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IS IT CHEAPER TO BUY GLASS IN THE US?

Many believe the current exchange rates make it cheaper to buy in the USA.  So, we crunched the numbers to see if it's right. Here's what we found.....

THE CRUNCHED NUMBERS:

Below is an example of two shopping carts of diverse glasses to give a good comparison. One at Frantz Art Glass (the store in the US that is consistently the cheapest) the other at Affordable Inspirations. See the example cart below:

Black 1lb
White 1lb
Opal Yellow 1/4lb
Rubino 1/4lb
Blue Sky Dark 1/2lb
Blue Pale Transparent 1/2lb
Clear Special 1lb
Green Emerald Light Transparent 1lb
Ivory 1lb
Periwinkle 1lb
Dark Turquoise 1lb
Red Dark Special 1lb
Sage Green Opaque 1/2lb

The total of the shopping cart, including shipping from Affordable Inspiration is $151.52

The total of the shopping cart, including shipping from Frantz is $187.39

If you buy less than 10lbs the cost difference is even more expensive in the USA. We looked at the same figures at 20lb, ($45.00) cheaper to buy in AU and 60lb and ($91.46) cheaper to buy in AU.

To make the baskets cost the same, the AUD exchange rate would need to be $1.23 against the USD!

This total is calculated at an exchange rate of .99%, which is the rounded up XE exchange rate for the date of calculations, but not what you actually pay as a rate if you pay by Paypal or Credit Card.

As an example we looked at The National Banks exchange rate on the 9th of October,10. If you used a National Bank credit card to pay for your US purchase you would get a rate of .95c and on top of that pay a fee of 1% for an international transaction. So, depending on your bank you can be paying an extra 2-3% to buy internationally. It costs an AU consumer no extra to pay by credit card in Australia.