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Dynamic currency conversion (DCC)

Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a feature that allows customers to see the cost of transactions in their local currency, providing a more familiar and transparent purchasing experience. This feature enhances the understanding of customers regarding their transactions by removing uncertainty about the final cost in their local currency.

For example, consider a scenario where a customer's credit card is denominated in US Dollars (USD), but the merchant is processing payments in Euros (EUR). When the customer makes a purchase, the DCC feature will enable them to see and approve the exact amount that will be charged in USD, eliminating the need to estimate the currency conversion manually or worry about fluctuating exchange rates.

DCC can be utilized either through a standard transaction request with an additional requestDcc parameter or through a hosted payment page, where DCC is handled transparently. Please note that the DCC option must be activated in the connector for this feature to be used.

DCC process overview

Using a standard transaction request

  1. Initiate a standard transaction request and include requestDcc parameter to request the current conversion rate.
  2. If a conversion is possible, you'll receive a PENDING_DCC status along with dccData in the response.
  3. The dccData includes the conversion details such as the converted amount and the conversion rate.
  4. To finalize the transaction, send another request with the chosen currency to the continue-dcc endpoint.

Using a hosted payment page

  1. Initiate a DCC request by setting requestDcc to true in your transaction request.
  2. The response will have a REDIRECT status, indicating that the user should be redirected to a hosted payment page.
  3. The DCC is handled transparently on the hosted payment page.
  4. Once the transaction is completed, the user is redirected back to the merchant's page with the transaction result.

Understanding DCC data

The dccData object in the response contains the following fields:

  • uuid: The unique identifier of the conversion request.
  • originalAmount: The original transaction amount.
  • originalCurrency: The original currency of the transaction.
  • convertedAmount: The amount after currency conversion.
  • convertedCurrency: The currency to which the original amount has been converted.
  • conversionRate: The exchange rate used for the conversion.
  • disclaimer: The disclaimer statement related to the conversion.
  • markUp: The additional amount or percentage that is added up as conversion charge.
note

The chosen currency for the second request (selectedDccCurrency) can be either the original currency (from the initial transaction request) or the converted currency returned in the dccData.convertedCurrency.

DCC request examples

Now that we understand the general DCC process flow, let's look at some examples of DCC request and response for the standard transaction request process.

Initiate a DCC request by adding the requestDcc parameter to your transaction request. This parameter is not mandatory and the default is false.

Example of an initial transaction request

Parameter nameTypeDescription
requestDccoptionalboolean?initiate DCC if true

The following example illustrates how to send a transaction request with requestDcc set to true:

{
"merchantTransactionId": "your-unique-identifier",
"amount": "155",
"currency": "EUR",
"successUrl": "https://shop.example.org/checkout/success",
"cancelUrl": "https://shop.example.org/checkout/cancelled",
"errorUrl": "https://shop.example.org/checkout/error",
"callbackUrl": "https://api.example.org/callback",
"transactionToken": "ix::e5eb9f5158deb7d6b7da44b2334f",
"customer": {
"firstName": "Alex",
"lastName": "Smith",
"company": "Alex's Artisan Goods",
"email": "[email protected]",
"emailVerified": false,
"ipAddress": "198.51.100.123"
},
"language": "en",
"requestDcc": true
}

Example of a rate selection request

If a transaction is in the PENDING_DCC state, you can finalize it by sending a request to the continue-dcc endpoint. The possible currency options include the original transaction currency and the converted currency from the previous response.

POST /transaction/{apiKey}/continue-dcc

Parameter nameTypeDescription
continueDccUuidrequiredstringUUID of the previous response
selectedDccCurrencyrequiredstringCurrency chosen for the transaction

Following is an example demonstrating the process:

{
"continueDccUuid": "d94c0d72f3a36e21f16e",
"selectedDccCurrency": "USD"
}