Sometimes an Etsy receipt will print out, and instead of seeing prices in your country’s currency, it prints out in a different currency or a foreign language.
This can be confusing, but it’s totally normal because of the way that Etsy’s system works. So why does this happen?
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What determines the currency settings?
Sometimes receipts print out on Etsy in currencies that are different than the one that the seller account is in because of the buyer’s account settings.
The prices that are displayed on the screen for buyers show in the currency that they’ve chosen for their account settings, so the receipt prints out the same way.
Even if the prices look different, Etsy is still charging the customer the correct price based on the current exchange rates.
So do you get charged any kind of extra fees if this happens? Maybe, but not necessarily…
How does currency conversion work on Etsy?
Currency conversion fees for sellers on Etsy only happen if the seller’s payment account is set up in a currency that’s different than the currency in their listings.
These are two different settings, and if they’re not the same Etsy has to convert the currency between the two when paying the seller. This won’t affect how the pricing displays for customers, but it will increase the fees that the seller pays to Etsy.
The currency conversion fee for sellers is only related to the seller’s payment account settings, not to what the buyer has set in their account. If the receipt prints out in a different currency it doesn’t mean that the seller will be charged a conversion fee.
Some sellers prefer to list their items in a specific currency so that the price will look a certain way to buyers in specific countries, and won’t show up as strange odd numbers because of the conversion.
For example, if I’m looking at a Canadian seller’s shop, and her listings are listed in Canadian dollars on her end, Etsy will show her prices to me as the converted amount because my account is set up in US Dollars.
Kelly from Kimmer and Company is located in Canada and has her prices set in Canadian dollars. Since my account is set in US dollars, the prices are shown to me with the price converted to US dollars.
When I switch my currency preference in my buyer account settings to Canadian dollars, the prices also change to show them in that currency.
The prices won’t change on Kelly’s end, they’ll just look different on the buyer’s end depending on what currency the buyer’s account is set to.
In this case, Kelly won’t pay an additional currency conversion fee because her prices are set to Canadian dollars, as is (I assume) her bank account.
If she had her prices displaying in US dollars and her bank account is in Canadian dollars, that would be an additional 2.5% currency conversion fee on top of the other Etsy fees for each transaction.
Different currency on receipts as a seller.
If you’re the seller and are seeing some of your receipts printing out in different currencies or languages, don’t worry about it. This is based on settings on the buyer’s end, not on yours. You’ll still be paid in the currency that your payment account is set up in, and you don’t need to do anything differently.
If the customer writes to you and asks why their receipt is printing out in a weird way, let them know that they can check their currency and language settings in their account settings under the Preferences tab.
Sometimes people haven’t set this up the right way, so they don’t realize that it’s something that they can change.
Different currency on receipts as a buyer.
If you’re purchasing on Etsy and your currency isn’t set up in the currency that you use on your credit card or Paypal account, you may end up paying an additional currency conversion fee.
Etsy may also add an extra fee to the price depending on the combination of factors going into the transaction. For the best chance of avoiding these fees, make sure that your Etsy account is set up in the same currency as the payment method that you’re using.
Since this is a complicated situation and it involves both Etsy and the payment processing company, you should check in the Etsy policies for what’s current before purchasing internationally.
As long as your currency in your account preferences is set up in the same currency as your credit card, though, you probably won’t have too many extra fees popping up. Just check beforehand if you’re concerned about it!
How to set your shopping currency on Etsy as a buyer.
To set your purchasing currency on Etsy:
- Log into your account and click on Account Information or Account Settings.
- Choose Preferences and choose the currency that you want to see prices in when you’re shopping on Etsy.
- Click on Update Preferences to save the changes.
To see the full Artisan Shopping Directory sections, including signups for discounts, click here.
How to set your currency on listings as a seller.
To set the currency that your listings will be displayed in:
- Go to your shop dashboard.
- Click on Payment Settings.
- Click on the Currency tab.
- Choose the currency that your shop’s prices will be set in.
Remember that doing this will set the prices on your end, but if the buyer has a different currency set up, they’ll see the prices displayed in their converted currency.
To avoid currency conversion fees, make sure that your payment settings are in the same currency as the currency that’s in your bank account.
Receipts that look strange can seem odd, but it’s usually because the buyer’s account has different settings.
If you’re an Etsy buyer, you should see your receipts in the currency and language that you chose when you set up your account.
If you’re an Etsy seller, any different currency that shows up probably isn’t because of anything you’ve done, and you don’t need to worry about it!