Multi-Currency Product Pricing Without Requiring Multiple Stores

[DenizOner]

Proposal Summary

In #1361, I previously suggested reconsidering the single-currency-per-Store model.

In the response to that issue, it was explained that the single-currency-per-Store model is a deliberate choice, particularly because it keeps ledger, accounting, vendor payouts, and commission reconciliation simpler and more predictable.

It was also pointed out that a merchant can already create multiple Stores, each with its own currency, allowing a merchant operating across EUR, USD, CNY, etc. to model these as separate Stores.

I understand and agree that keeping the settlement/accounting side predictable is important.

However, I believe there is an opportunity to separate two different concepts:

• Pricing Currency: The currency in which a product is priced and presented to the buyer
• Settlement Currency: The currency in which the seller's earnings are accounted for and paid out

My suggestion is that a Store could continue to have a single settlement currency, while products within that Store could support multiple pricing currencies.

Why requiring multiple Stores may not always be ideal

A merchant operating in multiple currencies does not necessarily have multiple distinct commercial stores.

For example, consider a German seller operating a single electronics store.

This seller may:

• Source products from Germany in EUR
• Source products from the United States in USD
• Source products from China in CNY

From the seller's perspective, these products may all belong to the same store.

Requiring the seller to create three separate Stores solely because the products involve different currencies could introduce unnecessary complexity in areas such as:

• Product management
• Inventory management
• Catalog management
• Sales reporting
• Customer experience
• Store management

For this reason, I believe it may be beneficial to separate the concept of a Store from the currency used to price individual products.

Proposed approach

I am not necessarily suggesting that Store settlement itself should become multi-currency.

For example, a Store could continue to operate as follows:

Store settlement currency: EUR

While products within the same Store could have prices such as:

• Product A → EUR 100
• Product B → USD 120
• Product C → CNY 800

The marketplace could then convert and present these prices in the buyer's preferred currency when appropriate.

For example, a product whose base price is:

€100

could be displayed as:

$116

to a buyer whose preferred currency is USD.

The seller's settlement currency could still remain EUR.

In other words, multi-currency pricing and multi-currency settlement could be treated as separate concepts.

This could preserve the existing accounting / ledger model

I believe this distinction could address the accounting and ledger concerns mentioned in the response to #1361.

For example:

Store
Settlement Currency: EUR

Product pricing:
- Product A: EUR 100
- Product B: USD 120
- Product C: CNY 800

Buyer-facing price:
- Buyer currency: USD

Vendor settlement:
- EUR

[vholik]

Thanks for the detailed write-up. Separating pricing currency from settlement currency is a fair distinction and it's on our radar ‚we'll factor it into how we evolve pricing.