iTunes payments in Nigeria

Dynamic Currency Conversion is not allowed by banks in Nigeria. Apple cannot charge customers in Naira and claim dollars for payment from the banks. Remember it is an international transaction otherwise Apple has to have an account in Naira where payments will settle.

Two options:

1. Apple bills in dollars

2. Apples sells iTunes gift cards denominated in Naira

It's close to a year and this issue still remains unsolved. I called my bank in Nigeria and was told to come open a domiciliary account and use the dollar card to pay ( for purchases already marked in Naira!). It's unfortunate the banking system here is so fraudulent and there's little one can do with respect to lodging complaints and any real solution being provided here in Nigeria!!

I agreed with the bank! Even though Apple charges in Naira, they claim in dollars. Moreover, Apple uses a rate that is below market rate. No bank will accept that. The best thing is for Apple to go back to charging in U.S. Dollars.

Apple needs to bill Nigerians in dollars or open a Naira account with a bank so that conversion will. It be necessary.

And what are you expecting me (i.e. a fellow user) to do ?

You can't ask iTunes to charge you in a different currency, it's fixed. It's probably a case of the Nigerian banking system needing to sort itself out, or trying to find a card that still works - there have been a number of posts about Nigerian cards no longer being accepted, but probably not as many as I'd expect if it was affecting everyone, so it's possible that some might still work

And this business of only paying with cards from your own country is a total drag.

There have been many comments about that. One observation is that it ensures that people only use an iTunes store in a country linking their card to an actual residence (where they get their bills) and prevent use of stores in countries where they do not reside. That is likely to do with media international licensing and distribution.

Hi there,

The reason that we are unable to use our Naira cards to make payments is because of something called DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion). If you've tried using a GT card, you've probably gotten an email notification telling you this. Simply put, game apps that are originally 0.99USD for example can't be =N100 as stated by Apple in the new pricing regime (not even according to CBN's rates). This difficulty is the same issue Uber had when they started operations in Nigeria before they regularized their billing system and now, Uber Nigeria no longer has issues accepting payments through Nigerian cards. Mentioned this to Apple on Twitter and encouraged them to initiate discussions with Uber so that this can be sorted and we can continue enjoying our Apple devices again, but I got a "system" response to be honest. There's nothing the banks here can do about DCC as sorting that out is in the merchant's hands.

I'm presently in the same position as you are and so are many others. And remember only a few banks are letting USD transactions fly in the first place. I hope they sort out this DCC issue soon or revert to USD (if they can't get around the first option")

Obviously Apple don't value the Nigeria market segment, otherwise they would have find a mean to resolve this issue with the Nigerian banks. As it is Nigerians are completely at a loss on the way to go about payment for subscriptions to Apple Music service and the ITunes Store.

Honestly this is a very big issue. Payoneer cards, don't even work. Apple needs to work on this ASAP. Imagine having an iPhone and can't do anything?

The issue is with Nigerian banks