Apple Pay

only whatever your card linked in the Apple Pay charges. If it is not free of transaction charges or foreign exchange fees the the general advice is get another card which is. Then use Apple Pay with than and it will be seamless.

Since you state you’re new to Apple Pay, perhaps it helps to think of Apple Pay as an invisible extension cord to your debit or credit card you linked to your Apple Pay. Instead of reading the chip or magnetic strip embedded in your actual debit or credit card, the payment terminal reads the chip in your IPhone or Apple Watch.
So if a payment terminal accepts contactless payments, it will accept Apple Pay, Google Pay etc, but it will also accept contactless payments done with your actual card.
In order to be able to use Apple Pay, the vendor will have to accept the card you linked to your Apple Pay account. If you’ve linked an Amex card to your Apple Pay account and the store doesn’t accept Amex, you can’t pay with Apple Pay. Not because Apple Pay isn’t accepted, but because your Amex credit card isn’t accepted.
Since Apple Pay is basically a credit/debit card payment done via the “invisible extension cord”, the payment will be processed in the exact same way as a credit card payment. If your credit card provider charges a fee for transactions done in a foreign currency, it will charge this fee regardless of how you presented your card.
A last tip to end this long story; when making a payment in Italy, Spain and Portugal, always make sure you’re charged in Euros. Some payment terminals will offer you to be charged in dollars “for your convenience”. It’s not convenient, it will only result in a conversion rate that’s not to your advantage. This process is called Dynamic Currency Conversion and you should always decline it.

Thank you so much!! That makes sense :)

I looked into Apple Pay and Google Pay and it looked to me that both providers charge a fee to use their service. This was in addition to the normal transaction fee you would expect to incur. Did I understand this correctly?

I looked into Apple Pay and Google Pay and it looked to me that both providers charge a fee to use their service. This was in addition to the normal transaction fee you would expect to incur. Did I understand this correctly?

I use Apple Pay and have never paid a service fee. Not sure what you are asking.

I typically have my AMEX card on my Apple Pay but before I travel to Germany in under three weeks, I am going to put my Visa Travel Rewards card on my Apple Pay for sole use overseas because the fees are low unlike AMEX. Apple Pay is just a means of paying; you choose the credit card you want to use and I recommend picking one that has low fees.

I use Apple Pay almost every day and my wife uses Google Pay a few times a year - neither of us has ever paid a fee to use it.

My experience is UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Austria, Italy, Vatican City.

Perhaps other places have charges?

You can always start by reading what the company that makes it run has to say:
https://www.apple.com/apple-pay/

Also consider an Apple Card, costs little to nothing to use, easy to obtain, very secure. While the Apple Card is not considered among the better travel-specific cards, it's a cool thing to add to all of your other Apple doodads. Might fit into your personal credit needs. Might not. Apple Pay is often confused with Apple Card.
https://www.apple.com/apple-card/

“ I looked into Apple Pay and Google Pay and it looked to me that both providers charge a fee to use their service.”
These providers do indeed charge a fee. However this fee is not charged to you as a consumer, but to the banks/card issuers. So if you’ve connected your Visa credit card to your Apple Pay, every time you make a payment via Apple Pay, VISA will have to pay a small fee to Apple.

Thank you all. I did not mean to hijack the thread. I did read each providers information (Google Pay and Apple Pay) and the way I read it was that you as a user paid a fee on top of what a vendor pays to the respective credit card companies. Thank you all for clearing that up. I will look into attaching a cc to my preferred pay platform.