"Your cart was updated based on your shipping country" - Shopify changing currency at Checkout!

[Sozoli]

Hi, is anyone getting this problem today?  Customer is purchasing in their preferred currency, but at Checkout Shopify is changing the currency based on where they are shipping to!  We don't want that feature.  How do we get them to stop that?

[Art_JulieMiller]

Hi there, has anyone ever come back to you on this?

[Sozoli]

No.

[Sozoli]

It is really, REALLY annoying for our customers.  They are buying in NZ dol

[Art_JulieMiller]

It really is. I wonder if there's a way to lobby for this as a change request.

[Sozoli]

Is there such a thing?  

[Sozoli]

This is making my customers SO ANGRY!  They buy in NZ dollars, they are sending a gift to someone overseas, Shopify changes the currency on them, they often don't notice until they see the bill, then they are really upset at me.  Some saying they will report me to a NZ consumer rights group.  This is only going to become more of a nightmare as we get closer to Christmas.  Everyone at Shopify just says they can't do anything about it.  It is infuriating, and I am seriously looking at changing to another provider.  I waste so much time trying to explain this to customers, that is the ones that keep on with their order and don't just stop at Checkout.

[Ahealey]

Hey,

This feature comes from Shopify Markets 

Review your settings in Settings > Shopify Markets

[Sozoli]

Yes but there is no solution.  You can't change your settings back to how they were.  Unless you know something I don't.  My customers want to buy in NZ dollars, or AU dollars, etc, and regardless of where the parcel is going, have the currency stay the same as they started with. I want that too!

[EmmaFox]

It's absolutely INFURIATING they still haven't changed this. On Shopify support currently trying to get help with this and they don't even read my messages and take so long to reply just to tell me what I've told them. It's like speaking to a brick wall. I'm losing a $250 sale because of this, because my customer wants to pay in AUD so they can use Afterpay, but it's forcing USD at checkout.

[Sozoli]

Unfortunately they all say the same thing, that they will pass it on to the developers.  And of course they will only action something that lots of people have contacted them about.  My workaround is to get the customer to tell me what they want to order, then we invoice to a local address but do custom shipping to the actual location they want it to go to.  It's awkward but big corporate don't listen to us, so what can we do?

[hullaballoo]

Oh I can't believe this is a added value change - so on 20/10/23 all checkouts have been changed to this....

I'm not sure about the legality of this in New Zealand - ie you show a customer a whole website in NZD and then whoops at the checkout its changed with no warning to AUD because the product is shipping to Australia - the amount the customer is being charged on their credit card is different that what they thought they were being charged... I am sure this breaks all of VISA and MASTERCARDs rules - its sneaky and not transparent to customers and it is NOT customer friendly. AND they can't use Afterpay because the check out is in AUD.... and not to mention the 2 sets of fees created - one to the store owner to change the rate from NZD to AUD and another to the customer for the AUD conversion on their NZD credit card - how is this customer focussed.... Oh the headache of Christmas season buying!!

[Sozoli]

Yep.  Actually I think I will take this to the Commerce Commission and see what they say.  Shopify does put a heading to say the currency is being changed, but it isn't big and bold, so either people don't notice it and continue on, only to contact me afterwards with an angry email, or they stop right there.  At the very least, the cart should stop there, and the customer has to agree to the change, for it to proceed.  The thing is, the customer doesn't want this at all, nor do we!!!!

[hullaballoo]

I don’t understand why it’s not based on billing card - surely that makes more sense than shipping…. but ultimately it should just be the way it was before… they pick the currency themselves when they are viewing the store then thats the currency that the order goes through on - ie shop in NZD stays on NZD in cart regardless of the shipping location.

re the warning message - I was testing it and didn’t even notice this message - so its not clear… plus it doesn’t actually say what has happened….

I have worked out you can make a draft order for the customer and “change the market” in the order to put it back to NZD - so it does mean a customer can then use Afterpay = and pay in NZD when you send them the invoice… but its a clunky solution

So to enable this I have altered "Your cart has been updated based on your shipping country.” in the theme content to "Your cart currency has been updated based on your shipping country. If you would prefer to buy in your local currency - please contact us.”

Now will need to do this for all my Shopify clients - sigh!!

[Sozoli]

Oh, interesting, as I tried to do draft orders but Shopify would still change them to the destination currency.  I will have to try changing the market.  But yes I agree, it is clunky.  
I also didn't realise you could change the Shopify message, so will scout around to see where I can change that.  I'm actually surprised I can!  Would you mind telling me where to find it?  That will save me some time.  
Thanks so much for your support.  I've emailed the legal team at Shopify about this.  If they don't bother to respond, or can't help, I'll take this to the Commerce Commission for a ruling.

[hullaballoo]

This is for the draft order

And this is to change the checkout text... click the 3 dots next to customise and then click edit default theme content - then search for Your cart has been updated based

and then you can change the text to anything you want

[Sozoli]

Thanks so much.  🙂  I have changed the wording and hope that saves us from some of the backlash.  

[kiwicornerdairy]

Shopify is also charging a currency conversion fee on these transactions so the business is paying more. Agree with other replys that the legality of this may be in question. It's a serious issue and needs to be fixed a.s.ap.

[Rinky]

I was curious whether they came back with any solution. I am trying to check out constantly on a website and wanting to pay in USD but shop keeps converting to GBP at checkout and adding a massive whack on top. It's not shipping (the order qualifies for free shipping anyway), it's not the conversion rates (the total should be less in GBP) and it is not import/taxes as the purchase is below the threshold. I have reached out to the retailer but their customer service is not the brightest in the world and just does not get it. 

[Sozoli]

There is no threshold now, VAT is collected on all orders up to about 135 pounds.  After that point the customer is charged VAT when the parcel arrives.  The "massive whack" will be a mix of 20% VAT, exchange rate and currency conversion fees.

[Rinky]

Hello, I can see this theme is still ongoing. I looked at the VAT amount to see if that created the "massive whack". Even if you add GP VAT on top of the amount pre conversion, the Shopify cart still comes out much much more when they convert it to local currency. So it is not VAT, it is not shipping, currency conversion and it is not other taxes (eg import). It just seems to be a huge surcharge. Some retailers are savvy and have fixed this issue, but one in particular (the one where the sales support are not the brightest) can't seem to fix it, so I for one will not be spending any more with that store. Vote with my feet. And yes, it is in breach of local consumer law for that to happen.

[hullaballoo]

You need to ask the retailer to create a DRAFT order for what you are wanting to purchase - they can then specify what currency you want to purchase in - then they can send you the invoice to pay with your credit card in that currency…

Good luck

[Sozoli]

Yes, correct, although if their customer service is "not the brightest" as the person has written, that may never happen.

[kiwicornerdairy]

There's no solution, it's integral to the new checkout. They have told me it's on the "to do" list but I'm not holding my breath!

Not even sure of the legalities of this in some countries and Shopify are also charging a currency conversion fee on all of these transactions. PLEASE RAISE AN ISSUE WITH SUPPORT IF YOU WANT THIS RECTIFIED!

[uhvs]

It's on the "to list"?
@Shopify Please change it now!