Currency drop down menu - how does ZC convert?

When user chooses a different currency in the drop down currency menu that is available, I notice that it converts the product prices to that currency. WHERE and HOW OFTEN UPDATED is Zen Cart getting the conversion rate? PayPal? Some bank? XE.com?

thanks,
JSC

Use the currency updater in your ADMIN PANEL, under the currency option.

Currency updates are not done automatically. That's up to you to manage.

I'v noticed too that it is not accurate. For instance, I just updated the currency, and it is reading that it shows 0.66388875 against the aussie dollar, when in fact at the moment of updating it was really 0.632156.

Now i can understand if it was a little out..but .63 as compared to .66 is a big difference when it comes to conversions. What is the go with that, does anyone know?

The discrepancy is due to the fact that the external sites used to fetch the currency rates assume very large transacted amounts. This will most likely differ from your local bank rates.

Thus, in your case, try adjusting the Currency Conversion Ratio field under Configuration > MyStore accordingly.

Canopy is right.

You're the one who needs to verify the exchange rate used in your store ... and it would be logical that you would set it to a rate that closely matches the rate you receive when converting the funds at your bank. Many merchants add a small additional buffer to protect against fluctuations, and tend not to update it more than once a month or maybe weekly ... depending on various factors.

The conversion ration Canopy mentioned is a setting you can adjust to attempt to bring the rates closer to your desired results when you use the Update button to fetch updated rates. But you should still double-check each one whenever you do an update.