Re: [not really 'rocco] buying non-US stuff

["Wayne Cressman" <WCressman@csi.com>]

Neal,

>Can I buy stuff from a non-US company (Canada, UK, Germany, wherever) with
>my credit card (via mail-order, phone, or e-commerce)? I'm guessing that
>good-ol' Visa would automatically do the exchange rate and everything, but
>I've never actually done it before, so I don't know! Obviously, the place
>has to be willing to ship the goods internationally, and the shipping costs
>will be higher, but is there anything else "special" that has to happen?
>Where is a good place on the Web to check international exchange rates?

There's no problem using Visa to buy from foreign companies.  They bill Visa
or whatever in their local currency and Visa converts the cost into U.S.
dollars and bills you.  The exchange rate they use to convert the cost into
U.S. dollars is usually extremely competitive - better than you can get
going to your local bank to buy/sell foreign currency.  You can check
exchange rates at:

http://www.ft.com/cgi-bin/pft/ftpdsdb/pds1.d2w/report

As you said the vendor has to be willing to ship the goods internationally
and you have to be willing to pay the higher shipping costs.  There might be
a need to pay customs duties, but on the other hand the package is unlikely
to be stopped by customs.  You might want to talk to the vendor about their
previous experience in shipping to the U.S.

The other obvious point is that it's much more difficult and expensive to
sue an international company if something goes wrong.  However, you can
still cancel the credit card payment if something goes wrong, and, at the
end of the day, how many of us would really go to the trouble of suing a
domestic U.S. vendor if something goes wrong.  As in most areas of life, if
the vendor has a good reputation you'll probably do fine.  I wouldn't feel
too inhibited about buying from a reputable overseas vendor if they have
what you want and it's a good price.

Regards,
Wayne Cressman




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