Say which dollars on every price: Canadian dollars once at the top of each price list, CAD beside every amount, and the currency again on the booking page, the payment page and the confirmation email.

The site

A tour company runs day trips from downtown hotels: a harbour cruise, a mountain gondola with lunch, a full day up the coast. Its site is bright and clear, with a photo and a booking button on every tour.

Each tour page shows the price in large type: $129 per adult, $89 per child. The booking form takes a card and sends a confirmation email showing the total, also with a dollar sign.

Nowhere does the site say which dollars. The company charges in Canadian dollars, as its payment account is set up to do, and many of its visitors come from the United States.

The inference a visitor makes

A visitor from Seattle reads $129 as US dollars, because that is what a dollar sign means at home. A visitor from Calgary reads it as Canadian dollars. Both are certain, and only one is right.

Cruise passengers, who have spent a week paying in US dollars on board, are the most certain of all.

Neither visitor is careless. The site offers a symbol shared by several currencies and leaves them to fill in the rest from habit.

A dollar sign is not a currency

Canada, the United States, Australia and several other countries all use the dollar sign. On its own it says nothing, and the gap appears at every stage of booking:

The confirmation email matters most afterwards. It is the document a visitor compares with the charge, and when the two disagree, it is the one they quote back.

What the card statement shows

The card issuer converts a Canadian charge into the visitor's own currency at its own rate on the day, and many cards add a fee for purchases in another currency.

The statement then shows an amount that matches nothing on the site. It may be higher or lower than the visitor expected, but it is different, and it arrives with a fee line.

Different looks like a mistake, and a mistake looks like something to dispute.

Emails asking which dollars

Visitors who notice the gap before booking write in to ask. Each email takes staff time, and the answer arrives hours later, when the visitor may already have booked something else.

Visitors who notice it afterwards write in too, less politely. Some want an explanation, some want the difference back, and some want a refund.

Every one of those emails asks a question that one word beside the price would have answered.

Refunds that come back different

A refund is converted back at the rate on the day it is processed, not the day of the charge. The visitor may get back a different amount, and the conversion fee may not return at all.

A visitor who disputes the charge with the card company instead starts a chargeback, which costs the business a fee and staff time whatever the outcome.

For a small operator, a few of those in one summer are a real cost, and each one began with a missing word.

Two numbers with the same sign

The same tours are listed on booking sites that show prices in the visitor's currency. A visitor comparing them sees $129 on the company's site and a different number with the same sign elsewhere.

They conclude, reasonably, that one of the two is overcharging, and book the one that looks cheaper, whether or not it is.

The company may then pay that booking site a commission on a sale its own page could have made.

Gift certificates and brochures

Gift certificates are often bought by local residents for visiting relatives, and printed brochures sit in hotel racks. Both repeat the prices, usually with the same bare sign.

Add the currency to the certificate template and to the next print run. A certificate redeemed by a visitor from another country should not raise the question all over again.

A worked example

A small-group tour company running minibus day trips from downtown hotels noticed the problem earlier this month, when a run of refund requests and a chargeback all mentioned the amount.

The owner went through the site, the booking form and the confirmation email, and found the currency named nowhere. Even the terms and conditions said only that prices were per person.

Every price now reads $129 CAD, and each price list opens with a sentence naming Canadian dollars as the currency and saying whether taxes are included.

The booking form shows the total in CAD, the payment page says the card will be charged in Canadian dollars and converted by the card issuer, and the confirmation email repeats it beside the total.

A visitor now knows before paying what will be charged, in which currency, and why the statement may differ. The question that used to arrive by email is answered on the page.

The counter-case within the site

Where nearly all customers are Canadians booking from home, the company could argue that the dollar sign is clear enough to them. For those visitors, it usually is.

But a site cannot choose who finds it. Visitors from across the border and off cruise ships arrive through search and the same booking links, and three letters beside each price cost nothing.

Showing a second price in US dollars can go too far if it looks like a promise. Charge in one currency, and label any other figure plainly as an estimate that changes daily.

What to change

  1. Add CAD beside every price on every tour page.
  2. Open each price list with a line naming the currency.
  3. Show the currency on the booking form and the payment page.
  4. Repeat it in the confirmation email beside the total.
  5. Explain conversion in one sentence near the payment button.
  6. Update gift certificates and the next brochure print run.
  7. Check listings on booking sites against your own prices.

Step four settles most disputes before they start. A confirmation email that names the currency is the document the visitor holds up against the statement, and it explains the difference on its own.

Visitors weigh one more detail before paying, the distance, hills and stairs on each tour, which how much walking a tour involves covers in full.

Frequently asked questions

Why should a tour site name the currency?

The dollar sign is used by Canada, the United States and other countries. Visitors read it as their own currency, then find a different amount on the card statement.

Why does the card statement show a different amount?

The card issuer converts the charge into the visitor's own currency at its own rate, and many cards add a fee for purchases in another currency.

Where should the currency appear?

On every price, at the top of each price list, on the booking form and payment page, in the confirmation email, and on gift certificates and brochures.

Should we show prices in US dollars too?

An approximate US figure can help, labelled clearly as a guide that changes daily. Charge in one currency only, and name it on the payment page.

Why do refunds cause more complaints?

A refund is converted at the rate on the day it is processed, so the visitor may get back a different amount, and the conversion fee may not return.

Is CAD clear enough to visitors?

Most travellers recognise CAD and USD, and the words Canadian dollars at the top of each price list remove any doubt for the rest.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Prices on your site with a bare dollar sign?

Send us the tour pages and a sample confirmation email, and we will mark every place the currency should appear.

Start a Conversation