Card charged in GBP instead of EUR / USD - Legal framework

Hey there,

I’ve come across a number of instances in which payment terminals or online providers offer to ‘convert’ your payment in EUR or USD to your ‘home’ currency of GBP (it seems they assume GBP is my home currency because Revolut is based in London, eventhough I am based in Holland). Usually this is just an annoyance that you can ignore - you just decline their ‘offer’ to convert and the payment is processed in the original currency, so you can benefit from Revolut’s market exchange rates.

HOWEVER … I’ve recently come across a company that charges EURO payments in GBP on my Revolut card, without warning and without my approval! And the culprit is … Ebay. When you select ‘pay by credit card’ on checkout, and use your revolut credit card, they automatically convert into GBP without notification and without approval. And the exchange rate is outrageous - I lost over 10 Euro on a 200 Euro payment (5%!).

Of course I will be challenging Ebay on this as I’m pretty sure these practices are not only morally, but also legally dubious. Will keep you posted.

However, it would be really great though if Revolut’s legal team could back me up here as well - what is the legal framework in terms of consumer protection that is being violated here? I assume it’s the framework Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices (EU 2005/29/EC) but are there any more specific directives that cover exchange rates from a consumer perspective?

Thank you in advance from a very strong promoter and investor :slight_smile:

Jacob

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You are right. MasterCard and Visa both don’t allow this. It’s a violation of their T&Cs for Merchants. Merchants can offer DCC (dynamic currency conversion), but it has to be optional and must be offered before a payment is accepted by the customer.

(I am not aware of any EU consumer right regulation here, but Mastercard’s rules are very strict here.)

I don’t know how eBay does this, i always use PayPal there, but eBay has to offer an option to pay in the local currency.

But: it is less clear when you buy something from someone in the US on a European eBay website. Then the local currency of that internet marketplace is EUR.

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Hi @nebu99 :wave:

If you you were not given the opportunity to choose the desired currency in which the transaction was completed or did not agree to the currency of the transaction, we could raise a chargeback on your behalf both under MasterCard and Visa scheme.

Could you please reach out our in-app support team?

Best,

Andreas K.

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Same here with Airbnb and Spotify. I was choosing listing in EUR (I use EUR as my only currency), but was charged in GBP. Everything was in EUR, but as soon as I have change billing country (eurozone country) all amounts were converted to USD and finally my Revolut card was changed in GBP with no option to disable this dynamic currency conversion. I wanted to be charged only in EUR. In case with Spotify, they charged me in GBP thought my account is form eurozone country. I was charged 9.99 GBP (11.02 EUR), instead of original 9.99 EUR, so it is about 10% difference. I would like rise chargebacks. This a clear violation of Mastercard and Visa T&Cs.

You can avoid this by adding your :r: card to your Paypal account and pay with it instead (remember to check the option on Paypal to bill on the seller’s currency).

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@pepe2124
Thanks, but I do not want to use/have Paypal account.

Hi Andreas,

Thank you for following up! I didn’t go the chargeback route as I don’t want to have an issue with my eBay account over a few Euros.

I did pick this up with eBay customer service, and after a few backs-and-forths, they have now referred me to PayPal (who apparently handles the ‘pay by creditcard’ option even if you don’t log into your paypal account) and have given me a transaction reference number. I will follow up with Paypal and let you know what the outcome is.

Jacob

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Or for future transactions, you can go on the Payments section on PayPal and then select “Pre-Approved Payments” and then select “Funding Sources” and then click on “Conversion Options” next to your card. This will give you the option to select the to select “Bill me in the currency listed on the seller’s invoice”. Then click submit and save. This is not a guaranteed fix but it should prevent PayPal from applying their conversion again.

Any official info from Revolut?
It happens in same way for my CzechRep. Revolut account/card.
When I select on Ebay payment by Revolut card (invoice in USD), it is automatically charged in GBP instead of USD. With exchange rate about 7% up!!!

Please read this thread (above) and setup your account in described way.