We had a request from EU customer to pay in euro , saying similar issue with being "overcharged" if paying in USD ( which of course another way of paypal how to make some money ) . There is no direct exchange between EUR and CNY , although it may appear as it is on paypal. But for the moment such a transactions goes EUR - USD - CNY. Should I start to accept the EUR payments, I'd have to raise the prices to compensate the difference ( which is unclear as we do not withdraw every payment we get so the conversion fee also vary ) . Let alone we can not make a sticker on the box in EUR but just in USD so then my wife has to sit with convert. calculator and manually change the numbers ( that's the technical issue part ) .
What I'm trying to say here is , there is no such a thing as " bad vendor want's to make more money "( especially now in slow eceonomy times ) . I believe if you have a way how to pay them in YEN from actuall JP bank account ( via other 3rd. party..not PayPal ) , they will be very happy to give you even some discount.
We have also cheaper prices in CNY - if you can actually pay in CNY without conversion on our side ( means not via PayPal ) .
There is always trouble for CN ( and I believe JP as well ) vendors dealing with USD or any other foreign currency ( bad conversion rate , high withdrawing fee ...like 40USD per withdraw for example , and annual USD income limitation...that includes all $ comming , so even the expencive shipping fee and 5% paypal fee ) . So if you order 5$ item and get it shipped via 10$ shipping, you feel being robbed but actually is otherway around...vendor is the one who should cry. Many things in backround which general buyer doesn't see .
Green Tea Vendor Topic
-
pizzapotamus
- Posts: 60
- Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:52 pm
Well all I can say is it would show up in JPY on my credit card statement....(and I don't use paypal for currency conversion because their rates are poo). I don't mind if they don't want to deal with USD but they're the ones enforcing no JPY....
"The currency you're paying in isn't actually the currency you're paying in" is new claim to me too like I every time I travel internationally I'm leaving a wake of ruin at every small business I visit if I happen to pay by CC(not the CC fees are great and I do actually pay with cash when feasible). I can believe that the intersection of PayPal and China is weird but even with PayPal I've been on both the receiving and sending end of transactions with people I personally know and haven't had anything like what you describe and transactions take place in whatever currency they're set as. For instance if I was sending my UK friend 20quid she'd end up with GBP and never see a dollar sign. Like wise if I invoiced a UK client in $ that's what I'd receive and they'd be the ones paying a currency conversion either with their bank or by eating paypal's convenience fees. Or if for some reason I invoiced them in GBP then yes I'd end up with GBP balance to annoy me but the point is the transaction would be in whatever currency it was set as. Of course paypal is a digression because there wasn't any need to make purchases with them through paypal to begin with.
"The currency you're paying in isn't actually the currency you're paying in" is new claim to me too like I every time I travel internationally I'm leaving a wake of ruin at every small business I visit if I happen to pay by CC(not the CC fees are great and I do actually pay with cash when feasible). I can believe that the intersection of PayPal and China is weird but even with PayPal I've been on both the receiving and sending end of transactions with people I personally know and haven't had anything like what you describe and transactions take place in whatever currency they're set as. For instance if I was sending my UK friend 20quid she'd end up with GBP and never see a dollar sign. Like wise if I invoiced a UK client in $ that's what I'd receive and they'd be the ones paying a currency conversion either with their bank or by eating paypal's convenience fees. Or if for some reason I invoiced them in GBP then yes I'd end up with GBP balance to annoy me but the point is the transaction would be in whatever currency it was set as. Of course paypal is a digression because there wasn't any need to make purchases with them through paypal to begin with.
This example has little to do with the TdJ change, though. It's more like if you used to offer people to buy in either CNY or USD, but then later switched to forcing everyone in certain jurisdictions to pay in USD. And had implemented an exchange rate that was always a minimum of 15-20% over the market rate(s).
Paying TdJ in JPY always meant that the buyer carried the exchange rate (and other) fees (TdJ received the amount in their home currency). No one is saying the vendors should accept every currency out there, or even more than one.
Of course TdJ is free to do as they want, and talking about morality doesn't get us anywhere. Customer can also chose who they buy from.
I think many of the TdJ offerings are good enough to justify the significant currency forced price hike, but at the same time human psychology and relative deprivation is what it is... Some will undoubtedly feel irked.
Maybe I'll have my teas from TdJ shipped to Taiwan or Mainland China instead (presumably they can still pay in JPY), since I have packages combined and forwarded from there pretty often anyways.
I think buyers pay PayPal around 3-4% for currency conversion, which is high but not necessarily prohibitive. I doubt many multi-currency vendors are able to do much better - indeed many charge a lot more.
