Dollars or Pounds ???

[lisastorey]

This is the one that we have been struggling with ... if you are selling world wide is it better to put your prices in USD, sterling or in mulitple currencies ??

We are thinking of changing to USD but are not sure whether to display them in both pounds and dollars

As a brit I obviously I would make the change to reluctantly ...

Would apprieciate views on this.

Thanks
Lisa

[Rob Holmes]

Hi Lisa,

We display both.

We are Uk based and really specialise in supporting UK businesses but can't neglect the massive US market.

I still don't understand the benefit of your product but it 'looks' like you should have a $ price and maybe a pound price too.

Bottom line? TEST, TEST and TEST again there are an number of ways of testing this, for example track your visitors, signups, conversion ratios per thousand UNIQUE visitors then switch and monitor again.

Only make 1 change at a time, end your prices in a 7, and you'll need to price test too as well as currency test.

I suggest price testing in 1 currency first establishing an optimum price level (usually pitch it in the top third percentile of your industry) and then once you've established an optimum price then go for currency.

Rob

[lisastorey]

All good advice....thank you.

[Webstuff]

and don't forget euro's. Don't forget, europe is the worlds biggest spender...

[lisastorey]

Really ? I hadn't even considered the Euro ... I automatically thought of the USD ... sad how brainwashed I am...

thanks
Lisa

[Webstuff]

People seem to forget that the euro is the economic "powerhouse" nowadays (bye bye dollar :)). And I only do half of that spending....

[microbe]

Do you have any data on where your market is?

Do you site stats give you a proper (i.e. IP based not domain based) indication of where your current visitors are?

Do you think that you are most likely to be able to sell to Europeans, Americans or Brits?

Let's say that 50% of your visitors/potential buyers are American, 35% are European and 15% are British, then maybe it doesn't make a lot of sense to only price in GBP.

Looking at your site, you are taking payments only through Paypal, so you can set it to store funds in USD, Euros and Pounds to mitigate your currency charges, so why not give your buyers the three options.

I would infer that you are an adept with PHP, so you could set the site to geotarget and show the approriate currency to visitors (although I would also offer them the opportunity to choose).

I think it is probable that non UK buyers will find a GBP price confusing, but will have a fair idea of the significance of a dollar price, so if you are going to choose one currency, it should probably be dollars which are your default.

[gary]

Use pounds as the main currency if that's where your main market is, and give the option to view prices in USD and Euros. Make it very clear what currency is being displayed - remember that US keyboards may not show the £ sign, so all they will see is a ? and automatically assume it's dollars. By stating in words what the currency is you'll cut out the complaints you receive of wrong pricing!

[lisastorey]

Thanks for all your advice.

As it is a global market we have decided to show USD as the default but with the option change to £ or Euros.

Thanks Again
Lisa

[BMS]

Hi Lisa

That being the case, it may be worth you opening a US$ bank account and play the exchange rate market to your best effect.

I think thtat there a one or two currecy exchange specialists on this forum.

[lisastorey]

Yes, I had thought about a US bank account, currently we leave the conversion to £ to paypal but the exchange rate is not good.

Think I will talk to my bank about it....

Thanks
Lisa

[BMS]

Hi Lisa

Not only do you have to rely on the coversation rate at that instant when paypal sends the money to to account, but no doubt there are chares that the apply to the coversion as well.

If you have your own account you can sell US$ when the exchange rate is better for you and you may gett a better rate through brokerage that the bank will offer you.

[sportingmemories]

From my own personal experience the Americans aren`t that silly when it comes to GBP, for example they aren`t automatically put off if prices are in pounds sterling (as long as the price if right). If of course more than 50% of your sales come from the US Dollar market then it is worth it, but most certainly the big 3 are US Dollar, Pounds Sterling and the Euro, which all need to be taken into account.

Your prices will have to be very competitive at the moment if you are to counteract the weakness of the US dollar at the moment. It is a difficult line to tread with regards to the exchange rate.