Payment from another country

[Raen]

Will that mean that the prices I see on the POL service screens have already been converted to my currency? (so far, 1USD= 1.6SGD)

The amount was 25.48 + 1.96 + 1.96 = 29.40

However, my friend (whose credit card I used ) was charged ~80SGD.

The bill may be so high because my friend had also bought the game and registered it - however, he cancelled it before his one-month trial was up.

Even so, I don't see how that should affect the billings ):

I will get a screenshot of the billing from my friend (joys of online banking) and edit it in for proof.

[bungiefan]

Re: Payment from another country

I pay the fee in yen with my American VISA CheckCard, as well as paying in yen for CDJapan, and the currency is automatically converted for the charge when it posts. For the first 3 years I played, all I saw was the converted charge. Then around the start of the fourth year, my bank started charging a 10-15 cent International Fee for the currency conversion.

The price you see on your screen is in the currency they are charging you in. They have no idea what the exchange rate will be when the bill posts, or what currency you are even paying in from your account. They get the money either in yen, US dollars, or euros, depending on which version of the game created your account. What his bill had shown on the screen was either 29.40 US Dollars, or 29.40 Euros. That probably equates to ~80 SGD. The 1230 Japanese yen or so for my fee ends up being just under 12 US Dollars.

[Raen]

Re: Payment from another country

Thank you for your reply!

However, if we calculate the costs in USD... 12.95 + 1.96 = 14.91USD

Converting that into SGD = 14.91USD x 1.6 = 23.86SGD...

; ;

[Icemage]

Re: Payment from another country

Most banks charge a percentage fee for conversion to other currencies (my understanding is that it's roughly 3%) when making transactions. I suspect that's what you're dealing with here.


Icemage

[Raen]

Re: Payment from another country

I apologize for being so persistent here - but this is my gil- I mean, money we are talking about here.

If we factor in a 3% charge, the charge would still be under ~25SGD (24.57SGD).

This is my third month starting, so in effect I was charged ~80SGD last month.

My boyfriend has a similar problem as well - we were both charged double the amount, and he doesn't have to do any currency conversion since he's in Latin America.

We were wondering if the problem might be because of some update/maintenance that SE has done, but I don't see anyone else bringing up such a problem so...

[Icemage]

Re: Payment from another country

Are you saying you're being charged 80 GSD per month to play? That's way over what would be expected.

80 Singapore Dollars (GSD) converts to about $52 US.

Given that you're showing $19 USD in charges, and we're expecting only about $15 USD (1 account + 2 mules), I can only conclude that there may be additional sales or other taxes that apply in Singapore beyond what Square-Enix charges, plus whatever rate your friend's account has placed on it for currency conversion.

That still leaves about $33 USD of the charge unaccounted for. If your friend purchased the Vana'diel Collection 2007, which retails for about $30 USD, this might account for the discrepancy?

Without numbers and currencies, I can't say what your friend in Latin America is being charged.


Icemage

[Raen]

Re: Payment from another country

Are you saying you're being charged 80 GSD per month to play? That's way over what would be expected.

80 Singapore Dollars (GSD) converts to about $52 US.

Given that you're showing $19 USD in charges, and we're expecting only about $15 USD (1 account + 2 mules), I can only conclude that there may be additional sales or other taxes that apply in Singapore beyond what Square-Enix charges, plus whatever rate your friend's account has placed on it for currency conversion.

That still leaves about $33 USD of the charge unaccounted for. If your friend purchased the Vana'diel Collection 2007, which retails for about $30 USD, this might account for the discrepancy?

Without numbers and currencies, I can't say what your friend in Latin America is being charged.


Icemage

About the 33USD, that was the point I was trying to find an explanation for. My friend did not purchase the 2007 Collection. The only things FFXI-related he charged to his credit card was our billings. Since he cancelled his before the trial ended, though, there should not be any charge on the bill other than mine, no?

As for my friend, he used to pay ~15USD, but last month he was charged ~30USD. He has like... 6 characters or something (Mule-lover, apparently).

