What is the conversion rate for money with steam?

[Roflcopterkklol]

I threw some money into my spare bank so i could buy $5 credits on steam, i figured $15 (AUD) was plenty to cover that but apparently not, how can $15 AUD not = $5 USD?
By my estimates $15 AUD is $11.32 USD so what the hell why is it saying there are not enough funds in my bank to make the purchase?

How much is steam trying to rip me off here?
Personally it feels like steam is trying to charge around $5AUD to each USD.

[Spambot71 (main character)]

No problem heh, like I said, its my day job too lol

[Gus the Crocodile]

Spambot71 (main character) eredeti hozzászólása:

If your bank is telling you they don't charge an exchange fee I have a hard time believing that o.O The average in australia is 10.7%. Nab rounds out the low end at 10% and Westpac peaks at 11%.

I don't think they're that high? International transaction fees for my bank (Commonwealth[www.commbank.com.au]), NAB[www.nab.com.au] and Westpac[www.westpac.com.au] appear to all be 3%.

Or am I reading these pages wrong - where are you getting 10-11% from?

[GG.LET cu]

just go to eb games and buy a $20 steam card, it is $15 on steam

a $100 is $75

[Spambot71 (main character)]

Gus the Crocodile eredeti hozzászólása:

Spambot71 (main character) eredeti hozzászólása:

If your bank is telling you they don't charge an exchange fee I have a hard time believing that o.O The average in australia is 10.7%. Nab rounds out the low end at 10% and Westpac peaks at 11%.

I don't think they're that high? International transaction fees for my bank (Commonwealth[www.commbank.com.au]), NAB[www.nab.com.au] and Westpac[www.westpac.com.au] appear to all be 3%.

Or am I reading these pages wrong - where are you getting 10-11% from?

3% for foreign exchange that, 3% transaction fee, 1.5% handling fee, and accounting for a 4.5% variance between the "current" exchange and what the bank actually does the exchange at. Thats just the NAB numbers.

The Australian banks are some of the worst when it comes to the fees adding up. By comparison you see about a 6-9% jump from Canadian banks, or only a 3-7% jump for American institutions. The Uk has a wider range between 7-12%. And of course that's "only" accounting for the general fees and not specific ones tied to the individual account type ect.

The Exchange fee itself might only be "3%" (this can and does vary as they only give you ballparks on the website directly and your individual card agreement can have more specific laid out, giving you higher or lower than this) But then you have the regular transaction fee's and the handling fees on top of that.

For example most businesses will negotiate for better exchange and handling fees for their travelling expense cards than you might get just going through the "standard" application process.

While these are small numbers when you are dealing with a weak currency it REALLY adds up on small transactions, especially multiple small transactions because often you get "rounded up" and then those pennies add up.

edit: Interestingly enough NAB is the most open about its fee structure based on those pages

edit2: Ew did some digging to find out more on the Westpac site, most of their account types charge a flat 40c PER TRANSACTION, on small purchases like this that adds up WAY faster than a percentile charge.

[Gus the Crocodile]

Mm, yeah, you definitely need to keep an eye on things stacking up like that. Perhaps I'm lucky in terms of simplicity at least; for my account it is just the 3% and that's it, though I am paying $4/month just to keep the account open so considering my small income, they're doing pretty well off me one way or the other. I really should go in and show them my student card; I'd forgotten I'm entitled to have that fee waived.

Anyway, thanks for the elaboration, Spambot. Do read your product agreements, everyone :)

[76561198362309319]

xd

[Si-Fi]

Have to also keep note that banks in Australia get their exchange rates from various sources. Even Google has their own that differs from others despite not being a bank.

Paypal on the other hand charges a 0.03% commission rate so if you open up an account with them, they provide tools to guide you.

Also keep in mind that the Steam gift cards offered by EB Games (USD -> AUD) are inflated by a small percentage whereas Fastcard's offering provides the exact AUD -> USD figures.

[Start_Running]

The conversion rartes are whatever vallve's banks are offering that day.