Reconciling Foreign Currency Payments : Who does it?

[websnail]

I've got something of a convoluted query which should be easy to answer but I suspect I've been getting customer services staff who don't know their onions so I'm putting this question out here in the hope that someone has a clue.


Here's the setup:

• SagePay gateway account
• Streamline main merchant account in GBP
• Multiple additional foreign currency merchant accounts (also with Streamline) all set to convert to GBP
• HSBC Business account

Until now the foreign currency accounts have sat dormant because my shopping cart couldn't be persuaded to take or record any payments in anything other than GBP so the usual path through the three services providers above has been pretty simple stuff.

However, in the last couple of weeks I've been able to re-code key cart code so that foreign currency transactions can be taken. It's all written and tested as working...

BUT the sticking point with all of this is knowing where to find the appropriate currency exchange rate so I can regularly scrape the data and apply it to the orders so the figures shown for customers are correct.


I had thought that it would be Streamline that would handle (and that the RBS Commercial Forex rate table was the appropriate source for data) this but speaking to one of the customer service reps' yesterday I was told it was actually down to my business account bank to tell Streamline what exchange rate to use when they reconciled the payment to sterling.. This didn't make a huge amount of sense to me but I checked with my business account manager and he's come back a bit nonplussed indicating that Streamline should be tackling the conversion before it gets sent on.


So, that's the situation... Anyone done this before, know who is right, wrong, out to lunch?

Thanks in advance.

 

[websnail]

Got an answer from the correct department after getting someone else who wasn't particularly clued up...

Turns out the rates are provided by the merchant account provider and not your business account bank.

On reflection it's pretty obvious that this would be the case given that the merchant account provider should be handling the transaction processing then depositing the cash to the business account, not passing the buck.

For anyone who was interested, for Streamline the foreign exchange (forex) rates are here:
http://www.rbs.co.uk/tools/corporate/currency_rates/rates.asp

 

[websnail]

I'm resurrecting this thread as it turns out the information I was given regarding the exchange rates was utterly wrong.

It seems streamline haven't a [expletive] clue... Unfortunately I hadn't spotted the discrepancy in the information vs' reality until today when we sat down to reconcile all the payments taken and compare them to the settlement figures.

Unfortunately a call through to Streamline has provided no information because they don't even know internally who knows the answer the question or how things are done...


I find it a little hard to believe that larger companies who must be transacting in foreign currency wouldn't want this information but I suspect it's a case of they simply have foreign currency accounts to deal with it all...

Anyway... if you take the information provided thus far you need to apply a further 6% adjustment to the exchange rate to ensure you don't end up like me... Out of pocket...

 

[JamieM]

Can't you just account in GBP if it's settled in GBP? Why do you need the exchange rate? Are your prices linked to it to auto adjust daily?

 

[websnail]

Can't you just account in GBP if it's settled in GBP? Why do you need the exchange rate? Are your prices linked to it to auto adjust daily?

I sell products that are listed primarily in GBP. I grab the exchange rate every hour from what was supposed to be the reference forex table and the data is used to display the prices in the target currency.

When the customer goes to the checkout and ultimately payment gateway form they are charged the rate they see.

I could just display the prices in GBP or even charge the GBP equivalent but then customer expectation kicks in and more importantly if you go the latter route, the customer gets a nice little charge from the credit card provider for paying in a foreign currency.


In essence my setup is specifically designed to ensure the customer:
a) Browses, compares and pays in a currency they are comfortable with
b) Pays what they see
c) Don't get any unexpected extra charges

There's an associated cost incorporated into it but it has paid dividends and reduced cart abandonment as well as post-sales complaints.

So, yeah, I could do things "easier" but easier doesn't necessarily translate into greater sales...

That said, I've already done what should have been the hard bit in coding the data scraper to get part from anything else, it's not like I'm asking for the password to the Bank of England vaults, just a reference table and clear information.


Why I can't get this information is just plain beyond me... and I'm now on to call number 5 for today on this... *steam coming out of ears*

 

[JamieM]

I sell products that are listed primarily in GBP. I grab the exchange rate every hour from what was supposed to be the reference forex table and the data is used to display the prices in the target currency.

When the customer goes to the checkout and ultimately payment gateway form they are charged the rate they see.

I could just display the prices in GBP or even charge the GBP equivalent but then customer expectation kicks in and more importantly if you go the latter route, the customer gets a nice little charge from the credit card provider for paying in a foreign currency.


In essence my setup is specifically designed to ensure the customer:
a) Browses, compares and pays in a currency they are comfortable with
b) Pays what they see
c) Don't get any unexpected extra charges

There's an associated cost incorporated into it but it has paid dividends and reduced cart abandonment as well as post-sales complaints.

So, yeah, I could do things "easier" but easier doesn't necessarily translate into greater sales...

That said, I've already done what should have been the hard bit in coding the data scraper to get part from anything else, it's not like I'm asking for the password to the Bank of England vaults, just a reference table and clear information.


Why I can't get this information is just plain beyond me... and I'm now on to call number 5 for today on this... *steam coming out of ears*

Yeah I understand where you're coming from. We decided to have fixed prices in foreign currency rather than linking to exchange rates.

 

[websnail]

Yeah I understand where you're coming from. We decided to have fixed prices in foreign currency rather than linking to exchange rates.

That's not an option sadly due to the technical limitations of the store software but to be honest, slightly moot as I don't have the relevant info.


But just to update... I was able to get someone on the case and they've pushed things higher up the chain so I'm hoping to have some real information sometime next week.

As it goes I also discovered that I made a few mistakes myself that accounted for some of the discrepancy but not all of it. Once that had been nailed down I did some number crunching and worked out a reasonably accurate adjustment percentage. Now my charges and settlement figures should be within 0.2% difference of each other so at least I'm no longer as much out of pocket.

Has definitely been an eye opener though...





.. and just to add... it seems that having a business currency account to accept the payments into (so you retain the currency as is), isn't as expensive as I thought... There are charges involved but if you're taking International orders seriously it seems to add up quickly enough.
Something I'm considering as a plan B as growth allows.

 

[websnail]

Update for anyone who's been watching this thread.

The latest I've been told is that Streamline are no longer directly affiliated with RBS, having broken away into a separate company some months back. To be hones this is by the by as there's still a very obvious linkage in terms of information, products, etc...

In terms of the currency information/rates used, apparently this is based on a non-public table provided as a three day forecast by RBS Global Banking Markets or some such.

Whilst this might account for a small discrepancy in the exchange rate used to settle accounts it doesn't resolve the reason why the settlement rate is always lower than the amount received by at least 2.5% which makes me think that there's a surcharge being applied.

So, whilst I'm a little further along there's still this difference that still isn't accounted for.

 

[cloudware]

Thanks for the updates!

I have the same situation with Cloudware City - you also have to watch out from the time the sale is made, the exchange rate used at the time of settlement some time 2-5 days later can be quite different - but sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

I agree 100% that sales in 'local' or familiar currencies can certainly help sales that otherwise wouldn't happen (even if you do add 3% or so to help cover the settlement exchange).

At some point it may be a consideration to have accounts in the separate currencies, and just settle in same currency without any expensive bank conversion, then bulk exchange at a much better rate, but of course additional costs of running multiple accounts to be taken into account (so to speak!).

Regards,

Keith.