for example, is $4.99 (assuming that is USD), the user here in the UK would have that charge directly sent to there bank via Google Checkout, who, would then add a 2.75% conversion fee followed by a 1.50GBP transaction fee on the payment. This makes the total applicaton cost 4.83GBP. All banks in the UK do this for foreign currency transactions, they all charge a % plus a fee for purchases in a non GBP currency. This makes all the apps in the store which are NOT in the local currency very, very costly and is a great deterrent for potential purchasers. Especially since the developer doesn't get any of this extra money that the user is being charged!



Again,  @ self.


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## WWWeed (Feb 25, 2011)

Paypal has the same problem. I've ordered a lot of stuff from china and they all use US dollars which means bank charges, even if the price is in sterling.

The turds at halifax charge me £1.50 as a conversion fee + 2.5% of the overall transaction, which certainly makes you think twice about ordering about ordering a 20p cable with free P&P.


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## ovaltina (Feb 25, 2011)

I paid 2p commission on a $1. 99 marketplace purchase last month, with a $1. 61 exchange rate. Nationwide account.


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## fractionMan (Feb 25, 2011)

I don't think I have this problem with nationwide.


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## mrs quoad (Feb 26, 2011)

Kinda glad to hear about Nationwide. Maybe it's a bank / building society divide?

I've just checked my statements for the last year, and there've been 33 apps that've come with a foreign exchange / £1.25 charge.

So that's £41


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## salem (Feb 26, 2011)

Yes, I posted about this in the big Android apps thread. The problem is really with Natwest (or whichever other bank adds these charges on) however that doesn't matter in reality.

What surprises me is that I'm pretty sure the google checkout platform can deal with multiple currencies, like Paypal does. If I send a tenner to someone in Paypal they get it converted to their own currency without the bank scamming their extra. Surely it can't be so hard for google to do the same.

They could even cream off a couple of % on the exchange rate. No one would care so much, it's the fixed fee which hurts.


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## sumimasen (Mar 4, 2011)

A bit of blame should be hurled at Google Checkout too though. They should at least put a warning or a link to explain charges.  Most people are ignorant of this scam I reckon.


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