Prusa Shop currency options removed
Pretty disappointed (disgusted actually) with the new restrictions on the updated online shop.
I live in Australia and our exchange rates with USD, EUR and GBP are terrible - they add 30-50% to the total cost of the order! 😫 For the Zloty or Koruna, we get decent exchange rates.
After years and years of trouble-free ordering, the recently currency options were removed if you were paying with PayPal and limited to USD, but you could only set the currency if you paid with GooglePay.
So I set up a GooglePay account and ordered a bunch of filament a couple of weeks ago and it was all good.
Now I come back to order more filament and ALL options to change currency have been removed. I am forced to USD and have no ability to change it. 🤬
The added costs due to this enforced currency make everything on the site so ludicrously expensive that purchasing from Prusa is no longer viable.
On my Prusa XL pre-order, this will add nearly $1,000 AUD to the cost of the printer with the 5 tool head option; which is utterly outrageous.
The official word from a chat session with Prusa is:
"Yes, so it isn't practical to change currencies for certain regions due to the frequency of the wrong currency being selected, leading to failed payments."
That is complete rubbish IMHO. I have never had a failed payment and any payment with any of the big online platforms has absolutely no issue with payments in foreign currencies. If it were ACTUALLY a problem, eBay, Amazon, etc, etc and countless online web stores would not work.
Prusa seriously need to reconsider their position on this - it creates a huge negative financial impact on their end customers. Many, like myself; have set up businesses with pricing structures based on long standing exchange rates. Piling a 30-50% price increase on machines, parts and materials will effectively end our businesses as we cannot pass a price increase like that onto our end customers - they will simply stop using us.
Ben. 😥
RE: Prusa Shop currency options removed
As an example, just on doing the same order of 5 spools of Prusament PETG, it's adds ~$60AUD to the order above what I paid 2 weeks ago - a 23% increase. 😮
Ben.
RE: Prusa Shop currency options removed
My guess is that if they lose business over this, it will be corrected. Money talks.
I know I would be p*ssed if USD were removed. I probably would have gone with another brand of printer if I could not have paid with USD.
RE:
I am not quite getting where the huge extra costs are coming from. Why is exchanging to EUR so absurdly more expensive than to CZK in Australia? Doesn't make any sense.
BTW, Siraya tech is selling its resin hard coded in USD even though it has a specific price for the EU and does ship from within the EU if you choose that one. Makes no sense. But hey, it maybe adds 1 or 2 EUR in fees (and exchange rate losses) per 50 EUR bottle and it is still cheaper than the official Siraya tech offer on Amazon.de.
Mk3s MMU2s, Voron 0.1, Voron 2.4
RE: Prusa Shop currency options removed
Ditto. Order cancelations or reduced orders speak volumes.
My guess is that if they lose business over this, it will be corrected. Money talks.
I know I would be p*ssed if USD were removed. I probably would have gone with another brand of printer if I could not have paid with USD.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Shop currency options removed
I am not quite getting where the huge extra costs are coming from. Why is exchanging to EUR so absurdly more expensive than to CZK in Australia? Doesn't make any sense.
Me neither. Have you tried using Revo or similar. You can readily move money from one currency to another.
RE: Prusa Shop currency options removed
I am not quite getting where the huge extra costs are coming from. Why is exchanging to EUR so absurdly more expensive than to CZK in Australia? Doesn't make any sense.
It's had me tearing my hair out too, so I've gone digging further and I believe I've found the answer. Please bare with me as this is a bit of a long one... 🤔
There appears to be an issue with the currency conversion in the back end of Prusa's web store and this is what is causing the massive disparity between currencies.
Here is an example:
With the web store set to Poland and the currency as the Polish Zloty (PLN), 1 roll of Prusament PETG:
PLN 129.00 or 104.88 without VAT
Convert that to USD:
USD $26.72 or $21.73 without VAT
Converting PLN and USD to AUD both give:
AUD $40.18 or $32.67 without VAT
So we're all happy there is parity across the exchange rates. 👍
Now, this is where is goes off the rails...
Let's change the web store to the USA and set the currency USD and see what the pricing is on our spool:
The price has jumped from $26.72 to $29.99 - an increase of ~12% simply by changing the currency of the transaction.
But it's worse, VAT is not applicable, so the jump is actually from $21.73 to $29.99 - a 38% increase! 😯
Now I understand why the pricing has blown out.
We can even go a step further and change the currency to EUR with the location still set as Poland:
And then change the location to Germany with the currency set as EUR:
You pay more in Germany than you do in Poland, despite the same currency being set. What the?!
Doesn't sound look like much of a difference, but it's there at ~2%.
Try an MK3s+ kit:
Going with the non-VAT pricing, that's €122.19 more for the same thing in the same region - and increase of ~18%
And then we do the same kit in the USA:
Let's get this back to parity in USD - all figures are without VAT:
From Poland: $649.93
From Germany: $798.82
Very slightly cheaper from Germany, but a MASSIVE 23% cheaper from Poland.
This disparity also flows into the freight charges, which causes even bigger blowouts in the final cost of an order.
I've opened a dialogue with Prusa management on the issue prior to these findings, so I will now take this to them as well. I sincerely hope that they do not just change the pricing on everything to the more expensive level - that would be the end of the road for Prusa with me...and a lot of others I would suspect.
If Prusa act as they have in the past, we should see a positive outcome.
I'll keep you posted...
Ben.
RE: Prusa Shop currency options removed
Well, this is not only about exchange rates. It is different pricing for different countries as well. Sounds funny but is a legit thing to do, in certain cases at least. Companies do not only charge based on their costs but also based on the market conditions. In Poland the price pressure is probably higher than in Germany.
You commonly find different Euro prices in different countries, even though the Euro certainly has reduced the gaps overall. For better or worse. A different currency in each country is also a nice tool to hide those different pricings to a certain extend.
Now why Prusa thinks it has to charge such a premium in Australia I don't know. After all, extra shipping costs are paid by the customers on top anyway and shouldn't affect the regular product price.
Mk3s MMU2s, Voron 0.1, Voron 2.4
RE: Prusa Shop currency options removed
Was about to arder a MK4 today but changed my mind when I discovered they removed the currency choice.
RE: Prusa Shop currency options removed
Some of this may be coming from the banks that are being used. Your bank may charge one rate for exchange. Prusa's bank may have a different rate. I have run into that in my travels. I also wonder if some of this is coming due to the recent banking issues around the world. It may be beyond Prusa's control.
RE: Prusa Shop currency options removed
Nope. The end payment happens in the vendors set currency at their invoiced price.
The customer pays the transaction/conversion fees. If the exchange rate is crap, the customer simply pays more.
Many credit card providers, including mine; do not charge any trasaction/conversion fees if you purchase in the vendors currency instead of your native currency.
All of this becomes irrelevant when you pay with a service like PayPal.
RE: Prusa Shop currency options removed
Was about to arder a MK4 today but changed my mind when I discovered they removed the currency choice.
😪 That sucks mate.
I followed up with Prusa Support and still no traction.
This is still a thing and it's pretty poor there has been no change.
It makes the MK4, XL, etc SO much more expensive for a lot of customers.