Al Balmer wrote:
On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 20:56:39 +0100, JosephK <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
On 12:33 Sun 01 Jul , Al Balmer wrote:
On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 09:01:07 -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Quoting "John R. Sowden" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
Enter the amount (in Euros) you would like to donate. When you log in to
Paypal, it will convert this to your native currency (currently $1.39 for 1
Euro). You can find a list of current conversion rates at http://www.xe.com/ .
OpenOffice.org's bank happens to be located in a country that uses Euros - not
everyone uses your native currency.
Not everyone uses Euros, either. Surely the site can accept payment in
other currency and convert it to Euros. After all, it's running on a
computer that has no problem with simple arithmetic.
Making the donation process difficult and confusing is not a good
idea.
The problem being that the exchange rate changes minute by minute so
what happens is that an amount gets quoted, when the bank processes the
transaction the rate has changed so the donator (donee?) sees on his/her
bank statement something different and starts wondering where the
difference has gone.
That will happen even if the donor looks up the rate himself. A simple
information and disclaimer on the web site should suffice. The donors
are not stupid.
On the other hand, this is a moot issue - the donor should be charged
the amount he specified. Any adjustment should be made at the other
end. Why do you care? Don't look gift horses in the mouth.
Personally, I have regular payments going out in USD and Euros as well
as GBP. Surely it is up to the individual to keep track of where the
money is going and what is going out.
Exactly. If I choose to donate 100.00 USD, that's the amount I wish to
keep track of.
If you wish to send me a donation, I will gladly accept it in whatever
currency you like :-)
When you buy stuff in a foreign country you pay in that country's
currency and the amount you get charged in your currency is not
specifiable by you but depends on the exchange rate in force at the time
your bank (or credit card company) debits your account. This is true
whether or not you are physically present in the foreign country.
Welcome to the world.
The same applies when you make a donation in a foreign country which is
what you are doing here.
If you look carefully at the text on the donation page just above where
it says "Update Totals" you will see it says "EUR". That's short for
Euros, the currency of the country (Germany) in which you are "buying".
You can tell it's Germany by reading the details of where you would send
a Bank Transfer, just just below the "Make a Donation" button that you
clicked on.
--
Harold Fuchs
London, England
Please reply *only* to [email protected]
