Affiliate Marketing in Canada: Save Money with US Dollar Services
On May 26th, while buying $77 US product through Clickbank, the total amount of the purchase showed up as $90.07 in Canadian dollars (as shown in the screenshot below).
I then checked Oanda for the correct exchange rates from US to Canadian dollars and discovered that the factor was 1.12404, or $77 US equalled $86.59882 Canadian (see screenshot below).
That’s a difference of $3.47 – completed wasted!
Well, it would have been completely wasted if I had chosen to use a Canadian dollar credit card – but because I do business in US dollars all the time, I use a US dollar credit card for such purchases.
Using a US dollar credit card to pay for US dollar purchases also allows me to save whatever exhorbitant exchange rates the bank decides to charge on their credit cards – which are also always significantly higher than the actual exchange rates.
Last but not least, I earn affiliate commissions in US dollars which are deposited into a US dollar bank account here in Canada, from which I pay my US dollar credit card bills – and therefore incur no exchange rate losses at all from that setup.
So, if you’re doing business as an affiliate marketer here in Canada and earning US dollar commissions, get a US dollar bank account and a US dollar credit card and save some money!
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Posted / Revised on July 1, 2009 under Manage Your Money  |
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Rosalind Gardner is a Super Affiliate blogger, author, speaker, and Internet marketing consultant. For more info, subscribe to her No-Hype, No-BS, No Spam NPT newsletter and join Affiliate Blogger PRO to get answers to all your affiliate marketing questions. Thanks for visiting!
That’s a practical advice. Though I didn’t know you can open USD accounts in Canada easily. It’s not easy in India
I try to avoid exchange rates by using paypal for most transactions.
It was a great idea of yours to not to use Canadian credit card. This saved you a bit of the money and i am sure that this will help many people to gain a lot of knowledge to avoid such wasted transactions.
Living in Canada. It is sometime frustrating buying products through clicbank or any other sites.
You see a product for x but once you go to buy it it turns out to be y and lots of time it’s more than what I would pay for the product.
I will need to find out how I can get a us credit card.
Thanks for the tip.
Pierre
Yeah I hear ya Rosalind… it sucks to buy in US dollars sometimes but it’s sure nice to be paid in US dollars. Well, when the exchange is above 1.20. I still miss the old days were the exchange was around 1.30. Now that was a nice instant pay raise!
Take care,
Mike Hill
Hi Mike,
I miss those days too. When I started the Canadian dollar was .66 to a U.S. buck. Today it’s .86724, which is still better than having the CDN dollar worth more than the U.S. buck as it was not too long ago. I rather expect that’ll be the case again not to far down the road as the price of oil keeps going up. Time to consider promoting those European companies!
Cheers,
Ros
The same thing applies in the UK
Hi Cherie,
Really good to know. I was of the impression that it cost U.K. affiliates an exhorbitant sum just to be able to cash U.S. cheques.
Cheers,
Ros
Usually we face a lot of problem in the india about the USD exghange but in the canada the solution is opened !great to hear now no need to worry much more for the people like us!
Hi Appesat,
As India continues to emerge as an ecommerce force, I would hope and expect that you and other Indian affiliates will soon share the same type of banking services available to Canadian, U.K. and other affiliates.
Cheers,
Ros
i have noticed that when ClickBank sends you a sales notification as a merchant they usually report the sale amount in the native currency, so i know that the price can seem inflated to those poor customers who purchase from places where the exchange differential is large. of course, that doesn’t help with the refund rate either, because it does make them think twice about that charge once they get the product in their hands. – Stephen
Stephen,
You’re absolutely right. It would be nice if the price would come up in US dollars – the price normally shown to customers – and leave it up to them to choose to pay in their native currency if they so choose. Hmm… a letter to Clickbank may be in order?
Cheers,
Ros
Hi Rosalind,
Is there a card that you recommend more than others? Are there any stipulations on getting a US credit card? I have a US bank account but never thought about getting a US credit card.
thanks,
Tom
Hi Tom,
I bank at RBC and CIBC and have US dollar cards with both. RBC is actually better about being able to access accounts online and making payments is much easier with their system.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Ros
Thanks very much, I will look into getting an RBC card!
Tom
Hey, Ros,
I am a Canadian like yourself, and am ready to go online with my first affiliate website. All that remains for me to begin getting paid by LinkShare is to submit my tax info. I spoke with my accountant about taxes, and he thinks Canadians need to submit form W-8BEN to the IRS, effectively exempting me from paying US taxes on top of Canadian.
In your experience, is this correct?
I understand you’re not a tax accountant, and I certainly won’t take any commentary or observations you may post as actual legal advice. I just wondered how you, as a successful affiliate marketer, navigated the swing sets in this fun little international tax playground.
Please, if you can, reassure me I won’t be double taxed! Yikes!
thanks a ton,
Mike E
Hi Ros,
me again. US tax issues are resolved, much easier than I dared think! On LinkShare’s site, I simply selected the W-8BEN form from a drop down list, checked a box confirming my exemption, and hit “save”. That easy. Yeehaw!
What freaked me a tad was the box for the dreaded tax numbers, which they did not require at all. I simply left them blank, as per the linkShare rep’s directions. Not what I’m used to doing with any government doc. But hey.
Bottom line: knickers now untwisted, much more comfortable now
ciao,
Mike
People are now using Canadian credit card and i am sure many will by RBC card. Thanks for sharing this info and i am sure many will be saved because of you.
Hi Rosalind,
Do you have experience withdrawing USD funds from PayPal to your USD bank account in Canada – with no exchange rate?
Thanks.
Milton
Hi Milton,
Sorry, I don’t. Don’t even know that you can. I’ve got payments set up to go into
my Canadian dollar accounts from PayPal, CJ, Clickbank, etc.
I know, it’s a pain.
Cheers,
Ros