Buying Books Online Like a Family: Just how much Are you able to Save Buying From International Stores Using YouTrip?

The COVID-19 outbreak has destroyed global travel in 2021. Singaporeans, being probably the most well-travelled group of people on the planet, now need to discover hobbies beyond going to keep themselves occupied.

Similar to everybody else in Singapore, my family has been affected. When compared with others, we'd consider ourselves lucky because both my wife and I can work well at home (there exists a study room) and also have support at home to deal with our two young girls.

The silver lining is this fact means our overseas travel-related expenses, for 2021 at least, goes down. Using the extra cash, we decided to give ourselves a little treat during circuit breaker by purchasing books for the entire family. Reading, after all, ought to be a family affair.

To buy books, I usually use Book Depository, a UK-based online bookseller that is part of the Amazon Group. Book Depository offers an extensive catalogue of books with free delivery to in excess of 160 countries, including Singapore.

Typically, many people, including myself, would purchase their online book purchases using a charge card though there is also an option to use PayPal. Because so many of these online bookstores are situated beyond Singapore, there's a credit card foreign currency transaction fee that you simply incur on each purchase.

Paying For The Books In SGD VS USD

Since we were buying books for the whole family, I was prepared to spend a little more than I usually do. As a whole, we picked out seven books (three of which were for me) and the others in my wife and our two young girls.

Purchased made on 5 May 2021

In total, the seven books cost S$131.66. This is automatically quoted in Singapore Dollar (SGD) based on where you are.

I was curious to find out how much cash I'm able to save on my book purchase online basically used my YouTrip card to pay for, rather than a regular charge card.

The the very first thing you should remember when buying from overseas e-commerce sites is the fact that there is usually an option for you to pay in forex. Generally, the united states Dollar (USD) is easily the most widely used currency that people would use to pay for online purchases.

As written in a previous article, there is a strong possibility that exist a lower price should you pay using the correct forex. With this purchase, I decided to pay for using USD.

The same books cost US$93.01.

Paying In USD Using YouTrip Card

Here is where an easy arbitrage opportunity comes up.

By checking on my YouTrip app at the reason for purchase, I possibly could immediately observe that I have to convert only S$131.46 to obtain US$93.01. This is in line with the current spot rate at the reason for conversion. It's also S$0.20 less than the S$131.66 I had been quoted in SGD.

In other words, YouTrip is offering me a better exchange rate for SGD/USD when compared with what the web site is offering me.

Additional Currency Conversion Fee

While it's nice to understand will be able to save S$0.20 from my purchase just using this nifty trick, $0.20 is fairly negligible (though nevertheless still savings) for any purchase of more than $100. Fortunately (or unfortunately), this isn't the only difference.

You see, if you make a transaction by having an overseas e-commerce site utilizing a regular credit card, you will be charged a currency conversion fee. This applies whether you are paying using in USD, other forex or perhaps if you opt to pay in SGD.

For example, when I bought books from Book Depository in February 2021, I paid S$41.87.

My credit card was billed that amount – S$41.87.

In addition, there is also a CCY Conversion fee of S$0.42.

In March 2021, I also bought books for that girls from Book Depository for S$37.51.

Similarly, I was charged S$37.15, plus an additional CCY conversion fee of $0.38.

Based on past purchases, CCY conversion fee seems to be about 1% from the bill, a minimum of for that credit card which i used.

So, had I paid using a regular credit card with this purchase, I'd have been charged a CCY conversion fee of about S$1.31.

How Much Did I Save Using My YouTrip Card To cover Books Online?

What I paid using YouTrip – S$131.46 (US$93.01)

What I'd have paid if I used a regular credit card – S$132.97 ($131.66 + $1.31)

Total savings: About S$1.50

Before ending off, I believe it's important to stress the savings I was able to enjoy by paying for books using my YouTrip card is based on my purchase. My personal experience doesn't cover the infinite scenarios we face for overseas online shopping.

Depending around the e-commerce sites that you use, you might save a greater or lower amount. In some cases, it might be possible that paying in USD or any other foreign currency making use of your YouTrip card might not earn you any savings.

However, it does not alter the details that we wish to share for this article on how it can save you cash on your overseas online purchases.

The first is that when purchasing from an overseas e-commerce site, the exchange rate that you get is important. A favorable exchange rate implies that you're able to enjoy a discounted once it's converted to SGD. The greater the exchange rate that you will get, the more you will save.

The second is that you also save by not paying the currency conversion fees. By using YouTrip to pay for your online purchase, you do not have to incur the extra cost, which could be easily 1% or even more of your purchase.

So even as you remain at home during this time period and rely more about overseas online transactions to get the items which you need, make sure to pay using the right method to save just as much money as you possibly can on your purchases.

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