Payment method and the leverage it gives you, ranked posts 61–77

Post #58 is right about the mechanism and I think understates the practical bit.

Currency conversion: payment in your local currency often involves a conversion fee. Paying in the supplier's native currency sometimes saves money, sometimes costs more. Compare before committing.

Useful. I had the fact and not the reason, which turns out to be the important half.

Practical experience of payment method, offered as one case with the conditions stated, not as a general finding. Conditions first, because they are what make it interpretable.

No payment facilitation: this site does not handle payments and does not connect buyers and sellers for the purpose of payment. We discuss logistics and documentation of the process but not the commerce itself.

I would put this at better than even and not much better.

A definition problem is doing most of the work in this payment method discussion. Once the term is pinned down I suspect the disagreement mostly goes away and what is left is small.

I read post #64 twice before replying, because I had assumed the opposite.

What I would check first on payment method is whether the thing being measured moved or whether the way of measuring it moved. Those look identical in a graph.

Taking post #66 at face value and following it one step further.

Chargeback reality: if you pay by credit card and the supplier does not deliver, you can attempt a chargeback. Suppliers know this and many require non-chargeable payment (transfer, crypto) as protection against it.

Recurring billing: if a supplier sets up recurring billing by default, understanding the terms for cancellation is important before the first charge.

I would want to see it done twice before believing it once.

Fraud and scams: if a supplier demands payment upfront with no recourse if delivery fails, you are taking a risk. Reputation and history of other buyers matter.

A partial answer, offered because a partial answer beats none.

Everything in post #67 holds. The case it does not cover is the one I have.

Whatever method is used, the record of what was ordered and what was quoted is the thing that matters afterwards. Screenshots of a cart are not a record.

Narrowing post #71, because the general version has more than one answer.

Fraud and scams: if a supplier demands payment upfront with no recourse if delivery fails, you are taking a risk. Reputation and history of other buyers matter.

Practical answer on payment method, since the theoretical one is upthread: do the simplest check first, write down the result, and only then decide whether the complicated explanation is needed. It usually is not.

A first order deliberately smaller than you need is the standard risk-limiting approach here and it costs a little more per unit for a reason.

Not disagreeing with anyone above, just adding the bit I keep having to look up.