So, Amazon have this thing where it SAYS you can change to your local currency, so no surprises when your credit card is debited..

It would be awesome to see whats the price amazons convert to, so I could compare to the taxes/value my bank is using to convert from dollar (and Brazilian banks abuse that a lot, cause they can use ANY value they want) and check which one is more worth (buy on dollar or on my own currency) (cause its really debited in that currency, its not just a display option, says the internet).

Anyway..just entered on online chat to question why the hell I cant change anywhere the currency, even at the final step of the checkout (where it should be possible, second amazon faqs), and dude (with is the nicest person I ever talked to in my life, it actually freaked me out) said I need to place my order to be able to see it in my currency... I said that it was odd, I mean, its the final conclusive thing, once you place, its done..doesnt make any sense...Than he said I could cancel in 30 minutes..

Than I thanked him, placed the order...and noting e_e

This may be because currency exchange rates can change on a minute by minute or hour by hour or day by day basis and just because the price is x in your currency at 9 am, doesn't mean that will be the price if you wait to purchase the item at 6pm that same day.

As above. Amazon doesn't even _know_ what the conversion is because they're not the ones who determine that. That all happens in the payment gateway backends (the banks). Amazon could put them at huge liability is they told you that a transaction would complete for one value in your local currency but - because they have no way to guarantee that - the transaction actually completes at a separate, higher value.

For example, see the MasterCard gateway API at https://na-gateway.mastercard.com/api/documentation/apiDocumentation/index.html?locale=en_US and the very similar question highlighting the lack of exchange-rate queries http://stackoverflow.com/questions/36444329/how-to-get-current-mastercard-rates-buy-sell-currency

If this is a problem for you then I suggest only buying from local merchants. :)

If I recall correctly, when you go to "check out" (but before hitting the "OK" button), it shows the amount in local currency. For what it's worth, anyway. That's without local Mafia fees. Those come as a bonus surprise when you don't get your parcel delivered, but instead get a postcard dated back 4 days saying "come and get it within 5 days, at our office in a town 50 kilometers away". And then it turns out that you have 20€ free, but your book which was 19 something coes out at something 21.50 including shipping, so you have to pay 0.01 of import tax, which takes about 15 minutes and filling out two A4-sized forms (at least those are on recycled paper), and you get a flipping receipt on another (no-recycle) A4 sheet of paper for having paid 0.01 of import tax.

That's without local Mafia fees. Those come as a bonus surprise when you don't get your parcel delivered, but instead get a postcard dated back 4 days saying "come and get it within 5 days, at our office in a town 50 kilometers away". And then it turns out that you have 20€ free, but your book which was 19 something coes out at something 21.50 including shipping, so you have to pay 0.01 of import tax, which takes about 15 minutes and filling out two A4-sized forms (at least those are on recycled paper), and you get a flipping receipt on another (no-recycle) A4 sheet of paper for having paid 0.01 of import tax.

That's contrary to my experiences in Germany (and apparently you are based there). Custom duties which accumulate to 5€ or less are not required to be paid. You don't even have to visit there, just send over the bill by email and if the result would be 5€ or less, it just comes with the post. Has always worked for me when applicable.

So, Amazon have this thing where it SAYS you can change to your local currency, so no surprises when your credit card is debited..

I have limited experience there but the few times I tried it paying in the foreign currency was by far the better deal (that might have been aggrevated by the extreme losses of the pound post-Brexit). Unless the two currencies are in wild fluctuations, I would rather pay in the originating country's currency.

When I do it I usually do a quick Google currency conversion to get the approximate value and that's approximately what I will be paying at the end of the month. Of course the currencies I usually deal with are rather stable compared to each other in the short term.

So, Amazon have this thing where it SAYS you can change to your local currency, so no surprises when your credit card is debited..

I have limited experience there but the few times I tried it paying in the foreign currency was by far the better deal (that might have been aggrevated by the extreme losses of the pound post-Brexit). Unless the two currencies are in wild fluctuations, I would rather pay in the originating country's currency.

When I do it I usually do a quick Google currency conversion to get the approximate value and that's approximately what I will be paying at the end of the month. Of course the currencies I usually deal with are rather stable compared to each other in the short term.

Thats the actual problem, Brazil is know to have the most abusive shit in the planet, thats why Id like to check which price amazon would give me against what my bank would charge.. Wouldnt surprise me the slightest if the amazon one was cheaper.

Well, I just checked with Amazon UK. Under the big "Pay in GBP"-button which would finalize my order there is a "Change payment total to EUR" checkbox. The price there is more realistic than last time, by the way but they still seem to reserve some margin for currency fluctuations in their favor (aroundish 3.5%, it seems).

According to this list Brazilian Reals should be supported, but only for Visa and MasterCard. Is it possible your credit card provider is just not compatible?