Paypal default country and currency

My Website is based in New Zealand so 99% of my sales will be from here, what i would like is when the user clicks the paypal express button the default country selected is New Zealand (I know thats more a paypal setting but I'm sure you guys will know).

and also how can i be sure what currency paypal is charging someone? I have the default currency on zencart set for NZD, but whats to stop someone from the states leaving it on NZD, going to paypal and paying the NZD amount with their US credit card? Will paypal adjust the rate correctly itself? Am I better off not having multiple currencies set on my site and letting them/paypal figure out the conversion for themselves?

flamer:

My Website is based in New Zealand so 99% of my sales will be from here, what i would like is when the user clicks the paypal express button the default country selected is New Zealand (I know thats more a paypal setting but I'm sure you guys will know).I don't understand the question.
flamer:

but whats to stop someone from the states leaving it on NZD, going to paypal and paying the NZD amount with their US credit card?
Why does it matter? PayPal will charge the card using the currency used when the order is placed. If the merchant's bank is in another country/currency, then that bank will charge the customer whatever exchange rate and corresponding fees are applicable to the transaction. Just like any other attempt to use a different-currency credit card abroad.

Additionally, you have a few choices for handling multiple currencies in your site:

a) Set your site up for just ONE currency, and let the customers/bank sort it out.
b) Set your site up for multiple currencies and then manually manage the exchange rates for all those currencies on a daily/weekly basis.
c) Set your site up for multiple currencies, managing exchange rates manually, and set your PayPal module configuration in your store so that it auto-converts payment to a certain currency before submitting to PayPal. Again, you must manage exchange rates yourself. The only benefit to this is that all your transactions to PayPal will always be submitted in the specified currency, meaning you won't need to convert currencies within your PayPal account occasionally if the customer has selected a certain alternate currency for making payment. It's a convenience for you and not for your customer.

DrByte:

Why does it matter? PayPal will charge the card using the currency used when the order is placed. If the merchant's bank is in another country/currency, then that bank will charge the customer whatever exchange rate and corresponding fees are applicable to the transaction. Just like any other attempt to use a different-currency credit card abroad.

Ok but how do I know what currency is used? although I have set zencart's default currency to NZD, paypal would appear its defaulting to USD (however its hard to tell as it says nothing about currency anywhere on the orde rpage), I have used other peoples zencart systems where the paypal page clearly shows the amount with the currency next to it so that is really what i am trying to achieve and the end user can figure it out for themselves.

Hi... I also have this issue
when customer clicks confirm order and is directed to paypal, the customer is sent to the US version of paypal:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr
rather than
https://www.paypal.com/nz/cgi-bin/webscr

The default country is in the dropdown menu is USA and the client info is not sent to paypal (the customer then has to re-enter all the info again). Its problematic cos many customers leave here cos they think its a USA company selling in NZ.

Im assuming this is because of incorrect setting in the customers web browser and paypal is picking up on the browser country? Is there a way to override this so that the customer is always sent to the NZ version?

flamer:

My Website is based in New Zealand so 99% of my sales will be from here, what i would like is when the user clicks the paypal express button the default country selected is New Zealand (I know thats more a paypal setting but I'm sure you guys will know).

What version of Zen Cart?
What locale settings are you using in your english.php file?
And are you using Express Checkout? Or the antiquated Website Payments Standard approach?

Hi DrByte
Heres whats in there at the moment.

Version 1.3.9h
@setlocale(LC_TIME, 'en_NZ.ISO_8859-1');
Express Checkout

DrByte:

What version of Zen Cart?
What locale settings are you using in your english.php file?
And are you using Express Checkout? Or the antiquated Website Payments Standard approach?

Just a heads up, it was
@setlocale(LC_TIME, 'en_US.ISO_8859-1');

and i changed it to NZ... Still no go...

Please if any one can help i would trully appreciate it...

Ive also changed the paypalwpp.php
from:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr
to
https://www.paypal.com/nz/cgi-bin/webscr'

and still no luck..

britneycook:

Please if any one can help i would trully appreciate it...

Ive also changed the paypalwpp.php
from:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr
to
https://www.paypal.com/nz/cgi-bin/webscr'

and still no luck..
I'm not surprised that making that change causes no difference. That would only be relevant if using WPS.

Help me set up my test store to replicate your problem. What exactly should I do to make mine pretend it's a NZ store and operate the same way you're wanting yours to work?

Thanks Dr. Byte, you're the master!

i have created a list of all the setting in a txt file and popped it in my download directory. It has all the ADMIN setting in it.

*** deleted ***

my website is hosted in the USA.. would that make any difference to this? Is there an overide at all?

I have the file. You can delete it.

PayPal doesn't specifically support NZ as a locale code that can be set as part of the parameters passed to the page, but they do support AU for Australia.
So, you could try remapping 'NZ' to 'AU' in the section that tests for setting a valid locale:
/includes/modules/payment/paypalwpp.php, around line 975 you'll see this section of code. Add the highlighted line as shown:```
function getLanguageCode() {
global $order;
$lang_code = '';
$orderISO = zen_get_countries($order->customer['country']['id'], true);
[B] if ($orderISO == 'NZ') $orderISO = 'AU';[/B]
$storeISO = zen_get_countries(STORE_COUNTRY, true);

I'd be interested in hearing the results of your testing.

thanks so much for looking into that for me DrByte. You are truly the master!

Its interesting that if my customers have created an account on my webpage and have paid for a product with paypal (in the past), they are subsequently directed to the New Zealand PayPal (specific) Page but not unless they have been to paypal before, they are sent to the US version.
Any way to manipulate this?

Unfortunately, 80% of New Zealanders are unaware of PayPal and thus PayPal becomes a hindrance more than a blessing. (when increasing conversions that is)

Im incredibly grateful MrByte for your fantastic contribution to this topic and cant thank you enough for your wonderful assistance.
Unfortunately, i think that being directed to an Aussie version might be just as hindering. (naughty snigger)

For a any other New Zealanders who have come across this slight challenge, (and dont want to be directed to aussie) perhaps a reconsideration of payment options is necessary. I have discovered two so far, one of which is New Zealand owned and both keenly support Zen-Cart:

Paymex and DPS

So until Paypal supports New Zealand, in a more specific fashion, Paymex operates much the same as Paypal and doesn't require a merchant account, their head office is in Auckland too. (slightly less functionality) but good all the same.

Once again, thanks to DrByte for all your dedicated and wonderful contributions!

Can you explain for me in more detail what exactly you mean by a "New Zealand PayPal (specific) Page"?
Screenshots would help.