Buying and Selling AUD Explained

At Value Currency Exchange, we understand that exchanging your Australian currency to or from other currencies can be quite confusing. We want to help take the bewilderment out of this to make it a simpler, less daunting experience for our customers to convert cash to or from AUD. The most important part of buying or selling currency is the exchange rate but for most customers, the challenge lies in understanding which rate to look at. Generally there will be at least two rates displayed- a sell rate and a buy rate.

Sell rate –This is the rate at which we (the merchant)  sell foreign currency to you (the customer) in exchange for Australian dollars. For example, if you were travelling to Japan, you would exchange Australian dollars for Japanese Yen at the sell rate. You might also see this rate referred to as the “holiday” or  “tourist” rate.

Buy rate – This is the rate at which we (the merchant) buy foreign currency back from you. For example, if you were returning home from Japan, we would exchange your Japanese Yen back into Australian dollars at the buy rate.

So why are they different? This is because, as merchants, we need to cover the cost of the services we provide (just the same as the supermarket putting a margin on your bread or meat) and also because- depending on what is happening in the market- there may be some risk involved in making the exchange. For example the currency may depreciate in value between the merchant buying it from you and selling it to someone else.

Our friendly team are here to help if you have any further questions.

If you’re happy with the rates and ready to place an order please click here.