Purchasing in Australia yet incurring a foreign transaction fee

[PhilT]

@Jon01

bought an item for AUD/USD “real rate” was 0.721.

Where did you get your ‘real rate(s)’? Published rates are for bulk transfers, not consumer retail exchange. Today OANDA pubishes

Australian banks are notorious for providing very poor exchange rates in both directions.

Buying $USD is most likely to be around the minimum (worst) rate, noting rates change by the second +/-. My fee free accounts rate has always been the Visa/Mastercard rate of the day/moment. Another topic you might be interested in is

International transactions: Exchange rate dishonesty

Choice should investigate who is offering the lowest currency transfer fees… because it’s almost impossible for customers to work it out: Banks, financial institutions and other financial services providers never provide the true cost of a transaction to a customer. Most mislead customers by claiming that no fees exist or that only modest fees exist. The main fee they leave out is the exchange rate. The banks quote an internal bank exchange rate which is currently 4c lower than the market excha…