Asset Store International Transaction Fee

Hi - I am in the US and since a few months ago I notice that when I purchase an asset my bank statement says "UNITY COPENHAGEN" and it used to say "UNITYTECHNOLOGIES A/S 415-820-4277 CA". I always assumed CA meant California.

Anyway, ever since it changed I am also getting a charge for an international transaction fee from my bank. I plan to buy Unity Plus and I do not want to get a large fee. I will buy Unity Plus as soon as this is resolved.

Has anyone else noticed this? Or is this some kind of error in the asset purchase process?

 

I too have noticed the charges. In my case it is a $3.00 add-on that appears a few days later.

 

Yeah mine shows up a couple days after as well. Mine only appears to be 3%, I guess it depends on your bank.

I sent an email to Unity support. Will post their response when I hear back from them.

 

That's my guess, too. I'd contact them as well as or instead of Unity.

 

Yeah my bank's website says that fee is due to international transactions. Like the ones I would receive if I used my credit card while traveling abroad. Thing is that they started when Unity started putting "Copenhagen" in the transaction ID. That seems like Unity is processing the payment outside the US.

 

AFAIK payments have always gone to Denmark but there might have been changes to global transactions in your bank or eurozone that might not be related to Unity at all?

 

I think they changed payment processors recently. I guess they moved it back to Europe then. Before that a lot of people were unable to buy anything because of US embargoes and such, and it randomly failed for others.

Percentage fees are a scam though. All I can suggest is getting a cooler bank

 

All of my payments to pretty much anyone incur international transfer fees. . It seems you have just been spoiled living in the US. Using a service like PayPal often eliminates the extra fees.

That said I'm surprised Unity doesn't have a US transaction provider. Chances are there is a bug somewhere and it's not recognising your location correctly.

 

I use Paypal and have not seen any transaction fees. You might want to check with your bank.

 

Paypal has hidden currency conversion fees. Around 3%. Paypal also has... interesting exchange rates.

However, there just aren't any better alternatives to paypal.

 

PayPal charge 2.5% plus a fixed few of a few tens of cents, plus that horrid exchange rate. Somebody needs to shake up that monopoly.

If you're in the UK the best alternative is Revolut. You get a MasterCard (debit) with the fairest exchange rate possible and no hidden fees. Since it's issued via Barclays there are no exchange fees to top up the card, and you may lose a penny or so on paying with it. For the rest of Europe it varies, but usually ends up better than PayPal (unless you use DnB in Norway).

 

They have not charged me an exchange rate. I am in the U.S., as is the OP. I made a purchase yesterday so unless the change was today, then they are not charging U.S. customers. I have noticed, with non-Unity store purchases that they often charge the seller an exchange rate.

 

PayPal moves in mysterious ways.

 

I am seeing this too, I am getting charged foreign transaction fees too. I think this has to do with where the credit card is processed. Basically my bank thinks I am buying something from Copenhagen, Denmark. Is there an option in the asset store to change location of purchase to US?

 

Did you ever get a response back from unity?

 

Yes. They moved their payment processing provider to Copenhagen. That being said my bank has to do some kind of currency conversion and that is what I am being charged for.

 

Thanks. yep, I just got a response from Unity too, they did move to Denmark and that is the only place they have for processing. Most global companies have multiple locations to process transactions... Anyways, it looks like there's no way around these fees unless you do Paypal. But then again, I am not sure what fees are included in PayPal, hard to assume paypal would be all free.