I just purchased the Swiss Travel Pass (STP) for my 2 week trip. I will arrive in Switzerland on Wednesday. I chose to purchase using my desktop computer using this website:
https://shop.switzerlandtravelcentre.com
This is a site that is partially owned by the SBB, the Swiss train company. I chose to use this site due to reports of easier credit card transactions from the USA. The main SBB site apparently sometimes rejects US credit cards due to an enhanced security measure used by the SBB site.
I had already made the decision that I wanted to splurge and get the 15-day 1st Class STP.
Being from the USA, the above website defaulted me to USD pricing. The USD price is $824. Up in the right corner of the website, it allows you to change the pricing to Swiss francs (CHF). When you do that, the price become 675 CHF. Using online currency conversion tools, 675 CHF currently equals a little more than $757. So using CHF instead of USD to do the purchase would save about $67.
I initiated the process and filled in all the information. When it came time to pay, I was once again presented with an option to pay 675 CHF or in USD. However, this time, the USD that was quoted was only $799. It indicated there was an included 3% fee. Since I was still presented with the choice to pay in CHF or USD. I continued by selecting CHF since I wanted to let my credit card do the currency conversion and not the website.
The site then prompted me for my credit card information. I use a CapitalOne Mastercard, since it has no foreign transaction fees. After entering my credit card info, a CapitalOne window popped up indicating they would send me a text message to confirm my purchase. I got the text message and entered the 6-digit code that the message sent me into the computer to confirm my payment. Seconds later, CapitalOne sent me a text message indicating the transaction had been completed. Then the website confirmed it as well. CapitalOne placed a currency converted charge for $759.01 on my card. This was a little bit more than the online tools showed the conversion rate to be, but very close. And certainly better than paying $799 or $824.
Within a minute or so, I received 2 emails from the website. One indicating that the order was received and being processed. Then the processed order email came thru with 2 links in it.
The first link took me to a generated PDF file from SBB that I downloaded and printed out. It contains all the STP dates and class info as well as a scannable QR code. I printed 2 copies of this to bring with me. I also saved that PDF file to my cloud storage and made sure a copy was downloaded to my Files application on my phone.
The second link was for downloading the pass to my iPhone Wallet app. So I opened this link from my phone email. It generated the pass and had a button to allow me to download it directly to my Wallet app. I did this and now have a scannable QR code in my phone Wallet for quick access. I plan on primarily using this method on trains when I need to show my pass to train personnel. I don't want to have to dig out the paper copy unless needed. The email instructions say this works for Android phones too, but you must be sure to download the Wallet app. The Wallet app is pre-installed on iPhones.
Note: I also have the SBB app installed on my phone and I had previously created an online account with SBB using the email address that I used for purchasing my STP. As of one hour after purchasing the STP, there is no indication in my SBB app that I have the STP. Maybe it will show up at some point. Some people indicate that an STP QR code shows up in the Tickets & Travelcards tab of the SBB app if you purchase the STP using the same email address. However, I suspect that might only be the case if you purchase directly from the SBB main website. I really don't care if it shows up in my SBB app since I have it in my iPhone Wallet app.