Your growth is abroad. So is your hidden FX fee

New figures from Dansk Erhverv show that Danish online retailers grew 4% in 2025, while e-commerce grew 14% in Spain and Portugal. When the growth is abroad, a bill comes with it: the rate your payment provider or marketplace converts at before the money reaches your account.

Right now it is all about being ready for Black Friday, and after that comes Christmas. Both run through your payment provider, and at the same time you are setting the 2027 budget. There is one line most online retailers cannot find in their accounts: what it costs to bring foreign revenue home. It rarely appears as an entry. It sits inside the exchange rate.

In May we wrote about tariffs and Temu fatigue. This time it is about the part of your margin you can actually move. Here are the new figures, and a 15-minute check you can do before the budget closes.

Why is the growth for Danish online retailers abroad?

Because the Danish home market is mature. In 2025, 91% of Danes aged 16 to 74 shopped online, and revenue per capita was the highest in Europe at EUR 4,456, roughly DKK 33,300. Growth, on the other hand, was only 4%.

Further south and east it moves faster. Spain and Portugal both grew 14%, southern Europe 11% overall and eastern Europe 14% in nominal terms. Danish companies are following: exports to the EU rose around 10% over the past year, while exports to the US fell 1.8% in the first half, squeezed by tariffs.

Customers are ready. Cross-border shopping has reached 70% of consumers, up from 60% the year before, and more than three in ten orders are shipped abroad. The route to the customer is different too. Only 28% of Danish online retailers with at least ten employees sell through marketplaces. In Poland the figure is 64%, in Italy 65%.

If you need growth, you are therefore likely to be selling in another currency, and often through a payment provider or a marketplace. The question is not only how the customer pays. It is how the money gets home, and what it costs along the way.

What does an online retailer pay for a card payment?

When a customer pays by card in your shop, the money is split between several parties before the rest reaches you. Your shop runs on a platform such as Shopify or WooCommerce, and for the payment itself you pay two parties: an acquirer, which receives the money from the card network, and a payment gateway or PSP, which provides the technical checkout. Some providers bundle both into one agreement. Others are gateway only and require a separate acquiring agreement.

The first parties you can read in your agreement, either separately or as one combined rate. Currency is one of the links that gets overlooked. If you sell in a foreign currency, or you are paid out in a currency other than kroner, the provider can build a markup into the rate.

Cards are the most common payment method. Apple Pay and Google Pay follow the same chain, because there is a card behind them. MobilePay, PayPal and invoice or instalment solutions each have their own agreements and fees. The principle is the same: if the provider converts for you, the cost sits in the rate.

What is a hidden FX fee, and why can you not see it?

A hidden FX fee is the difference between the market rate and the rate your payment provider, marketplace or bank converts at. It rarely appears as a line on the payout. It sits inside the rate itself.

If you sell in Australian dollars, Swiss francs or pounds, and you do not hold an account in that currency, your provider or marketplace converts along the way. All you see is what arrives: a payout in kroner. That is why so few people notice.

You can see this with two providers many online retailers use. PayPal states that its exchange rate includes a currency conversion fee on top of the base rate. Amazon describes the fee for its Currency Converter as volume-based, and it is built into the rate you get.

What does it cost in general to send money across borders? The figures here cover B2B payments broadly, not PayPal or Amazon. According to FXC Intelligence, the total cost – markup and fees combined – sits between 0.2% and 1.3% of the amount. SMEs are at the top of that range. They account for 7% of cross-border payments but 31% of providers' revenue, and their average total cost is 1.3%, against 0.2% for large corporates. The difference is rarely about risk. It is about negotiating power.

Source: FXC Intelligence, Cross-Border Payments Market Sizing, March 2026, with 2025 figures.

Does the FX fee apply in euros too?

Yes. The euro feels like a near market, so few people think about currency when the customer is in Germany or the Netherlands. The rate is stable, but a stable rate and a free conversion are two different things. The margin is volume-based and is charged whether the rate moves or sits still. Currency risk is lowest in euros, which is exactly why attention is lowest too. But it is volume the margin is calculated on.

What does it cost an online retailer to convert currency?

It depends on your provider, your volume and, not least, the currency. On the Danish market we typically see an FX margin of around 0.4% at the larger banks on the major currencies, though it can easily be higher, particularly at smaller local and regional banks. Payment providers and marketplaces set their own rates, which are published in their terms.

The spread between currencies is wide. On smaller currencies such as Chinese yuan, Thai baht, Taiwanese dollars and Vietnamese dong, the margin can reach around 2%. Pay a Chinese supplier DKK 1m and 0.4% comes to DKK 4,000, while 2% comes to DKK 20,000.

Take another example. If you sell DKK 10m a year in foreign currency and let your payment provider convert it home, every 0.1 percentage point of markup is worth DKK 10,000. At 0.4% that is DKK 40,000. At 0.15% it is DKK 15,000. The difference is DKK 25,000, and the rate has not moved a single øre.

For an online retailer on thin margins that weighs more than it sounds. If your gross margin after cost of goods is 15%, every percentage point lost in the exchange rate is one fifteenth of what you earn. It is not an error in your accounts. It is a line nobody has put a name to.

When do you pay the FX fee twice?

