#1

As a non US based purchaser of Obsidian Sync, I was surprised to see that I was charged a conversion fee when purchasing the Service.

I understand that Obsidian must be using a payment provider who deals in USD only, but such a service means that any non US users are made to feel second class and end up paying a premium for the product.

Is there any way the Devs can look into making Obsidian payments more friendly to those who don’t live and breathe USD?

#2

Doesn’t this depend on the credit card/bank you use?

#3

Most banks/cards are not fee free when using a foreign currency. Some are, but the majority arent.

I imagine most people paying from their usual bank account are paying an extra conversion fee.

#4

Do you have any suggestions for alternatives to Stripe? I imagine the Devs looked into the various alternatives when they set things up originally, but if you’re aware of a better alternative they would surely check it out :slight_smile:

#5

Not really as an alternative, but as a Customer I would hope that I wouldnt be charged extra for a global product.

Interestingly however, I did see that Stripe seem to have the option to allow currency conversion in the Buyer’s local currency (at least from what I skim-read):

Currency conversions (stripe.com)

Any reason why this isnt being implemented?

#6

When you chase it down, payment processing always costs money and currency conversion does too. Who pays varies, as does whether it is visible or bundled into something else. Conversion rates may change all the time or may be set once or twice a year, and buyers frequently won’t know what rate is being used until they see the charge on their card account. I’d point out that if buyers don’t pay currency conversion costs then they will have to be paid by the seller. Since the developers are Toronto based, I assume much of the money is actually finally converted into Canadian dollar.

#7

Because somebody has to bear the cost of these fees. Either the user pays it, or Obsidian raises the praise so the user pays it. There’s no easy win-win situation.

There is another layer to this. There really are two fees. The currency conversion fee/spread (most credit card companies are pretty good a this) and the “foreign transaction fee” that is if you make a purchase in country different from the bank issuing the card (even if no currency conversion is necessary). To avoid the foreign transaction fee, obsidian would need to have a business entity registered in your country.

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#8

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