Currency conversion occurs at the time of the transaction, such as when a charge is created or when you issue a refund. 

This documentation applies to stores that sell products in multiple currencies and covers risks associated with currency conversions. Multi-currency is available to all eligible Shopify merchants.

Currency conversion and risk

Currency rates are constantly fluctuating. Whenever there is a time delay in processing payments or refunds, there is a possibility that you may lose or gain money due to currency conversions.

You can lose or gain money in the following situations:

• Orders are refunded
• Customers add or swap products for an upcoming order
• Capturing payments manually 
• Exchange rates are set manually 
• Chargeback is issued 

Checkout and recurring transactions

The price and conversion rate used are calculated based on your setup within Shopify Markets.

The currency conversion rate does not change on recurring orders and the rate will stay the same as the first order your customer places. This is due to the customers subscription price being set when the initial order is placed.

You can see the breakdown of a transaction in the Shopify order timeline.

Add or swap products

If new products are added or an existing subscription is swapped to a different product variant using Recharge's merchant portal, customer portal, or API, the price is calculated based on an automatic exchange rate and does not leverage the Shopify Markets price lists. 

This may cause discrepancies in expected prices as the automatic exchange rates calculated by Recharge will differ from the prices offered on your storefront.

In this scenario, the automatic exchange rate is calculated by Recharge. Recharge calculates the price in the customer’s presentment currency by multiplying the product price in the store currency and the foreign exchange rate at the close of the prior business day.

Recharge retrieves its foreign exchange rates daily from Open Exchange Rates. This may cause discrepancies in expected prices if you are selling in markets with volatile exchange rates. 

Volatile currencies

Shopify does not automatically enable currencies that are determined to be volatile in nature. To enable a volatile currency, create a market specifically for each country you want to sell in the local currency.

It is important to understand the risks of enabling different currencies. Volatile currencies can fluctuate frequently, so you may incur gains or losses on returns or exchanges. We encourage you to discuss this with your finance teams.

Review Shopify's list of Volatile currencies. Shopify has determined these currencies as volatile. 

Shipping

In most cases, shipping rates are determined by Shopify on checkout and recurring orders.

For Recharge stores that use Recharge Shipping zones and rates to calculate shipping rates for recurring orders, Recharge calculates the shipping price in the customer’s presentment currency by multiplying the store currency shipping price and the foreign exchange rate at the close of the prior business day.

Refunds

There is often a time gap between when a customer creates an order and when they make a return. For refunding customers, the amount refunded should be the exact amount the customer paid in their local currency at the time of checkout. You may lose or gain money due to currency conversions from the exchange rates at the time of the refund.

The currency conversion calculated during a refund is handled by your payment service provider.

Payouts

Stores can sell in multiple currencies but payouts will always be settled in the default store currency. The payment service provider handles the currency conversion before settling the funds in your account.

Recharge is not responsible or involved in this process.

Invoices

Recharge invoices all stores in United States dollar (USD). When selling in multiple currencies, the charge amount is converted to USD at the time of the transaction.

Refer to the charge processed export to view the conversion rate used to calculate your invoices.

Fixed discounts

Fixed discount codes on Multi-currency addresses will be auto converted to the customer’s presentment currency.

Currency settings allow you to convert any fixed price discounts into the customer’s native currency (presentment currency). New stores created after October 25, 2023 will have this setting enabled by default. 

Existing stores can enable this setting by:

1. Click Settings and select Store in the Recharge merchant portal. 
2. Under Currency settings, click the toggle next to Convert fixed price discounts to the customer's currency.
   
   
3. Click Save to confirm changes.