01 Jul Offering Dynamic Currency Conversion to your customers

Significant investment from Irish Tourism campaigns has heightened optimism that there will be continued growth in tourism throughout 2023.

Almost two thirds of tourism operators predict an increase in overseas visitors this year with demand from North America reported to be particularly buoyant, with almost just over three out of five respondents predicting an increase in US and Canadian visitors. Airline operators are also predicting a rise in visitors to Ireland from Great Britain compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Unsurprisingly, more and more tourists are using digital payments when travelling abroad, with 6 out of 10 participants from our global survey on payment and spending behaviours paying with their card or digital wallet. Over half also prefer to pay in their own currency

With this in mind, there has never been a better time to offer Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) to your international customers, allowing them to spend in their own currency.

Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) and how it works

An easy and simple way to offer transparent payment solutions to overseas visitors, DCC offers many benefits for both your business and your customers.

Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a service that enables international cardholders the choice to pay the bill in their own currency rather than in Euro.

The opportunity to offer DCC happens automatically on your card terminal, so the next time a customer pays with a non-euro debit/credit card you or a staff member can ask them if they would like to pay in their own currency. Your terminal handles all major currencies.

Simply choose the DCC option on your card terminal and follow the steps. To assist them in their choice, your customer will be able to view the foreign exchange rate, margin and final price so they can choose whether to pay in the local or home currency like the examples below.

The benefits of Dynamic Currency Conversion for your business and customers

Better Customer Experiences: DCC improves customer service, options and price transparency

By accepting DCC you can provide your international customers with an extra service as they can pay in their home currency, saving them the hassle of having to worry about foreign exchange rates or handling multiple currencies.

This makes price comparison easier for international customers as DCC provides full disclosure of the exchange rate which allows them to assess the competitiveness of the rate at the point-of-sale and, with the exchange rate locked in at purchase, the price can’t change on your customers unexpectedly post-purchase. This removes a possible obstacle to shopping abroad by overseas visitors and has the potential to increase the number of sales to international customers with transparent and set pricing.

No Hidden Fees: DCC can help reduce chargebacks and disputes

A reason for accidental card “friendly” fraud – where a customer makes a legitimate purchase but doesn’t recognise it on their account statement – occurring is from customer misunderstandings when they see a transaction they don’t recognise on their credit card. This can lead to a chargeback and a loss of income for your business, as well as a strain on resources when disputing the chargeback claim.

Commonly, accidental friendly fraud can happen when they are travelling overseas and notice a charge on their account statement they don’t remember making or disagree with it as the price may seem higher than expected. This can happen when the price of their transaction in your store is converted from Euro to their home currency and the additional exchange rate is added onto the transaction post-purchase.

DCC removes this pricing ambiguity. With DCC there are no exchange rate surprises for your customers when they receive their statements as they will already know the final price of the purchase in their own currency.

Each receipt shows the amount in euro, the conversion rate, and the amount in the customer’s home currency as shown below.

This gives both you and your customer piece of mind at the time of the transaction and limits the opportunity for a chargeback dispute to occur.

Add a Revenue Stream to your business: DCC can earn your business a rebate

DCC is completely free of charge and doesn’t carry any additional fees but with BOIPA you can also earn a rebate from each DCC transaction you process.

There’s no extra administrative or conversion processes you need to follow as BOIPA handles the entire DCC process from beginning to end, from direct treasury exchange rates and transaction processing, to back-end reconciliation, settlement, funding, and support. You’ll receive confirmation on how much of a rebate you’ve earned in your monthly statement.

BOIPA’s Dynamic Currency Conversion

Find out more about BOIPA DCC and start getting rewarded for offering it as a service, you can download our information sheet and posters.