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What do y'all know about currency conversion?
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Aug 2006
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So I bought some more credits on tonlist.is yesterday.
Google told me that 1000 ISK (Iceland kronur) equaled about 5.15 USD. My credit card, however, was charged for $8.18. I looked on xe.com, and their conversion rate was higher - closer to whatever conversion rate my bank (or Tonlist's bank?) had used to convert the currency.
Now I'm wondering how this whole currency conversion business works. Do all banks use the same conversion rate? Is the conversion rate different in different countries, or is it different between banks?
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Sell or send me your vintage Mac things if you don't want them.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
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You can get a different rate depending on what bank you go to. Credit cards will probably charge the highest conversion rates because you're paying for the convenience of an instant transaction.
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Originally Posted by shifuimam 
So I bought some more credits on tonlist.is yesterday.
Google told me that 1000 ISK (Iceland kronur) equaled about 5.15 USD. My credit card, however, was charged for $8.18. I looked on xe.com, and their conversion rate was higher - closer to whatever conversion rate my bank (or Tonlist's bank?) had used to convert the currency.
Now I'm wondering how this whole currency conversion business works. Do all banks use the same conversion rate? Is the conversion rate different in different countries, or is it different between banks?
It's a bit problematic with the króna now because our currency market has basically been frozen since the UK used the anti-terrorism laws against Icelandic companies.
Banks around the world value the króna differently at the moment and the difference can be huge. If I buy dollars here on Iceland for example I get one dollar for 120isk. Google sets it at 160. I get 1 euro for 200 isk according to google, 305 according to the ECB but for 150 here on Iceland (if I get any.
Basically you can't trust the krona right now and who you buy it from and when will have a huge effect on what it'll cost.
And it is very likely that your payment won't reach Iceland. 
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"Learn to swim"
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Aug 2006
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...what's this about Iceland and terrorism? I don't really keep up on international news as much as I should.
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Sell or send me your vintage Mac things if you don't want them.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Apparently they're closing in on Sayf. 
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Grizzled Veteran
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"Learn to swim"
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Originally Posted by shifuimam
...what's this about Iceland and terrorism? I don't really keep up on international news as much as I should.
OK, to save you reading through all that guff, here's a summary:
1) Iceland's financial institutions faltered.
2) Loads of British savers with accounts in Iceland were told their deposits wouldn't be insured.
3) The lovely and wise British government used anti-terrorism legislation to freeze all of Iceland's assets in the UK. They do a lot of that these days - UK anti-terrorism legislation has been used to check that mothers are sending their kids to the correct school, make sure that people are putting their trash out on the right day, yadda, yadda, yadda.
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Moderator  Join Date: May 2001
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My bank even charges me twice (bad conversion rate + conversion charge).
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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
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Addicted to MacNN
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Originally Posted by Doofy
3) The lovely and wise British government used anti-terrorism legislation to freeze all of Iceland's assets in the UK. They do a lot of that these days - UK anti-terrorism legislation has been used to check that mothers are sending their kids to the correct school, make sure that people are putting their trash out on the right day, yadda, yadda, yadda.
NuLabour are scarier than the Chinese Communist Party.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
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Is it wire fraud to have multiple bank accounts and wire currency between the two at different exchange rates?
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Originally Posted by olePigeon
Is it wire fraud to have multiple bank accounts and wire currency between the two at different exchange rates?
Not in the rest of the world.
However, in the US you're probably committing wire fraud in some fashion or another just for posting on here - it seems like it's become a catch-all offence for when they want you but can't get you for anything else.
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Addicted to MacNN
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Originally Posted by olePigeon
Is it wire fraud to have multiple bank accounts and wire currency between the two at different exchange rates?
I banking circles its called arbitrage and there are (were) teams of golden-boys who used to be employed to exploit this.
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Aug 2006
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It gets more interesting...
Tonlist.is was available to me for about a week. Now I must use icelandicmusic.com, which is considerably slower (and the tracks all cost twice as much).
However, once I got logged in (my account didn't work at first), I discovered that I have nearly one thousand dollars in store credit.
Something tells me they still have a few bugs to work out in their system. I bought a few tracks to see what would happen, and it definitely thinks I have $900+ in my account. Fascinating.
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Sell or send me your vintage Mac things if you don't want them.
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Originally Posted by shifuimam
It gets more interesting...
Tonlist.is was available to me for about a week. Now I must use icelandicmusic.com, which is considerably slower (and the tracks all cost twice as much).
However, once I got logged in (my account didn't work at first), I discovered that I have nearly one thousand dollars in store credit.
Something tells me they still have a few bugs to work out in their system. I bought a few tracks to see what would happen, and it definitely thinks I have $900+ in my account. Fascinating.
No wonder we (Iceland) are going bankrupt. 
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"Learn to swim"
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2002
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Currency is like any other commodity. There are seller’s rates, buyer’s rates, and everything in between. The ****1ng sh!tes in the banking industry will always do their best to maximise their own profit. Gotta shop around (or steal, even better).
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Looks like tonlist figured out they were putting a decimal point in the wrong place...but they're still not really converting the funds.
I now have $9.21 in my account. I originally purchased approximately $8 in credit, and spent $1 of that on a track I wanted. I later bought two more tracks at $2 each, and then decided to try to buy an album for $16. So there was still certainly a disconnect in there somewhere, although they didn't charge me the extra $11 I should have been charged for the album.
AND I have more money in there than I did to begin with.
Seems like they should have just stuck to one site and made people convert other currency to the Iceland kronur.
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Sell or send me your vintage Mac things if you don't want them.
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