Best Santorini Exchange Rates

Also include an 11 percent mark up

That 11% mark-up sounds like DCC. What is the rate if you don't accept the nasty DCC.

Don't accept any offer that involves an exchange rate. That applies to ATMs as well as credit-card purchases. The entire transaction should be in euros. You'll see the dollar equivalent later, on your bank statement or credit card statement. It will reflect a much better exchange rate than you see on an ATM or credit card device.

I am not up on the current situation in Greece with respect to ATM usage fees. If charged, they would be displayed in euros on the ATM screen as an add-on to the money you're asking to withdraw. Something like this:

Withdrawal...............€100.00
ATM Fee...................€ 5.00 (Label and amount could be different.)
Total Transaction....€105.00

All these fees are 11 percent mark ups on top of the 5.00 fee to use the ATM. Should we go to an actual bank to avoid this? We are choosing Euro as the exchange method so not sure how this would be DCC-am i missing something? Thank you!

“ We are choosing Euro as the exchange method so not sure how this would be DCC-am i missing something? ”

What do you mean when you say you’re choosing Euro as the exchange method? When you have chosen the amount of Euros you want to withdraw, the ATM will try to persuade you to accept the exchange rate offered by the machine. On the screen it will display an amount in dollars. You should decline this amount in dollars by choosing “no” or “don’t accept” or something like that. This won’t cancel the whole transaction, but it will cancel the DCC.

Are you using bank ATM's or ones you find in shops?

What is the machine actually telling you? Is it saying your transaction will cost you this much in US Dollars? Or are you just requesting 100 euro, and it spits out 100 euro, and you go on your bank account and see what it cost you?

Can you give an actual example? "On this date. withdrew xxx euros, machine said this, bank statement said this"

My suspicion, like others, is that you are encountering DCC, normally you have the ability to decline, but maybe this is a new wrinkle, or they have come up with newer deceptive wording to direct you into accepting.

Hi Everyone,
We decided to try taking 100 euros out of Piraeus ATM with our bank card. In addition to 5 dollar ATM fee, there was also an up charge of 11 percent (in Addition to .82 exchange rate-resulting in the ATM stating:100 EUROS would cost us 123 USD (I am not exactly sure on the math but something like this). Our bank at home reported that it charged us only 114 USD for the transaction. We also found the exchange center near Fira center to offer comparable rates. Not great but better than what the ATM originally told us we were getting. Still way worse than exchange rates in CDG where we had layover. Just wanted to share our experiences for other readers:) thanks for all your help!

“ resulting in the ATM stating:100 EUROS would cost us 123 USD ”
If the ATM states the amount in dollars, it means CDD was applied. You should have had an option to decline this dollar amount and chose to be charged in Euros.

Hello,
Yes, it asked if we wanted in Euros or home currency. We chose Euros. This ATM experience here very different than we encountered other parts of Europe.

“ Yes, it asked if we wanted in Euros or home currency. We chose Euros.”

If you chose Euros the ATM can’t tell you how much you will be charged, because it’s your bank who will set the exchange rate not the ATM.
In your other post, you wrote that the ATM told you how much dollars you would be charged. That only happens in case of DCC.

We always try to use a brick and mortar ATM. The independent machines standing machines seem to try and charge a different rate.

I suggest logging into your bank account online, and see what was actually was withdrawn. Since you specified euros, essentially declining DCC, it may be you succeeded, and got close to the interbank rate, plus whatever ATM fee was disclosed (plus what your bank may charge). The ATM machine will not be able to tell you what that final amount is,

Hi, yes that is exactly what happened-we got a much better rate.