Paying with USD

betts

Registered
Joined
Apr 28, 2009
Messages
59
Likes
13
Sorry to sound like the naive tourist, however, everything is priced in USD. So does that mean just as a base currency and you pay in ARS pesos on the exchange rate for that day. Or are there somethings that it is expected you really will pay with currency USD ie: rent.
 
The prices here are in pesos...not dollars. They use the dollar sign in front of the peso price....it is their sign for the peso. If someone is quoting you prices and actually says "this is the price in U.S. Dollars" I would question how much you are actually paying...you are probably being ripped off.
 
As Harleygirl says the prices are in pesos but they use the same symbol ($). The exception to this is real estate sales and most temporary rents charge in dollars. In this case it should be listed specifically as US$.

Some landlords want dollars, but they can't make you pay in dollars. You can pay in pesos to avoid having to convert dollars into pesos from the ATM then convert back again to US dollars.
 
Harleygirl said:
The prices here are in pesos...not dollars. They use the dollar sign in front of the peso price....it is their sign for the peso. . . .
For what it's worth, we Americans adopted the sign, "$", from the Spanish. 'Best guess is that it evolved from a sketch of the ribbon-wrapped pillars on the reverse of their milled dollar, perhaps early in the eighteenth century (or, a bit later, from a superimposition of "p", from pe-, upon "s", from -so -- get it?).
 
betts,
Some things are priced in dollars, especially the goods and services targeted at foreigners, but stating that "everything" is priced in USD is not true. If you don't want to pay dollars for these goods and services simply ask to pay in the currency you prefer. I am sure you'll come to a mutually agreed exchange rate and price. Good luck!
 
There was a recent thread somewhere that suggested that the use of $ for pesos was related to the one-to-one pegging of the peso to the US dollar during the 90s. There is a peso symbol, but everyone has been using the $ for so long, that is was is used.

Always verify. Our shipping company tried to charge dollars, even on repeated questioning, until a accountant somewhere slipped up and wrote on a receipt "... y ZZZ centavos". On further questioning, we got the "Oh! I didn't know that! So sorry." Fortunately, we hadn't paid anything yet. (Lift Van International for anyone interested...)
 
I guess you can say there's not really any hard and fast rules about what's priced in USD and what's in pesos, but basic breakdown of things you will see in USD:

- luxury goods often in USD
- import goods and many electronics often in USD
- tourist oriented goods & services (boat tours, helicopter tours, tango rip offs) in USD
- real estate purchasing in USD
- temporary tourist rentals often in USD
- international flights -- incl flights to Brasil / Uruguay are in USD

- internal flights are in PESOS

- longterm rental contracts are almost always in PESOS, unless you are talking about a luxury apartment, in which case there seem to be more and more ads in USD.

Always check for the US in front of the $ -- if there is no US$, then it is always PESOS.
 
Back
Top