Hi guys,
So, I was hoping to book some hotel rooms on my CBA credit cards in order to qualify for the travel insurance, but I had a number of questions – I'm kinda new to this, so please bear with me.
1. I'm aware that even if a transaction is made in AUD, if the merchant is based overseas, or the transaction is processed overseas, you incur the international transaction fees (3% on CBA Mastercard, 2% on CBA Amex). When booking on online sites such as Agoda, are the transactions based in Australia?
2. How do you know whether a merchant is based overseas? I know I do a lot of shopping on ASOS, however, I've never been charged an international transaction fee there. Same with bookdepository.co.uk – both are based in UK? Never been charged an overseas transaction fee there either.
3. Are there any hotel sites which do not incur the international transaction fee? In other words, based in Australia?
4. Even if I did go ahead and use my CBA Amex/Mastercard, is the exchange rate used Amex's/Mastercard's exchange rate? Or is it CBA's exchange rate, which is presumably a whole lot worse than Mastercard/Amex's?
Thanks so much in advanced!
So, I was hoping to book some hotel rooms on my CBA credit cards in order to qualify for the travel insurance, but I had a number of questions – I'm kinda new to this, so please bear with me.
1. I'm aware that even if a transaction is made in AUD, if the merchant is based overseas, or the transaction is processed overseas, you incur the international transaction fees (3% on CBA Mastercard, 2% on CBA Amex). When booking on online sites such as Agoda, are the transactions based in Australia?
2. How do you know whether a merchant is based overseas? I know I do a lot of shopping on ASOS, however, I've never been charged an international transaction fee there. Same with bookdepository.co.uk – both are based in UK? Never been charged an overseas transaction fee there either.
3. Are there any hotel sites which do not incur the international transaction fee? In other words, based in Australia?
4. Even if I did go ahead and use my CBA Amex/Mastercard, is the exchange rate used Amex's/Mastercard's exchange rate? Or is it CBA's exchange rate, which is presumably a whole lot worse than Mastercard/Amex's?
Thanks so much in advanced!