What currency is used to determine fees in a transaction with WooPayments?

If the currency in which the customer paid matches the currency of any bank account you have on file, the fees are charged in the customer currency. The fixed portion of the base fee is converted to the customer currency before being added the rest of the fees.

If the currency in which the customer paid does not match the currency of any bank account on file, the order total is converted to the default currency and the fees are subtracted from that.

Fee calculation can be a complex topic, so we’ve provided some examples below.

Consider a merchant in the following situation:

• Their account is based in the Canada, but they sell worldwide.
• They don’t have multi-currency enabled, so their prices are in CAD.
• The only bank account they’ve added is denominated in CAD.
• A customer pays for a $1,000 CAD order with a U.S.-issued card.

Because the customer paid in CAD and the merchant has a CAD bank account added, the fees will be charged in CAD. This is by far the most common scenario. The fees that apply are:

• The base fee for Canadian merchants of 2.9% + $0.30 CAD.
• The international payment fee, which is an additional 1.00%.

Thus, fee calculations are as follows:

  1000 * 0.029
+ 0.30
+ 1000 * 0.01

= $39.30 CAD fee

Now consider the same merchant, but this time they have multi-currency enabled so that they can sell products in both CAD and USD. Their only bank account on file is still in CAD, and a customer using a U.S. card pays $1,000 USD for an order.

Because the customer paid in USD, but the merchant does not have a USD bank account on file with WooPayments, the order total will first be converted to CAD and the fees will be charged in CAD. The fees that apply are:

• The base fee for Canadian merchants of 2.9% + $0.30 CAD.
• The international payment fee of an additional 1.00%.
• The currency conversion fee of an additional 2.00%.

Assuming the USD-to-CAD exchange rate is 1.33333, the fee calculations are:

  1000 USD * 1.33333 = 1333.33 CAD

  1333.33 * 0.029
+ 0.30
+ 1333.33 * 0.01
+ 1333.33 * 0.02

= $78.97 CAD fee

Now consider the same merchant, but this time they have multi-currency enabled and they’ve added a USD-denominated bank account to WooPayments. As before, a customer using a U.S. card pays $1,000 USD for an order.

Because the customer paid in USD and the merchant has a USD bank account on file this time, fees will be charged in USD. The fees that apply are:

• The base fee for Canadian merchants of 2.9% + $0.30 CAD.
  • The fixed portion of this fee, which is normally $0.30 CAD, will be converted to USD first.
• The international payment fee of an additional 1.00%.

Assuming the USD-to-CAD exchange rate is 1.33333, the fee calculations are:

  0.30 CAD / 1.33333 = 0.23 USD

  1000 * 0.029
+ 0.23
+ 1000 * 0.01

= $39.23 USD fee

Similar to the above, if the currency in which the customer paid matches the currency of any bank account you have on file with WooPayments, and the order is later disputed, the dispute fee is charged in the customer currency.

If the currency in which the customer paid does not match the currency of any bank account on file, and the order is later disputed, the dispute fee is levied in the default payout currency.