Eeek - £$€ and Overseas Orders

[maridunian]

You'll probably have heard about this:

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-sterling/pound-dives-to-lowest-since-mid-80s-as-dollar-scramble-intensifies-idUKKBN2151K6?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

If you were thinking of ordering anything made overseas, best not hang around until your supplier recalculates the £  price ...

Mike

[daffy]

Worrying and expensive times. Thanks for that link. 

On the same subject, I use the Mastercard Currency Converter to most accurately calculate what a foreign buy will cost me. I only use a Mastercard with zero charges for these purchases, so only the exchange rate applicable at the time is applied.

Three weeks ago a German order was completed for me at the rate of €1.195 to the £. Today that rate reduces to €1.08. That's the lowest rate for a long time.

Time to await an upward change until any future purchases.

Might be a long wait.


Website I use is here:

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

Note that latest rate you can use on this site will be the day before's rate. This of course will differ from the rate applied for your transaction as that will normally be when the retailer dates their invoice/despatches the goods, but it's always been a good check for me.

Note for those not familiar with buying from abroad: always pay in the retailers native currency to get the rate applied by MC, not that by the retailer themselves (usually very poor) if you pay in your native currency.

[dannyboy]

On a similar theme and living in Ireland using Euros, if I order anything that is priced in £St, it is now about 10% cheaper than it was about a month ago. Unfortunately my two UK pensions are paid in £St and then converted to Euros before being transferred to my bank. That means I am getting about 10% less than I was about a month ago. And of course, if I do buy anything from the UK, it is only a tiny fraction of what I receive pension wise, so I am well down on income at the moment. So it is across the border to Enniskillen on Saturday!

[Bingley Hall]

If it's any comfort to you the Aussie dollar is tanking at a faster rate and is close to AU$2 to the pound for the first time in many years.

Other than stuff pre-ordered and part-paid stuff with Revolution and the NGS, I can see my purchases from the UK being extremely limited for the foreseeable future.