Andy Pandy muttered....



Might sound helpful, but the catch is that the exchange rate at which
the conversion is done is almost certainly a lot worse than your bank
would use if you got billed in the local currency. The retailer
usually gets a cut of the exchange rate markup so it's in their
interest to bill you in your home currency.


Given the amounts involved in individual CC transactions, the exchange
rates which I have seen for about eleventy dozen times better than the
"cash" exchange rates provided by either the two banks I worked for and as
good as many of the commercial transcation rates available to traders and
large coorporations. CCs have litereally revolutionized foreign exchange,
with debit/ATM cards following to change even further the "Bad Old Days".

Outside the 3rd World and big chunks of the developed Middle East, I
suspect the day of the small currency exchanges and small money traders may
be almost gone.

TMO