Displayed in your currency, billed in dollars

Because showing you a price you can actually read is useful, and pretending we bill in your currency would not be true. Our billing system runs in USD, so that is what reaches your card. Rather than force everyone to mentally convert from dollars, we convert for display and state plainly — in the footer of every page and here — that the charge is in dollars. It is the honest version of a compromise, and we would rather explain it than hide it.

It might differ a little, and knowing why beforehand beats getting a shock afterwards. Two causes sit behind it. First, your bank applies its own exchange rate on the day the charge goes through, and that will not match the daily rate we put on screen. Second, plenty of cards attach a foreign transaction fee of around 2 to 3 per cent when the charge comes in another currency. Your bank sets both of those, not us. Want the exact figure in advance? Look up your card's foreign transaction terms and the rate it is currently using.

We would like to offer it. Today, we cannot. Doing the job properly takes more than a conversion at the checkout screen: it needs genuine prices set in each currency, invoices raised in that same currency, and renewals that hold steady in it. Building half of that would produce precisely the mismatch this page exists to prevent. So until it can be done right, dollars plus an honest explanation is the better answer.

You can view prices in 20 currencies, and we detect a sensible default from your location. If your currency is not in the list, prices display in USD — which is also exactly what you will be charged, so nothing is lost.

Nearly every card issued nowadays takes an international charge in dollars with no special arrangement needed. Should your card be locked to domestic transactions only, the decline comes from your bank rather than from us, so ring them if a payment fails for no obvious reason. Our payment methods page spells out precisely what we can accept.

The prices shown exclude any local sales tax, VAT or GST that might apply to you. Two things decide if tax gets added: where you happen to be, and if the purchase is being made as a business. Should a tax apply to your order, it appears at checkout before you pay, never after.

Refunds are issued in USD, the same currency as the original charge, back to the card you paid with. Because your bank converts again on the way back, and rates move, the amount returned in your local currency may differ a little from what left it. The dollar amount refunded is the dollar amount you paid.