Of course, the best way is for buyers to get a bank card with no/low currency conversion fees and decent exchange rates. However, some buyers rarely spend in a foreign currency and don't want to waste time to open a new account.
Of course, the best way is for buyers to get a bank card with no/low currency conversion fees and decent exchange rates. However, some buyers rarely spend in a foreign currency and don't want to waste time to open a new account.
I don't know JPY but CNY is not trade currency ( or how it's properly called ) . Basically if you pay any person in China with your foreign card, the conversion is done on the receiver side ( and so taken from their annual USD income limit ...see more in google ... "Is CNY a restricted currency? " topic )
It may show on your CCD statement or Paypal as you paid in CNY but you actually didn't.
Now in some countries you can actually buy CNY and have them on your special foreign account.
That should be a direct CNY payment then. Without that , it is converting to USD first ( if from other foreign currency ) and then to CNY always on the side of the receiver ( despite how you see it on your bank statement ) .
Again, I don't know in Japan , but in China is like that ( if online payment from abroad ).
It may show on your CCD statement or Paypal as you paid in CNY but you actually didn't.
Now in some countries you can actually buy CNY and have them on your special foreign account.
That should be a direct CNY payment then. Without that , it is converting to USD first ( if from other foreign currency ) and then to CNY always on the side of the receiver ( despite how you see it on your bank statement ) .
Again, I don't know in Japan , but in China is like that ( if online payment from abroad ).
Last edited by aet on Sun Mar 17, 2024 4:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If I understand @aet correctly, TdJ may have to pay extra in exchange/processing fees if foreign customers pay in yen. However, this doesn't explain why they suddenly stopped offering this option without informing their customers and then gave an unhelpful explanation when they were asked why they did this.
I think we're all willing to pay a fair price for our tea. However, the USD markup seems very high.
Are other Japanese companies still letting foreigners pay in yen?
I think we're all willing to pay a fair price for our tea. However, the USD markup seems very high.
Are other Japanese companies still letting foreigners pay in yen?
-
pizzapotamus
- Posts: 60
- Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:52 pm
TdJ don't have to pay extra for foreign customers paying in yen though.... that's not how paypal or banking works in the vast majority of the world. Whatever nonsense China does isn't relevant and after condescendingly telling us all we just don't understand how things work @aet then said "I don't know in Japan"
And yes, plenty of online companies let you pay in jpy, heck many only let you pay in jpy. Also if you go to Japan it's not like any business that normally accepts cards is going to run screaming in terror at a foreign card....Although for US based folk they might get a bit confused and have a laugh when their reader wants a signature, rather a than pin. The matriarch of the Suigetsu kiln found me having to sign for payment amusing enough to repeat as a story when other members of her family returned to her shop.
And yes, plenty of online companies let you pay in jpy, heck many only let you pay in jpy. Also if you go to Japan it's not like any business that normally accepts cards is going to run screaming in terror at a foreign card....Although for US based folk they might get a bit confused and have a laugh when their reader wants a signature, rather a than pin. The matriarch of the Suigetsu kiln found me having to sign for payment amusing enough to repeat as a story when other members of her family returned to her shop.
Disappointing to hear, I was very happy with the deal and purchase price of tea I got there with my last order and was planning on another. The tea quality is still worth what they're asking in USD, but mentally it feels bad after getting such prices not long ago were I to order again.
ok, then other possibility is that all international payments go trough some separate entity ( could be based in EU ) which takes cut from the payments. The deal between JP owner and the int. payment provider might be that no option in JPY shoudl be available for no JP bank account holder , or somethig like that. I've checked the website and yes, there is a big differrnce also between EUR and such.
Since the name of the domain is in FR , I can also assume that deal between JP owner ( producer ? ) and FR reseller had also changed. FR reseller needs to raise the prices due whatever factors happening on EU side but JP producer ( who is in control of the costs ) doesn't have / need to.
As the FR reseller is the main propagator of the company ( website, blogs, advert...etc. ) it is logical, that they want to protect their income by setting up some restrictions / rules on payments which might go around them.
If just taking logically , they offered the pay in JPY before and for some reason had to stop it. I fail to believe that the reason is " want to make more money on foreigners " . I can only assume that the owner/s ( JP producer and FR seller ) of the biz are also not happy about that , and especially if this info is getting spread around the comunities like this.
I also believe , there is no need to strugle much with " why they do like this now ? ", but just to move on to the other website selling same quality tea for better prices. If there is non , then no point to cry about it and accept the reality.
