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Which base currency do you think web developers should use on their site?

by Nate Cat
7 replies
EDIT: I have adjusted the title to avoid further confusion.

I have a comparison website and it uses USD as the default price. I have not got any currency conversions on it at present. I used USD as the default because that is the most traded currency in the developed world.

The thing is... I am not in America - I am in UK and I am a UK citizen! This obviously presents a bit of a problem.

Bottom line - should I be doing my prices in UK currency and leave the sites set to UK currency (I am making reference to base currency here)?

1. I have to ensure that any company I use as an affiliate in my comparisons is set to USD (some only give USD prices anyway).

2. Even though my site is a .com I would imagine that it MAY index better in the UK. I am not so sure about this because it is hosted by a US company.

3. I am not sure if it is more likely to be used by UK people unless I were to use Adwords and advertise in a specific area...

4. The US market is bigger as far as I know. My website is hosted in US.

5. Many sites also have fixed rates for both USD and UK Pound.

6. One of the main companies that I promote only shows its prices in US dollars...

7. I have just come across a large company I wish to use on the site and I cannot set it to USD - I will have to mess about with a proxy now in order to reach the site as a US user... OR convert every price into USD (which means the prices will actually be inaccurate even though they probably have fixed US prices)

I really am getting irritated with with now because it has got me in a pickle. I have already realised that I have no other choice other than to put disclaimers telling people that the price may be different for their country because of currency rates.

I am not even going to entertain the idea of using any other currency - not even Euros for the moment... unless I get a good working API. Even then I need to consider what the base currency is going to be.
#currency #developers #site #web
  • Profile picture of the author tsaldu
    To directly answer your question, any professional web developer should be able to figure out the visitor's location based on their IP -address and make the website dynamically adjust the prices.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nate Cat
      Originally Posted by tsaldu View Post

      To directly answer your question, any professional web developer should be able to figure out the visitor's location based on their IP -address and make the website dynamically adjust the prices.
      That is correct. I actually put some content that goes with the title of the thread. The assumption was that people would read that as well. My bad.

      Coming back to my question: Which base currency should one be using?
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  • Profile picture of the author BranTheMan
    Many of my IM Skype contacts are from different countries all over the world and they all use USD as the default currency on their sites. It just converts better for them.

    Personally, as someone from the US who is used to seeing $$. I am less likely to purchase something when the price is shown as Pounds, Euros or any other form of currency. Not to say I never do, but when I'm just casually shopping for something, I tend to stray away from it.

    tsaldu said it best though. Have your site set up to automatically convert prices to the currency used by buyers based on their location. You couldn't go wrong with that.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nate Cat
      Originally Posted by BranTheMan View Post

      Many of my IM Skype contacts are from different countries all over the world and they all use USD as the default currency on their sites. It just converts better for them.

      Personally, as someone from the US who is used to seeing $$. I am less likely to purchase something when the price is shown as Pounds, Euros or any other form of currency. Not to say I never do, but when I'm just casually shopping for something, I tend to stray away from it.

      tsaldu said it best though. Have your site set up to automatically convert prices to the currency used by buyers based on their location. You couldn't go wrong with that.
      With what you have said, that is a reasonable reason to stay with US Dollars but I still have the problems with the way sites display their prices. I have found one site which I know is American but I cannot set it to Dollars - it is set on Pounds (which means I will need to mess around with proxies).

      I believe I will probably have to enter at least the USD and GBP into separate database fields - I do not think there is any way around it. The maintenance is going to be a nightmare though (hence the reason why I am now considering local joint venture).

      With regards to tsaldu, I was trying to avoid coming across as sarcastic but at the same time I was inferring that it was not an answer to the actual question. I am a web developer and of course I would need to have conversion if I was to be used internationally. I am aware of that - but it is not actually relevant.

      This question is all about the base currency - not really anything to do with any web development tasks.
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  • Profile picture of the author shuvoimtiaz
    You must use USD as your base currency, as it is widely accepted. But if you are focusing on European countries Euro is the best option for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nate Cat
      Originally Posted by shuvoimtiaz View Post

      You must use USD as your base currency, as it is widely accepted. But if you are focusing on European countries Euro is the best option for you.
      I am beginning to think that that is the best way - i.e. to use USD. I think that I may have to do a separate database entry for GBP as well though otherwise it is going to be too inaccurate. I have got disclaimers on the site already but I do not wish to obtain a bad reputation for poor accuracy.

      It looks like I am going to have to do this as a joint venture anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I would use USD as the default. Most people anywhere (even out of space - literally!) know what USD stands for - despite how weak the *dollar* is perceived to be.
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