You certainly can!
Clearpay allows you to shop online from your home country with participating New Zealand, Canadian, US, and UK online merchants.
You can find participating merchants in the “Global Shopping” category within the "All Categories" section in the mobile app.
Clearpay also converts the price of the goods from the retailer’s home currency to your currency so that you can see exactly how much it will cost you upfront. Unlike a lot of other international payment providers, we do not charge any other fees on top of the exchange rate so that you know exactly how much the order will cost before you commit to buy.
What is the exchange rate?
- When you google ‘currency conversion’ or ‘fx rates’ online, you typically see a wholesale exchange rate which is the rate at which foreign currency conversions occur for central banks, major financial institutions and large corporations.
- Wholesale exchange rates are generally reserved for institutions who convert billions of dollars annually and are not the rate that a regular customer would receive from a bank or foreign currency company to buy lower value items in a foreign currency.
- Generally, customers will receive what is termed a “retail” exchange rate which is likely to be 3-4% higher than the wholesale exchange rate from a bank and potentially even higher from a foreign currency company.
- The “retail” exchange rate is a competitive retail exchange rate (typically what would be provided by a major bank) and in line with typical credit card and debit card exchange rates. The exchange rate will change regularly to reflect the currency fluctuations in the foreign exchange market.
- To find out your current exchange rate, you can check your bank's website, as this information is normally included.