Selling abroad from Armenia: the currency rules and the real cost
When the law lets you price in dollars, who converts your money at each step, and what a foreign customer's payment actually leaves in your account.
Inside Armenia, prices are in dram
For any customer in Armenia, whatever card they pay with. The currency law, Article 6.
Foreign companies can pay in dollars
A written contract between you and a company abroad may be priced in foreign currency. Article 6(7).
Your customer's bank may add a fee
On a foreign card, even when your price is in dollars. You never see it; they do.
The dollar in one year
383.47 dram on 25 September 2025, 363.52 a year later.
On this page
Selling to customers abroad from Armenia raises three questions most founders answer by guessing. May I charge in dollars? Who converts the money, and at what rate? And how much of a $20 sale is left once it is dram in my account?
Here is what the law says, what the banks publish, and the arithmetic. Where the law is unclear, or a bank publishes nothing, we say so. This is not legal or tax advice: check your case with a lawyer and your accountant.
The law, in plain words
The Law on Currency Regulation and Currency Control, read in Armenian on arlis.am. What each article says, in one sentence:
| Article 6(1) | Inside Armenia, prices for goods, services and work are quoted in dram, unless the law says otherwise. |
| Article 6(2), 7(3) | Payments between residents, and payments made on Armenian territory, are made in dram. |
| Article 7(4) | Non-cash payments may be made in foreign currency between companies and individual entrepreneurs (ԱՁ). |
| Article 6(7) | A written contract with non-cash payment, between a resident company or ԱՁ and a non-resident company or ԱՁ, may be priced in foreign currency. |
| Article 3(12) | A person is treated as resident unless they show proof that they are not. |
The penalty is not small. Breaking the dram rule is fined under Article 165 of the Code of Administrative Offences: the amount of the violation, and at least 2,000 times the ֏1,000 base used for fines, so at least ֏ 2 000 000. A repeat within a year: at least 4,000 times.
The bank enforces it too. Your bank's contract repeats the rule. Ameriabank's terms let a business accept dram and whatever foreign currencies the bank offers, but “transactions in the territory of the Republic of Armenia are performed in Armenian drams only”, and a website must show its prices in dram.
Who you sell to decides the currency, not the card
The law asks where the sale happens and who is buying. Where the card was issued does not change the answer.
| Your customer | Price in | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A person in Armenia, any card, even one issued abroad | dram | A sale inside Armenia, Article 6(1). A foreign card does not make it a foreign sale. |
| A visitor from abroad, in Yerevan | dram | Still a sale on Armenian territory. |
| A company or ԱՁ in Armenia | dram | Prices are quoted in dram. Article 7(4) allows a non-cash payment between companies in foreign currency; whether that lets you quote in it is a question for your lawyer. |
| A company abroad (B2B) | dram, dollars or euros | Article 6(7): a written contract with non-cash payment may be priced in foreign currency. Whether an online click-through agreement counts as “written” is our assumption, not settled: ask a lawyer. |
| A person abroad (B2C) | dram, or dollars if your bank allows it | No article speaks to it. The banks treat a sale to someone abroad as outside Armenia, where their terms allow foreign currency. Whether your bank enables it for you is the bank's decision. |
You cannot just assume a customer is foreign. Under Article 3(12) a customer counts as resident unless they prove otherwise, so a dollar price that any visitor can pick is the risky design. Pricing in dram for everyone is always allowed.
Who converts the money, card by card
Every payment from a card in another currency is converted somewhere. What changes is who does it, at what rate, and who pays for it. The merchant's fee here is Ameriabank's, from edition 9 of its terms.
| The card | What happens on the customer's side | Your bank's fee |
|---|---|---|
| ArCa card, dram price | Nothing to convert: dram in, dram out. | 1.5% |
| Armenian Visa or Mastercard, dram account | Nothing to convert. | 2.7% |
| Armenian Visa or Mastercard, dollar or euro account | The customer's bank converts at its own non-cash rate of the previous banking day. At Ameriabank's rates, ֏ 7 270 costs a dollar-account card $20.17 instead of $20.00, about 0.8% more. | 2.7% |
| Card issued abroad, dram price | Visa or Mastercard convert dram into the card's currency at their daily rate, and the customer's bank may add a foreign-transaction fee. | 2.7% at Ameriabank; 3.0% Evocabank; 2.5–3.5% IDBank |
| Card issued abroad, dollar price | No conversion for a dollar card, but the customer's bank may still add its fee. On your side, whether the dollars reach a dollar account unconverted, or are turned into dram first and at which rate, no bank publishes. | the same |
The conversion has a price. Where a bank buys your dollars or euros, it uses its non-cash buy rate. On 25–27 September Ameriabank bought dollars 0.83% and euros 1.77% below the Central Bank's rate. Its fees on a foreign-currency amount are also charged in dram at that buy rate.
Two things we looked for and did not find: an Armenian bank that lets a foreign customer pay in their own card's currency at checkout (dynamic currency conversion) on an online terminal, and any bank's published approval rate for foreign cards.
The fee your customer pays and you never see
A customer abroad who pays an Armenian business may be charged a foreign-transaction fee by their own bank, typically between 1% and 3%, and nothing at all on cards sold as having none. The trigger is where the payment is processed, not the currency, so a US customer can be charged it on a price in dollars too.
You never see this fee: it is on your customer's statement, not yours. But it is part of what your price costs them, and it is one reason a foreign customer may prefer to pay a company in their own country.
