How to price a cross-border invoice
Invoicing an international client is two problems in one: what number to put on the invoice, and how much actually reaches your bank. This calculator handles both.
- Enter what you want to charge in your own currency.
- Pick your client's currency. The tool converts at the live mid-market rate — the true interbank rate, before anyone's markup.
- Add an FX buffer. Banks, PayPal, Wise and Payoneer each shave roughly 1–3% on the conversion back to your currency. Add a buffer of about that size and you still receive what you intended.
- Invoice the result. The "Invoice your client" figure is what to put on the document.
Mid-market rate vs. what you actually receive
The mid-market rate is the midpoint of the buy and sell price — the rate banks trade with each other and the one you see on Google. You almost never get it: your payment provider converts at a slightly worse rate and keeps the difference. That's why a $1,000 invoice converted at the bare rate can land as noticeably less in your account. Pricing in a small FX buffer is how freelancers and agencies stop quietly losing 1–3% on every overseas job.
Frequently asked questions
What exchange rate does this use?
The live daily mid-market reference rate — the midpoint interbank rate before any markup. It covers Tier-1 currencies plus Naira (NGN), Cedi (GHS), Shilling (KES) and Dirham (AED). If the live feed is unreachable, it falls back to a clearly-labelled offline estimate so the tool still works. Note: for currencies with a wide official-vs-street gap (e.g. NGN), treat the figure as a reference — your provider's actual rate is what you'll receive.
Why add an FX markup?
When your client pays in their currency, your bank or processor converts it back and typically takes 1–3%. Invoicing at the bare mid-market rate means that spread comes out of your pay. A buffer of roughly the same size protects your take-home.
Is it free and private?
Completely free, no sign-up. It runs entirely in your browser — your amounts are never uploaded.
I receive invoices in many currencies — can BillSnap process those?
Yes. Our done-for-you invoice processing service reads the supplier invoices you receive — in any currency — into clean, reconciled data, human-verified, with no data entry on your side.