# International Payments and Currencies > Check support for the customer's method and currency as well as your merchant entity. Keep charge, settlement and payout amounts clear whenever conversion or cross-border processing is involved. - Type: Merchant guide - Level: Intermediate - Reading time: About 5 minutes - Audience: Written for store owners, builders, and designers refining high-performance ecommerce stores. - Last updated: 2026-11-04 - Canonical page: https://academy.getzenbasket.com/merchant-questions/international-payments-and-currencies/ - Part of: [Merchant Questions](https://academy.getzenbasket.com/merchant-questions/) on ZenBasket Academy --- ## What you need to know ### How do international ecommerce payments work? Cross-border payments involve parties in different countries and may involve multiple currencies, networks and checks. Verify that your business account, customer method and sale currency are supported. Delivery countries and payment-supported countries are separate settings to check. ### Should customers pay in their local currency? A familiar local currency can make the cost easier to understand, if the store and provider support it. Display the actual charge currency clearly. A local-currency price does not guarantee the customer's issuer will charge no additional fees. ### What is presentment currency? Presentment currency is the currency in which the payment is presented to or charged to the customer. If a store charges in euros, euros are the presentment currency even if the business receives a payout in another currency. ### What is settlement currency? Settlement currency is the currency used when the payment funds settle for the merchant under the provider's arrangement. A payout currency can also be a separate concept. Check your provider's terms instead of assuming every stage uses one currency. ### Presentment vs settlement currency: what's the difference? Presentment concerns the customer's payment currency; settlement concerns the merchant-side funds. If the two differ, conversion may be needed. Keep both amounts, currency codes and related fees in the records used for reconciliation. ### Who performs currency conversion? The provider, acquirer or customer's issuer may convert currency, depending on the payment route and account settings. Confirm who converts at each stage and how the rate and fee are disclosed. Avoid presenting a rate as fixed when it may change. ### Why do international payment fees cost more? Extra network, provider or currency-conversion costs may apply under the agreement. Inspect the actual fee breakdown for the issuing country and currency. Do not assume every cross-border payment costs more by the same amount. ### Why are cross-border payments being declined? Possible causes include unsupported currency, issuer restrictions, authentication failure, risk rules or an account not enabled for that market. Compare response codes and eligible transactions. Use a supported local method when appropriate, not as a workaround for a legitimate restriction. --- ## Frequently asked questions ### Should payment gateways differ by country? Different countries may benefit from different acquiring arrangements or local methods. Use separate gateways only when they solve a verified requirement and your team can manage the reporting and support. Test each country's purchase and refund path. ### Can one payment gateway support a global ecommerce store? One provider can support many markets, but no general promise covers every country, business type, method or currency. Check the exact merchant entity and intended markets against the current support matrix before describing a store as accepting payments worldwide. ## Related articles - **Choosing Ecommerce Payment Methods** - **Choosing Payment Gateways and Comparing Fees** - **Payment Reconciliation for Merchants** - [ZenBasket Build Guide](https://help.getzenbasket.com/zenbasket-builder/)