canada ยท post 04 of 7 in this channel
Prices in Canadian dollars on WeTheNorth market
Pricing in one currency removes an argument. It does not remove a conversion, and the conversion is where the money goes.
the three wethenorth market addresses
hn2paw7zfvndw3dovycegeqmvvnf4pl67b3g2p7pohjlzavloosh73id.onionhn2paw7zrgujyhnt6mgxlt2q6uhgbke4itpqitxhyfbumq3wtnckbuyd.onionhn2paw7zadwkcra3qzv5e4q547i7e5lvxm62cfxqftuqdu7moiu2ceyd.onionprinted the way they were handed over. no labels, no numbering, nothing here says which one to try first. this feed never opens them, so it has no status light, no percentage and no date of checking to give you.
what a single display currency does
It gives everyone a shared reference. Prices can be compared directly, and nobody has to argue about which conversion rate applied on which day.
For a market aimed at one country, that is the obvious choice and it makes the listings easier to read.
the conversion that still happens
You pay in a coin, not in dollars. So somewhere between the displayed price and the amount that leaves your balance, a rate is applied.
That rate is set by the market. It may not match what you would get elsewhere, and the difference is not shown as a fee anywhere on the screen.
This is the same point as the third fee in where the fees go, and it is the leak people never notice.
why it matters more than it looks
A visible percentage gets scrutinised. A rate applied quietly does not, because it does not appear as a line item and there is nothing to scrutinise.
The amounts involved are often comparable, which is what makes it worth a paragraph rather than a footnote.
what to actually compare
What left your wallet against what you got. Do it once, deliberately, on a small transaction, and you will have a real number for the round trip.
That is the same measurement suggested in how a deposit works, and it answers several questions at the same time.
the volatility question
Prices displayed in a stable currency and paid in a volatile one means the coin amount moves while the number on the listing does not.
A balance you deposited a while ago buys a different amount today than it did then, in either direction. That is not the market changing prices, it is the rate moving underneath a fixed display.
It is also an argument against leaving large balances sitting, which is its own post.
no numbers on this page
There is no rate quoted here, no spread and no percentage. Any figure would be out of date quickly and would be treated as measured rather than invented.
The mechanism is stable and the numbers are not, so this feed prints the mechanism.
It is a policy applied everywhere on this site rather than a decision about currency specifically. Wherever a figure would need checking to stay true, there is a description instead and a note about where the live value lives.
The place the live value lives is the market. That is the answer to almost every question of the form what is the current something, and it will keep being the answer.
A page that never opens the market cannot report on what the market is doing today, and pretending otherwise is the exact failure this feed is built to avoid.
So the useful thing this post can give you is a habit rather than a figure. Look at the total at checkout, compare it once against what left your wallet, and you will know more than any page could tell you.
replies
a reader askedCan I pay in Canadian dollars directly?
the answerNo. Payment is in a coin and the dollar figure is a display price. The conversion is the subject of this post.
a reader askedWhere do I see the conversion rate?
the answerUsually at checkout, where the coin amount appears. That is the moment to look, because it is the only place the rate becomes visible.
a reader askedDoes the rate change while I am ordering?
the answerIt can, and some markets hold a quote briefly for that reason. Comparing the total at checkout against what you expected is the practical check.
what this post is not Not a currency or exchange guide. There are no rates on this page and there never will be.