#1
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Foreign transaction fee
My darling bank charged me a foreign transaction fee of $62.95 for my guitar ordered from Emerald. I did not expect this. Has anyone else had this experience?
In case you don't know what this is, following is an explanation. I posted in this subforum, because I ordered from Emerald. I'm sure if the mods think it should be somewhere else, they will move it. Quote:
Yet another reason that I'd like Emerald to have a North American Headquarters (prior thread).
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When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down, “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. —John Lennon Last edited by KarenB; 04-12-2021 at 03:37 PM. |
#2
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It's pretty common for credit card companies to charge a foreign transaction fee (I believe it's usually 3%). Travel focused cards will often offer no fx fees as a perk or benefit (e.g chase sapphire, amex platinum, etc).
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2021 Fender Telecaster (Player Series) 2014 Yamaha FS700 2020 Rouge RD80 - sold 2014 Epiphone Les Paul Junior - sold |
#3
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Thanks Captain. I did not know this.
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When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down, “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. —John Lennon |
#4
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Quote:
It did not get charged. Not sure why you did. I used a commercial credit card.
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1966 Fender Mustang 2005 Takamine TF341DLX 2006 Hamer Artist Korina P90 2008 Taylor 814CE 2020 Emerald X-30 |
#5
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As an FYI, most credit unions do not charge that fee.
That is another thing that I believe will likely change, but for now you might check. |
#6
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Thanks jdrnd and Peter.
I have spoken with an associate from my bank. I paid Emerald through Paypal. Emerald sent me an invoice. When the bank got the information, it said "foreign transaction" That's when the "foreign transaction fee" kicked in.
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When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down, “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. —John Lennon |
#7
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I didn't get charged the foreign transaction fee, either, when I ordered my Emerald X20 in late-2019.
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Martin HD-28 Sunburst/Trance M-VT Phantom Martin D-18/UltraTonic Adamas I 2087GT-8 Ovation Custom Legend LX Guild F-212XL STD Huss & Dalton TD-R Taylor 717e Taylor 618e Taylor 614ce Larrivee D-50M/HiFi Larrivee D-40R Blue Grass Special/HiFi Larrivee D-40R Sunburst Larrivee C-03R TE/Trance M-VT Phantom RainSong BI-DR1000N2 Emerald X20 Yamaha FGX5 Republic Duolian/Schatten NR-2 |
#8
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Sprucetop, did you order straight through a credit card?
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When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down, “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. —John Lennon |
#9
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I think it depends on the specific credit card you use. I have a Marriott card which explicitly advertises ‘no foreign transaction fees’. So if you’re using a credit card with PayPal, you might want to check the fine print.
Of course, if you’re not in the habit of buying things from outside the country, there’s no real reason why you’d even think of this, hence the occasional surprise. As far as the North American HQ is concerned, the costs of that operation would surely end up being embedded in the price of the guitar. Could easily end up with NA being the most expensive place anywhere to buy an Emerald, which obviously no-one wants. I just hope you’re deliriously happy with your X7, KarenB, so that all these speed bumps pale to insignificance
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Martin 0-16NY Emerald Amicus Emerald X20 Cordoba Stage Some of my tunes: https://youtube.com/user/eatswodo |
#10
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The card companies are allowed (but are not required) to charge up to 3%.
When that rule was initiated, most card companies jumped at the chance, but recently, some have backed off now. Somewhere online there is a list of what each card company does or does not do in this regard--I only recall the majority charge the full 3%. I switched to a Schwab card which does not charge this fee, but recently, Discover also gave up this fee and encouraged me to begin using their card more overseas. However, Discover isn't that widely accepted overseas--only in a few select places--so it's still mostly useless. Schwab is universal. There is another card like Schwab, I forget the name, maybe Bank One or something like that. In the past, they were the only two I could find. Before Whatsapp, Signal, etc. and free calling, I used Skype to call back to the States and always had a 15 cent international fee added to my $5 top up amount---and hated it. It was because Skype did it's billing out of the UK--so it was technically "international" and my card was happy to add on the fee even for that. So that is actually what drove me to hunt of another card. Aggravation. And Schwab also had no additional charges at foreign ATMs either, a bonus. 3% on small purchases doesn't seem much, but on large buys--you sure feel it. |
#11
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I've ordered 6 Emeralds using my Visa and never faced such an added fee.
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#12
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So, you clearly have a Visa card that waives foreign transaction fees, and thus you might have remained blissfully unaware of the existence of such things.
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Martin 0-16NY Emerald Amicus Emerald X20 Cordoba Stage Some of my tunes: https://youtube.com/user/eatswodo |
#13
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Thanks eatswodo, Evan, and ac. Glad a lot of you didn't have to pay a foreign transaction fee.
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When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down, “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. —John Lennon |
#14
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Quote:
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When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down, “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. —John Lennon |
#15
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I had the same thing happen when I ordered a guitar from Canada. When I went to pay off the credit card I saw there was $100 and change charged to my card for a Foreign transaction fee. I actually called the credit card company and explained to them that I was not aware of the foreign transaction fee and though my ignorance was due to me not reading the fine print, could they please give me a break this one time. They actually did remove the charge for me. So maybe try calling the credit card company and chatting with them about it . Nothing beats a failure but a try
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David Webber Round-Body Furch D32-LM MJ Franks Lagacy OM Rainsong H-WS1000N2T Stonebridge OM33-SR DB Stonebridge D22-SRA Tacoma Papoose Voyage Air VAD-2 1980 Fender Strat A few Partscaster Strats MIC 60s Classic Vib Strat |