Help with currency conversions
Currency conversions can be confusing, but they don't have to be!
Stardust HQ is in the UK, but our clients and team are based all over the world. That means that we accommodate a variety of different currencies. Luckily, there are simple, easy calculators that do the conversion work for us!
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In the UK, we use a currency called pounds, but in America, pounds is a term commonly used to refer to weight, so it can get confusing when we talk about invoicing in pounds! In the UK, we also refer to our currency as pounds sterling, Great British pounds, and GBP - it's all the same thing!
Regardless of currency, if you're not a regular user of any other currency outside your own country's, then you might not know what this all means.
Let's quickly break down the main currencies we work with based on the countries our clients are mainly from:
GBP = Pounds Sterling: The UK
USD = Dollars: The United States
CAD = Dollars: Canada
AUD = Dollars: Australia
EUR = Euros: Europe (but not all of Europe)
You may have noticed that 3 of the above use "Dollars", but this does not mean all their dollars are equal.
For example:
$100 USD (American dollars) does not equal $100 CAD (Canadian dollars). This is because the US dollar is 'stronger' than the Canadian dollar, meaning it is worth more. $100 USD is equal to $128 CAD. That means that if you exchanged your US dollars for Canadian dollars, you would have more Canadian dollars.
The above logic also applies to our services. Let's say you live in the United States, and we give you a quote in £1,000 CAD (Canadian Dollars). We might do this because the member of our team you'll be working with is from Canada.
Using this conversion calculator on the left, change the top currency (US Dollar) to CAD, then change the bottom currency (Euro) to US Dollar, then change the '100.00' to '1,000.00'
The number you now have in the bottom left corner is your conversion rate. This is approximately how much you will pay in US dollars.
There's a few extra things you should know about currency!
1) Currency is volatile. It changes depending on the economical and political climate of each country and the world in general. Because of this, the rates change minute to minute, usually nominally so, unless something drastic happens.
2) Each bank/payment provider uses its own conversion rate. That means that when you pay, you could be charged a little more or a little less than the approximate conversion rate. For example, if the conversion table tells you that $1000 CAD is equal to around $780 USD, your bank could charge you $800 because they use their own rate. It's always a good idea to check your bank/payment provider's rates before paying in a different currency.
3) Because of changing rates, it's likely that your invoices may be different amounts. For example, if you split a payment 50/50 and invoice A cost you $800 USD (by your bank's rates) but then you don't pay invoice B until a month later, invoice B might cost you $850 USD (by your bank's rates.)
4) We have NO control over conversion rates unfortunately.