Originally Posted by Majuki

In other news, I finally convinced my spouse to let me try her TWD Visa on a local purchase at Kinokuniya (Japanese bookstore) in San Jose. This was after an unsuccessful attempt to get her to buy something at Macy's or Nordstrom. The purchase was for $10.82, but Bank of Taiwan is showing a pending transaction amount of NT$357. The Visa exchange rate shows the amount as being NT$336, so something is causing a 6.25% markup. She told me that Bank of Taiwan charges 1.5% a currency conversion fee, but we can't explain the rest. I'm thinking it might be the case like using Discover at Uniqlo in Japan where the pending transaction amount is higher than what the posted amount will be.