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For immediate release
August 18, 2008

America is a great buy for foreign visitors and a Charleston-based company hopes to help small businesses capitalize on that fact. Oervind, whose business home is www.oervind.com, will remove barriers to accepting foreign currency by calculating currency exchange values at the point of sale level.

“Anyone with an internet connection can use this system to calculate how much a business transaction is worth in foreign currency,” said George Boniface, president of Oervind. “We’ve designed Oervind to help retail shops, restaurants and other small businesses take advantage of the growth in international tourism by simplifying the process of accepting foreign currency.”

Oervind is the first system to offer point-of-sale calculations on the web. That means a merchant can go to the website, put in data about the price of an item and the amount of foreign currency offered and get back information needed to complete the transaction on the spot!

While many websites provide daily exchange rates, Oervind is unique because it allows the user to calculate the value of an individual item and the change due back.

Oervind’s calculations are tied to the daily exchange rates posted by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C.

“By simplifying the process of accepting foreign currency, Oervind will make it easier for businesses to get foreign visitors to spend their cash,” Boniface said. “Oervind will allow retailers and other small businesses to target the ‘sock money’ all travelers carry for unexpected expenses.”

Anyone can sign up and use Oervind free for thirty days. After that trial period, the company will charge $20 for a one-year membership.

The company hopes that what sets Oervind apart – its complete system for an individual transaction – will resonate with businesses reluctant to accept foreign money because they are not sure of the current exchange rate, the exact value of the foreign money tendered or the record-keeping requirements. Oervind takes care of those issues, telling the merchant how much change he should give back, storing a copy of the transaction and providing a printable receipt for both the merchant and the customer.

"In spite of the current economic slowdown, foreign travel has not been significantly impeded," Boniface said. "Recent World Tourist Organization figures revealed more than 850 million tourists visited a foreign country in the past year. Even if they only spent $200 each, that's a $170 billion market that retailers and those in the hospitality industry should target.”

While the number of currencies used around the world is shrinking as countries consolidate their currencies, Oervind founders believe that the system could one day become a part of individual transactions around the world. And Boniface believes that accepting cash from foreign customers will soon become commonplace for even small businesses.

"With our global economy, nearly every business needs to think in terms of international customers because foreign travelers are making purchases and using services all over the world,” Boniface said. "With the technology at our disposal, we should not be using the same money-changing techniques today that were used in the temples before Christianity." Boniface concluded.

For information, email info@oervind.com