Android Market currency conversion

[box]

So what's the deal with this these days? I've had a HTC Desire since summer, but have yet to download a paid app because of all these horror stories about bank charges and dodgy conversion rates. Taking a look on the market, I'm still being asked to pay directly in Yen, Euro, Dollar etc. Is there anything in the pipeline that's going to sort this out?

 

[DAnDan]

Not heard anything myself about any changes. I wish they would though, every time I buy an app from the store I get a £1 charge from my bank (Lloyds TSB) for a foreign currency transaction, very annoying!

 

[Stellios]

Rumour Ive heard is that they are going to implement payment by paypal to bypass the conversion charges, how true this is or when its happening I dont know though.

 

[box]

Sounds like a bit of a shambles to be honest. Why is it that Apple doesn't have this issue?

 

[demonix]

Rumour Ive heard is that they are going to implement payment by paypal to bypass the conversion charges, how true this is or when its happening I dont know though.

And if that happens everyone will be held hostage to paypals dodgy currency conversion rates.

 

[box]

Rumour Ive heard is that they are going to implement payment by paypal to bypass the conversion charges, how true this is or when its happening I dont know though.

You have to wonder why Google can't sort it out themselves though.

Looking on the Android Market forums, the issue seems to be raised fewer times than I would have thought. I'm surprised. In a few of the threads though, people are being told by Google moderators to 'shop around for a better banking deal'. This is outrageous!

 

[Typhoon]

Paying by credit card get around the conversion charges (other than the 2.75% or so imposed by most credit cards for foregin currency transactions- still much less the £1 a pop some debit cards want)

 

[Russinating]

Yup, there's no fee when I use my Amex.

Oh and I must point out a charge will only occur when there's a currency exchange, so if there's no ~ before the amount then there'll be no charge anyway.

And Google's business model is far different to Apple's.

 

[box]

I'm not really a fan of credit cards, and to be fair, it's still a hell of a lot of hassle to go through in order to buy apps!

Business models aside, from a consumer perspective, one is clearly more easy to use than the other! This is what people will act on.

 

[kona786]

yea this is the reason i sometimes use shady apps - **** getting charged everytime i want a foreign app - shame on you google

 

[Russinating]

shame on you google

How on earth is it shame on Google? Yes there could be alternative systems in place, but at the end of the day it's your bank that's charging you extra.

The whole reason it's done as it is is so developers can charge for apps in their native currency.

 

[kona786]

^^ i see your point however this system isnt working and google are the ones who should sort it out. Most people will use their debit cards to buy apps so this is a big problem for google. banks dont give a rats ass and have no incentive to..surely there is somthing google can do

 

[Columbo]

How on earth is it shame on Google? Yes there could be alternative systems in place, but at the end of the day it's your bank that's charging you extra.

The whole reason it's done as it is is so developers can charge for apps in their native currency.

Disagree totally. Its a consumer market and should be focused on the consumer, it simply isn't.

As much as I love Android the market has still a long way to go before matching the App Store in terms of implementation, ease of use, reliabilty & consumer friendliness.

And it is shame on you Google imo, they could have sorted this a long time ago and haven't.