Favorite Fabrics

If you order fabric from a source in another country, and pay by credit card, does your credit card company charge you an extra fee because it's an international transaction?

Is it a large fee? Or just a small one?

Prism99

I have made only a very few international purchases. What my credit card company seemed to do was simply convert the currency. They probably use the same rate as the bank they are associated with uses, as this kind of currency exchange rate will have a built-in profit.

Lacelady

Mine charges me, but it is fairly small, about 1% I think. The best thing to do is to ask them.
Forgot to add, you also might be liable for Customs Duty. Another thing to check on before you get a nasty surprise.

Favorite Fabrics

In case you wondered why I'm asking... it's because we're trying to figure out how this works, from our customers' perspective.

We only know how it works as a seller!

Cuilteanna

1.75% cross border fee on mine. Customs fees are the nasty part as Lesley said.

Favorite Fabrics

Let me ask this question regarding international purchases:

If you were to buy $25 from a store today, and another $50 next week, would you pay more in fees than if you had purchased $75 all at one time?

ashlett

I pay £1 when buying fabric from the States.

mellow yellow

I pay a fee of 1.7% for currency conversion on my credit card. The number of transactions makes no difference, it's a flat 1.7% on the value of the purchases.

As others have said, it's customs here that can really make the costs escalate. I've only had one package stopped but I believe they're being very strict now.

JanieW

I'm in Canada. When I order from the US, I pay the bank rate of exchange, no extra fee.

We don't pay duty, but sometimes Customs makes us pay a $5 Cutsoms handling fee as well as GST (goods and services tax) on the value of the purchase.

Most of the time the parcel gets through without any additional charges, but it's a crap shoot. I ordered fabric last year that had to go in two flat rate packages. Mailed at the same time from the same company. One got through, the other came a week later, delayed at Customs while they added the fees. No rhyme or reason.

To order $25 one week and then $50 another would not be cost efficient due to shipping charges and the above mentioned possibility of getting a customs handling charge tacked on each parcel. As for it making a difference regarding Visa charges, I don't think it would matter.