Yes, it does psychologically hurts , but hey , the shoes you buy in your local shop probably can also buy on TB for 10% of the price
Since the name of the domain is in FR , I can also assume that deal between JP owner ( producer ? ) and FR reseller had also changed. FR reseller needs to raise the prices due whatever factors happening on EU side but JP producer ( who is in control of the costs ) doesn't have / need to.
As the FR reseller is the main propagator of the company ( website, blogs, advert...etc. ) it is logical, that they want to protect their income by setting up some restrictions / rules on payments which might go around them.
If just taking logically , they offered the pay in JPY before and for some reason had to stop it. I fail to believe that the reason is " want to make more money on foreigners " . I can only assume that the owner/s ( JP producer and FR seller ) of the biz are also not happy about that , and especially if this info is getting spread around the comunities like this.
I also believe , there is no need to strugle much with " why they do like this now ? ", but just to move on to the other website selling same quality tea for better prices. If there is non , then no point to cry about it and accept the reality.
Yes, it does psychologically hurts , but hey , the shoes you buy in your local shop probably can also buy on TB for 10% of the price
I think we are talking about the .com site here. They accept payment through PayPal or cars (Visa/MC). No hocus pocus special thing.
Occam's razor is useful, if not always correct. In any case, the owners themselves have not pointed to any disadvantage for them from a cost point of view, only a technical issue that is hard to believe.
Occam's razor is useful, if not always correct. In any case, the owners themselves have not pointed to any disadvantage for them from a cost point of view, only a technical issue that is hard to believe.
That's disappointing...
I'm not sure it's worth speculating the why they've done it. But a technical reason is definitely not a valid reason, especially since they run a custom, very outdated website.
We were all trying to pay in their home currency, I'm also not living in a country that uses USD/EUR, so I'd have another loss on an exchange rate, so far I had a JPY bank account... I'll email them around Spring, as LeoFox said, if enough people complain, they might rollback their change.
I'm not sure it's worth speculating the why they've done it. But a technical reason is definitely not a valid reason, especially since they run a custom, very outdated website.
We were all trying to pay in their home currency, I'm also not living in a country that uses USD/EUR, so I'd have another loss on an exchange rate, so far I had a JPY bank account... I'll email them around Spring, as LeoFox said, if enough people complain, they might rollback their change.
-
Randy the Intern
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 2:58 am
- Location: USA
I'm failing to understand why I'm not allowed to get the yen price if I bear the cost of the conversion from USD to JPY. If I'm paying in their native currency, then I don't see the functional difference between me or someone in Japan paying for the same thing. I'm still paying for the shipping as well, so no problem there.
I still think TDJ offers a unique product that's not easily matched, but the prices have changed in such a drastic way that what I used to consider a good value impulse buy, is now a luxury buy that I won't make very often, if at all.
Looks like it's back to Hibiki-an for me.
I still think TDJ offers a unique product that's not easily matched, but the prices have changed in such a drastic way that what I used to consider a good value impulse buy, is now a luxury buy that I won't make very often, if at all.
Looks like it's back to Hibiki-an for me.
This is kind of where I stand. This kind of reminds me when I looked at Ippodo's pricing and offerings in the USA and compared the prices to their global site, which I'm pretty sure you can order from in the USA no problem and have it ship to you. One of the tins is literally over twice the price, I'm pretty sure I get off cheaper if I order literally one item from global and pay the shipping versus the USA site, let alone if I order multiple things. That alone really put me off the vendor.Randy the Intern wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 10:44 amI'm failing to understand why I'm not allowed to get the yen price if I bear the cost of the conversion from USD to JPY. If I'm paying in their native currency, then I don't see the functional difference between me or someone in Japan paying for the same thing. I'm still paying for the shipping as well, so no problem there.
I still think TDJ offers a unique product that's not easily matched, but the prices have changed in such a drastic way that what I used to consider a good value impulse buy, is now a luxury buy that I won't make very often, if at all.
Looks like it's back to Hibiki-an for me.
I was referring to the actual name . "Thés du Japon" ... , so I assume the western cooperating counterpart is FR. And the only explenation which comes into my mind here is that the deal between JP and FR has changed , so the payments in yen and other currencies are not at the same rate ( might not be even going to the same bank account from now ) .
If I'm correct , then screaming and shouting will not decrease the prices to the fair JPY rate, but will either raise up the prices in yen or disabling the yen visibility to non JP users ( base on IP , which be bypassed with VPN ) .
In any case, they can congratulate themselves, as buyers still want to stick with them despite the extreme price raise. In other shops cases , I believe, the people would just go like "pfff....lets buy from someone else then " . But here it almost looks like " let's write them an open letter " ...I'm impressed by the loyalty and wish to be able work out our selves to this stage as well.