<p>I recently joined Amazon prime <em>unknowingly</em> and USD99 was debited on my non-USA credit card for an annual membership. I canceled the membership and was refunded USD99 after two days. Due to exchange rate fluctuations, I lost approximately USD10. Where did the USD10 go to?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-11T23:55:19.077Z
That seems unlikely recently. Has the US dollar fallen 10% against any currency in the last few days? It did fall about 5% against the ZAR in mid September, but [since then has been moving in the other direction](http://www.x-rates.com/graph/?from=ZAR&to=USD&amount=1). I would guess that a more likely explanation might be your bank having different buy and sell rates, and making close to USD10 on the margin between them.  If so, your bank has the difference
Henry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-12T22:01:40.813Z
Are you asking what actually happened to you or are you asking about a hypothetical?
123
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-12T23:47:00.770Z
This actually happened to me. As Henry suggested, my bank probably made a profit through different buying/selling rates. No other transaction fees were charged. However, I am also interested in a more general answer. Suppose the numbers were much bigger and there was a significant exchange rate fluctuation. In such a case there could have been a large exchange rate gain (or loss) to the party being refunded. My question is: from where does the gain originate (or where is the loss sinked)? This could also happen when there is a time difference between signing and paying for a foreign contract.
aslan
<exchange-rates>
Who loses/wins in exchange rate fluctuations?
aslan
# Who loses/wins in exchange rate fluctuations?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-10-11)

I recently joined Amazon prime *unknowingly* and USD99 was debited on my non-USA credit card for an annual membership. I canceled the membership and was refunded USD99 after two days. Due to exchange rate fluctuations, I lost approximately USD10. Where did the USD10 go to?

**Tags:** exchange-rates

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: That seems unlikely recently. Has the US dollar fallen 10% against any currency in the last few days? It did fall about 5% against the ZAR in mid September, but [since then has been moving in the other direction](http://www.x-rates.com/graph/?from=ZAR&to=USD&amount=1). I would guess that a more likely explanation might be your bank having different buy and sell rates, and making close to USD10 on the margin between them.  If so, your bank has the difference  
> **username_2**: Are you asking what actually happened to you or are you asking about a hypothetical?  
> **username_0**: This actually happened to me. As username_1 suggested, my bank probably made a profit through different buying/selling rates. No other transaction fees were charged. However, I am also interested in a more general answer. Suppose the numbers were much bigger and there was a significant exchange rate fluctuation. In such a case there could have been a large exchange rate gain (or loss) to the party being refunded. My question is: from where does the gain originate (or where is the loss sinked)? This could also happen when there is a time difference between signing and paying for a foreign contract.  

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## 0 answers

