Web Currency
Ecom Sites Should Keep VPNs in Mind to Avoid Currency Glitches; A Look at Omaze.com
Including currency controls is a good UX idea and promotes conversions.
I’m a big fan of Omaze.com, a site that raises money for charity via exciting online raffles. While I’ve never won anything, it’s fun to enter some of these contests, and rewarding to know that they’re raising money for worthy causes.
The other day, I decided to enter a raffle there for a tricked-out Sprinter van, and went to do a basic entry — 100 chances for $10. Only, something weird happened. When I went to check out, it showed the total in Canadian dollars:
At first, I simply thought: “Well, that’s weird” (as I’m in Portland, Oregon). I then plunked around for a bit to see if there were any controls to switch to USD, but there weren’t.
I soon had that “aha” moment, though, when I remembered that I was connected to a VPN IP address in Vancouver, BC. So, that’s why it thinks I’m Canadian, I thought.
After that, I reconnected to a VPN IP in Seattle and went back. But, via caching or a session variable or whatever, it still thought I was in Canada. So … I gave up. I didn’t want some screwy foreign transaction fee on my CC, and I couldn’t get the site to understand that I needed USD. (I…