The exchange rate moves
The Central Bank's official dollar rate, a year apart:
A $20 plan brought in ֏ 7 669 a year ago and brings in ֏ 7 270 today. Price in dollars and you carry the risk. Price in dram and the risk moves to your customer: the same ֏ 7 270 in dram cost a US customer about 5.5% more dollars this year than last.
It has moved further before: on 4 January 2022 the rate was 482.19. Someone always carries the difference; decide who, on purpose.
A $20 subscription, five ways
A US customer pays a $20 monthly subscription with a US Visa card. What reaches an Armenian account, in dram, against ֏ 7 270 ($20 at the Central Bank's rate of 363.52):
| Route | What is taken | You receive | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ameriabank + Ronda, priced ֏ 7 270 | Bank 2.7%, Ronda 1.5%. Nothing to convert. | ≈ ֏ 6 965 (95.8%) | ≤ 5 banking days, in dram |
| Ameriabank + Ronda, priced $20 | Bank 2.7%, Ronda 1.5%, dollars bought at the bank's rate (360.50). Whether a dollar account avoids that step is not published. | ≈ ֏ 6 906 (95.0%) | ≤ 5 banking days |
| Stripe, through a US company | 2.9% + 30¢, Stripe Billing 0.7%, dollars bought at the bank's rate. Plus the company itself: about $799 a year at the cheapest. | ≈ ֏ 6 842 (94.1%) | 2 business days, then the wire |
| Paddle | 5% + 50¢, dollars bought at the bank's rate. Plus $15 for each cross-border payout. | ≈ ֏ 6 669 (91.7%) | monthly, 2–6 weeks |
| Lemon Squeezy | 5% + 50¢, 0.5% on subscriptions, 1% to pay out to a bank outside the US, dollars bought at the bank's rate. | ≈ ֏ 6 567 (90.3%) | twice a month, 2–5 weeks |
The difference is a few percent, not a fortune. The Armenian bank keeps the most of the sale here, but only because Ameriabank's published rate for a foreign Visa is 2.7%. At a bank charging 3.0–3.5% the gap to Stripe narrows, and on a large one-off sale Stripe can come out ahead: What Stripe really costs has every case.
Assumptions: Ronda's fee 1.5%; the bank's published rate, which a contract can change; Ameriabank's dollar buy rate 360.50 for every conversion into dram; no taxes. Not counted: the customer's own foreign-transaction fee, which the Stripe route avoids for a US card, and whether a foreign card is approved at all by an Armenian bank, which no one publishes.
Priced in dram through your own bank, a foreign sale is legal by default, arrives in dram, and keeps the most of the price.
What only the banks can answer
None of this is published. Ask your bank before you set a price in dollars, and ask for the answer in writing.
- Which currencies can I charge in, and will you enable dollars or euros for customers abroad who are not companies?
- If I sell in dollars and hold a dollar account, do the dollars arrive unconverted? If not, at which rate, and on which day?
- How is a refund of a dollar sale converted, and who carries the difference if the rate has moved?
- Does your foreign-card rate also apply to a sale priced in dollars?
- Can a customer abroad pay in their own card's currency at checkout?
- How often are foreign cards declined, or fail 3-D Secure, and what merchant category will a subscription business get?
How Ronda handles it
Ronda never converts money. Your bank does. Ronda shows you what happened.
- You can charge in dram, dollars or euros. Dollars and euros are switched on in Settings, and you say where they land: in a dollar or euro account, or converted into dram by your bank.
- Ronda refuses a live charge in a currency you have not switched on, so a customer never meets a bank error at checkout.
- Your customer only ever sees their own price, in the currency you set.
- Your dashboard shows each foreign amount as it is, with an estimate in dram at the Central Bank's official rate, and one total across every currency.
- Ronda's own fee is always billed in dram, at the Central Bank's official rate on the day of the invoice.
- Whether dollars really land unconverted, and at which rate the bank converts, is the bank's answer, not ours. We have not yet seen it with a real payment, and will update this page when we have.
Sources
Read 27 September 2026 unless noted.
- Law on Currency Regulation and Currency Control (in Armenian), adopted 24 November 2004: Articles 3(12), 6(1), 6(2), 6(7), 7(3), 7(4).
- Code of Administrative Offences (in Armenian), Article 165: fines for breaking the currency rules. The base used for fines is ֏1,000, from the Law on the Minimum Monthly Wage.
- Ameriabank, Internet Acquiring Terms and Tariffs, ed. 9, in force 27 April 2026: fees §1.4; currencies and the dram-only rule §3.5; prices shown in dram §4.10.5.
- Ameriabank, Payment Cards Terms, ed. 22, 7 June 2023: conversion on cards in another currency, §8.5.1.
- Ameriabank, Corporate Tariffs, ed. 34: fees on foreign-currency amounts charged in dram at the non-cash buy rate.
- Ameriabank exchange rates: the bank's non-cash buy rates, 360.50 for a dollar and 407 for a euro. Central Bank of Armenia rates: USD 363.52 and EUR 414.34 for 25 September 2026; USD 383.47 for 25 September 2025; USD 482.19 for 4 January 2022.
- Evocabank V-POS tariff (read 22 September) and IDBank information bulletin (14 May 2026): foreign-card rates.
- Bankrate, a guide to foreign transaction fees: foreign-transaction fees of 1% to 3%, charged on purchases processed outside the US, online ones included.
- Stripe US pricing, Paddle, Paddle payout fees, Lemon Squeezy fees.
When each route pays out is in When does my money actually arrive?. Every bank's card fees are in the fee guide.
Bill the world
from Armenia.
In dram, through your own bank, without a company abroad. Free in test mode, no bank needed to start.