International fees in Australia

[CaptainKipup]

Somehow I’ve never noticed that all my steam purchases invoke an international transaction fee from my bank. Has this always been the case? If so, what the heck? Process your stuff in Australia please steam. It is not even as though you sell new games cheaper than brick and mortar stores now days anyway.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by CaptainKipup:

Somehow I’ve never noticed that all my steam purchases invoke an international transaction fee from my bank. Has this always been the case? If so, what the heck? Process your stuff in Australia please steam. It is not even as though you sell new games cheaper than brick and mortar stores now days anyway.

Ask your bank why they charge you fees.

[Chompman]

Originally posted by CaptainKipup:

Somehow I’ve never noticed that all my steam purchases invoke an international transaction fee from my bank. Has this always been the case? If so, what the heck? Process your stuff in Australia please steam. It is not even as though you sell new games cheaper than brick and mortar stores now days anyway.

Steam does not set game prices as that's on the games devs or publishers.

[Your Mom's Oshi]

Originally posted by Chompman:

Originally posted by CaptainKipup:

Somehow I’ve never noticed that all my steam purchases invoke an international transaction fee from my bank. Has this always been the case? If so, what the heck? Process your stuff in Australia please steam. It is not even as though you sell new games cheaper than brick and mortar stores now days anyway.

Steam does not set game prices as that's on the games devs or publishers.

Sounds more like an issue with banks or credit processors. My suggestion is to move to UK or Canada.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Chompman:

Originally posted by CaptainKipup:

Somehow I’ve never noticed that all my steam purchases invoke an international transaction fee from my bank. Has this always been the case? If so, what the heck? Process your stuff in Australia please steam. It is not even as though you sell new games cheaper than brick and mortar stores now days anyway.

Steam does not set game prices as that's on the games devs or publishers.

It's not about the prices themselves.

Its about the conversion fees.

[CaptainKipup]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Originally posted by CaptainKipup:

Somehow I’ve never noticed that all my steam purchases invoke an international transaction fee from my bank. Has this always been the case? If so, what the heck? Process your stuff in Australia please steam. It is not even as though you sell new games cheaper than brick and mortar stores now days anyway.

Ask your bank why they charge you fees.

:qr:

I actually went to the bank first and they said Steam processes the payment overseas.

I asked Steam and they said the bank chooses to charge me international fees.

So I guess it's no one's fault. Must be me. I'm just choosing to give money away ay.

[Chompman]

Originally posted by CaptainKipup:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Ask your bank why they charge you fees.

:qr:

I actually went to the bank first and they said Steam processes the payment overseas.

I asked Steam and they said the bank chooses to charge me international fees.

So I guess it's no one's fault. Must be me. I'm just choosing to give money away ay.

There are other posts talking about it:

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/1729828401670045015/

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/648814395788164382

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/1744480967025946722/

[Wolfpig]

Originally posted by CaptainKipup:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Ask your bank why they charge you fees.

:qr:

I actually went to the bank first and they said Steam processes the payment overseas.

I asked Steam and they said the bank chooses to charge me international fees.

So I guess it's no one's fault. Must be me. I'm just choosing to give money away ay.

If you are paying in a currency which is not yours (thought australia gets charged their as people always complain that they need to pay a lot more there), then the Bank adds conversion fees, which is in the decision of the Bank if they Charge you for that or not.

[Zefar]

It's a fee that the bank charges.

I work in a bank and there is a fee for just this type of thing.
If Steam was charging it, it'd say Steams name in the transaction list but if it just says something like "International fee" it's the bank that did it.

[Delisper]

Am Australian - have always paid the conversion fee. Steam deals in American dollars - we get charged for converting our Australian dollars to US dollars.

[peppermint hollows]

Originally posted by Delisper:

Am Australian - have always paid the conversion fee. Steam deals in American dollars - we get charged for converting our Australian dollars to US dollars.

Really? According to Steam, the Australian Dollar is a supported currency, so that seems strange.

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/pricing/currencies

AUD is listed as a live currency in this list.

[Delisper]

Steam created a store showing games with prices in Australian dollars, but I suspect that when steam charges for the transaction and pays it deals in American dollars. I guess the OP can take it up with his bank, but that fee amount is small compared to the total price paid in the transaction.

[Daggoth]

International processing fees are a thing unfortunately. It's not a steam thing it's all credit card transactions processed overseas. 2.95% according to my banks fee schedule.

If it's a big enough deal to you, check around and find an account that absorbs/refunds the fees.
I've got an account which refunds the international fees if I do something like 5 VISA transactions a month, which is trivial.

[Mentally Unstable]

Most banks charge a fee for something called DCC (dynamic currency conversion) where the merchant charges in the cardholder's currency even though the store's main currency is another. Steam's so called "local currency" for various countries outside of the US and EU is actually DCC.

To avoid DCC fee, the payment processor of the merchant needs to process the payment within the same country as that of the cardholder. For OP's case, the dcc transaction has to be processed within Australia to avoid his bank's DCC charge. Unfortunately, Steam's main payment processor for countries other than the US seems to be in sweden. That's why when the card bill comes, it's stated as steam stockholm or some variation of that sort.

So it's not necessarily cheaper to pay in your own currency because the DCC fee can sometimes be even higher than the conversion rate. Unforunately, unlike other store merchants, Steam does not give us the option to pay in usd or our own currency.

[Dev]

Originally posted by Mentally Unstable:

Most banks charge a fee for something called DCC (dynamic currency conversion) where the merchant charges in the cardholder's currency even though the store's main currency is another. Steam's so called "local currency" for various countries outside of the US and EU is actually DCC.

To avoid DCC fee, the payment processor of the merchant needs to process the payment within the same country as that of the cardholder. For OP's case, the dcc transaction has to be processed within Australia to avoid his bank's DCC charge. Unfortunately, Steam's main payment processor for countries other than the US seems to be in sweden. That's why when the card bill comes, it's stated as steam stockholm or some variation of that sort.

So it's not necessarily cheaper to pay in your own currency because the DCC fee can sometimes be even higher than the conversion rate. Unforunately, unlike other store merchants, Steam does not give us the option to pay in usd or our own currency.

This is the best reply yet. I’ve spent to date ~ $4500 AUD for over 400 games and the international transaction fees has amounted to $200~$400 by my estimate.

Luckily I have the financial capacity to support this level of spending as gaming is one of my only hobbies so I figured if I played golf etc. it’d be around same if not more factoring in driving, club fees, equipment etc.

[SingahTooth]

I'm lucky enough to have a Commbank credit card which does not charge international fees. I have no idea how I got it, I've had it for years. No annual fee either. I think it's a reward for putting a lot of money through it each month. I don't pay any extra on my Steam purchases.

So they do exist.

You could also try a Wise card, apparently they have no fee in most countries. I've set one up but haven't tried it out yet.