Originally Posted by
YariGuy
you should always choose to be charged in the foreign currency, vs. USD. There are long threads on this (perhaps in the China forum) on DCC (dynamic currency conversion) but it is a ripoff.
Originally Posted by
Nagasaki Joe
To be clear, my $8.00 Japanese meal was what it cost based on a straight yen to dollar conversion calculation. Apparently, I didn't specify the desired currency for the transaction and after checking Amex actually charged me $8.69 for the purchase
The price discrepancy wasn't due to DCC, since Amex doesn't have / doesn't allow it. That's one reason I tend to use Amex internationally: not having to worry about DCC opt-out or cheating merchants that don't honor your stated DCC preference.