If you sell in dollars, your payment provider converts to kroner. If you then pay an Asian supplier in dollars, you convert back again. You pay two margins on money that never needed to leave dollars in the first place. Held in a currency account instead, it can go straight from the customer to the supplier.

Does this affect you if you sell mainly in Denmark?

Yes, in most cases. Even an online retailer selling almost entirely in Denmark usually has suppliers abroad. You pay in euros, dollars, zloty or yuan, and every payment is converted with a margin. It is a currency bill that runs regardless of where your customers live.

And the currency decides how large it gets. As the China example above shows, a supplier payment in a smaller currency can cost many times more in markup than a payment in euros. So the payout check further down is just as relevant if you do not sell abroad: look at your supplier payments with the same eyes.

To run the numbers on your own setup, use the calculator at kompasbank.dk. If you do not know your margin, it works from an industry average.

How do you receive payments in foreign currency without converting?

Open a currency account and ask your payment provider to pay out in the currency the customer paid in, rather than converting to kroner. Convert only when you choose to. The principle is the same whichever provider you use.

1. 1.
   Receive in the currency. Open currency accounts for the currencies you sell most in, and check which currencies your provider can pay out in without converting.
2. 2.
   Keep what you need. Euros and kroner for payroll and operations, dollars for suppliers in Asia. Convert only when you need the amount in another currency.
3. 3.
   Pay suppliers in their own currency. If the money is already sitting in dollars or euros, it does not need converting to kroner and back again.
4. 4.
   Decide what to do about currency risk. If you know the payments in advance, you can hedge the rate with a forward contract rather than letting it decide your gross margin.

For most online retailers a currency account is enough. You do not need a local bank account in every country.

What this looks like in practice

One of our customers, a Danish t-shirt brand selling across many markets, receives payments daily in dollars, pounds, Swedish kronor, Swiss francs and Australian and Singapore dollars. Euros and kroner stay with the company's existing bank for operations and for its suppliers in Portugal. The other currencies it receives in the currency itself, without the payment provider converting them.

Do you have to switch banks?

No. We do not require you to switch banks. Many companies trading internationally run two accounts: one for day-to-day operations and one built for currency and cross-border payments. Start with the currency you sell most in, and build from there.

How do you avoid Amazon's exchange rate?

Receive the payout in the currency of the selling country, into a local account. Amazon has its own conversion service, Currency Converter for Sellers, which converts on your behalf unless you can receive the money in the currency. That requires a genuine local account in the country or currency area, plus permission from Amazon to collect funds in multiple currencies. An ordinary currency account is not enough.

Through our partnership with Ebury you can receive Amazon payouts in euros, US and Canadian dollars, Singapore dollars, Hungarian forint and Polish zloty, among others. You have kompasbank as a single point of contact and choose yourself when to convert.

With the money sitting in the currency, you can use it directly to pay suppliers or hedge the rate before you need it.

How do you find your own FX fee? A 15-minute payout check

Spend 15 minutes on this before you set the 2027 budget.

1. 1.
   Pull the latest payout report from every payment provider and marketplace you use.
2. 2.
   Write down two things per report: which currencies customers paid in, and which currency you were paid out in.
3. 3.
   Find the rate that was used and set it against the ECB reference rate for the same day. On Amazon you will find the rate in Seller Central under Payments.
4. 4.
   Convert the difference into a percentage of the revenue paid out. A percentage you can apply to next year's figures. A kroner amount you cannot.
5. 5.
   Multiply that percentage by the foreign revenue you are budgeting for in 2027, and put the figure into your gross margin as a line of its own.
6. 6.
   Check which currencies your payment provider can pay out in without converting.
7. 7.
   Do the same for your payments to foreign suppliers: which currency, which rate, and how large is the gap to the reference rate in percentage terms?
   
8. Read more in "What does a business account cost in Denmark in 2026?" and "What are your international payments actually costing you?"

FAQ

What is a PSP?

A PSP, or payment service provider, is the provider that handles online payments between the customer and your shop. It receives the customer's payment and pays the money out to you.

Why does my payment provider convert when the customer pays in another currency?

If you do not hold an account in the currency the customer paid in, the provider typically pays out in your account's currency and converts along the way. The cost sits in the rate rather than as a separate line.

What is an FX margin?

An FX margin is the difference between the market rate and the rate you are offered. At the larger banks we typically see around 0.4% on the major currencies, though it can easily be higher, particularly on smaller currencies.

How do I see what I am paying in FX fees?

Compare the rate your payout was converted at with the ECB reference rate for the same day. The difference, as a percentage of the amount, is your markup.

Can I receive payments in dollars without converting?

Yes, if you hold a currency account and your payment provider can pay out in that currency. Check with your provider which currencies it supports.

What does Amazon require for me to avoid Amazon Currency Converter?

A local account in the selling country or currency area, plus permission from Amazon to collect funds in multiple currencies. Through Ebury, kompasbank can help you receive Amazon payouts in local currencies.

Does this apply if I sell mainly in Denmark?

Yes, if you have suppliers abroad. Every payment to a supplier in a foreign currency is converted with a margin, and the size of it depends on the currency.

Where to go from here

Your growth is abroad. Your setup should follow it. If the figure from the checklist is higher than you expected, we can go through your payout setup together and look at which currencies and accounts suit your shop.

Book a no-obligation review of your currency setup 🚀