[Icemage]

Re: Payment from another country

About the 33USD, that was the point I was trying to find an explanation for. My friend did not purchase the 2007 Collection. The only things FFXI-related he charged to his credit card was our billings. Since he cancelled his before the trial ended, though, there should not be any charge on the bill other than mine, no?

As for my friend, he used to pay ~15USD, but last month he was charged ~30USD. He has like... 6 characters or something (Mule-lover, apparently).

How did he get a trial period without purchasing a new copy of the game? You can only make use of the trial period on a new account with a new character.

If as you say he did not buy a copy of the game, then what he did was open a new account and bought a content ID, for which there is no trial period - you get charged for the month regardless.

6 mules wouldn't result in a $30USD charge either. None of this makes any sense.

Can you post some pictures of what you're seeing?


Icemage

[Raen]

Re: Payment from another country

How did he get a trial period without purchasing a new copy of the game? You can only make use of the trial period on a new account with a new character.

If as you say he did not buy a copy of the game, then what he did was open a new account and bought a content ID, for which there is no trial period - you get charged for the month regardless.

6 mules wouldn't result in a $30USD charge either. None of this makes any sense.

Can you post some pictures of what you're seeing?

I apologize for any confusions.

He did buy a new copy of the game - what I meant was, he did not charge the purchase of the game to his card >_>; Which I just realized, would not appear under an FFXI billing anyway.

Due to maintenance I am unable to access the Content ID review screen. :/ I will try again after maintenance and post it up.

[Kurb]

Re: Payment from another country

I'm paranoid about credit cards and using em over the net these days so I use 3V iit's like a credit card crossed with the old top up system for mobiles.
I put E20 a month <if i'm on> into it.Plus the service charge of E5.00 E25.00 a month for my main character ,Tele Whore & 2 mules.....Well there is change but it's not realy worth the E2.50 charge it costs to refund it.

[Raen]

Re: Payment from another country

I'm paranoid about credit cards and using em over the net these days so I use 3V iit's like a credit card crossed with the old top up system for mobiles.
I put E20 a month <if i'm on> into it.Plus the service charge of E5.00 E25.00 a month for my main character ,Tele Whore & 2 mules.....Well there is change but it's not realy worth the E2.50 charge it costs to refund it.

:/

I don't think I can use your method, simply because a) I'm in Asia, and possibly also because b) I'm using NA version.

If only the JP version could be played in English as a pre-made choice. ; ;

but thanks anyway, Kurbiiii :'D

[Raen]

Re: Payment from another country

All right, new month comes, and all goes peachy again huh, SE?

In the attached image, the top screen shows the month of November, and the bottom the month of December.

[bungiefan]

Re: Payment from another country

All right, new month comes, and all goes peachy again huh, SE?
In the attached image, the top screen shows the month of November, and the bottom the month of December.

The September charge is because you reactivated or something in August, so it charged you for all of August, and the month of September on the billing day in September. If you activate in the middle of the month, your next charge will look like a double charge, because they don't bill you until the next billing day, and then they bill for the entire month you activated in, and the next month for you to be able to play for that month.

[Bricklayer]

Re: Payment from another country

The September charge is because you reactivated or something in August, so it charged you for all of August, and the month of September on the billing day in September. If you activate in the middle of the month, your next charge will look like a double charge, because they don't bill you until the next billing day, and then they bill for the entire month you activated in, and the next month for you to be able to play for that month.

I suspect this as well. When you mentioned that the charges were about double what they should have been, it reminded me of this, since I've had something similar happen before. You're probably seeing two billing cycles charged all at once, after which everything will return to normal.

[Kafeen]

Re: Payment from another country

All right, new month comes, and all goes peachy again huh, SE?

In the attached image, the top screen shows the month of November, and the bottom the month of December.

The Novemer paryment also includes the part of October not covered by the free month. For some reason they take the payment for the first part month you pay for and add it on to the first full months payment.

It looks like you started playing in early September. Got a free month until early October. Then the remainder of October is added on to November's bill.

Does that sound right?