Automatically Switch Website Currency Based on Visitor Location in Odoo (On-Premise Only)

If you're running an international eCommerce store with Odoo, displaying prices in your customers' local currency can significantly improve their shopping experience. Customers are more likely to trust and purchase from a website that immediately shows prices in a familiar currency.

Odoo provides excellent support for multiple currencies and website pricelists, but it does not automatically switch the website currency based on a visitor's location.

Fortunately, Odoo On-Premise includes built-in GeoIP support, allowing you to determine a visitor's country from their IP address. By combining this with a simple custom module, you can automatically assign the appropriate website pricelist and display prices in the customer's local currency.

Important: This guide applies only to Odoo On-Premise installations (Community and Enterprise). It does not apply to Odoo Online or Odoo.sh, as those platforms handle infrastructure differently and do not allow direct server-level GeoIP configuration.

By following this guide, you'll be able to:

• Configure GeoIP on an Odoo On-Premise server.

• Enable multiple currencies in Odoo.

• Create website pricelists for different currencies.

• Automatically assign a website pricelist based on the visitor's country.

• Allow customers to manually change their preferred currency.

• Provide a better shopping experience for international customers.

Before implementing this solution, ensure you have:

• Odoo Community or Enterprise On-Premise

• Website module installed

• Website Sale module installed

• Accounting module

• Multi-Currency enabled

• GeoIP configured and working

• A custom module to assign website pricelists automatically

Odoo already includes built-in GeoIP support for On-Premise installations.

Before developing any custom functionality, configure GeoIP by following Odoo's official documentation.

The documentation explains how to:

• Download the GeoLite2 database.

• Install the GeoIP database on your server.

• Configure Odoo to use the database.

• Test whether visitor location detection is working correctly.

Once GeoIP has been configured successfully, Odoo can determine the visitor's country automatically whenever they access your website.

Reference: Odoo Official GeoIP Documentation

https://www.odoo.com/documentation/master/administration/on_premise/geo_ip.html

Before implementing automatic currency selection, verify that GeoIP is working correctly.

Some important checks include:

• GeoIP database is installed.

• Odoo can access the database.

• Visitor country is detected correctly.

• Reverse proxy configuration is correct (if using Nginx or Apache).

• proxy_mode is enabled if required.Remember that testing from:

localhost
127.0.0.1

will not return an actual visitor location.

Use a public IP or VPN for testing.

Navigate to:

Accounting
→ Configuration
→ Settings

Enable:

Save the settings.

Navigate to:

Accounting
→ Configuration
→ Currencies

Activate every currency your business supports.

For example:

• USD

• EUR

• GBP

• INR

• AED

• CAD

• AUD

• SGD

Keep exchange rates updated regularly to ensure accurate pricing.

Navigate to:

Website
→ Products
→ Pricelists

Create one pricelist for each currency.

Example:

Configure pricing rules according to your business requirements.

Create a mapping between visitor countries and website pricelists.

Example:

Since multiple countries may share the same currency, they can use the same pricelist.

Now create a small custom module that automatically selects the correct website pricelist.

The module should:

1. Read the visitor's country using Odoo's built-in GeoIP information.
2. Identify the corresponding website pricelist.
3. Assign that pricelist to the current website session.
4. Display product prices in the associated currency.

Since Odoo already detects the visitor's country, the customisation remains lightweight and easy to maintain.

A customer may manually choose a different currency using the website currency selector.

Your customisation should never override the customer's manual selection.

The recommended flow is:

Visitor Opens Website
        │
        ▼
Has Customer Already Selected a Currency?
        │
  Yes ─────────► Keep Selected Pricelist
        │
       No
        ▼
Detect Country Using Odoo GeoIP
        │
        ▼
Assign Default Pricelist

This provides the best user experience while still offering automatic localisation.

To ensure good performance and usability:

• Detect the visitor's country only once per session.

• Store the selected pricelist in the user's session.

• Never override a manually selected currency.

• Keep exchange rates up to date.

• Use one pricelist per currency unless different pricing strategies are required.

• Test from multiple countries using a VPN or public IP addresses.

• Enable proxy_mode when Odoo is behind a reverse proxy.

• Verify that GeoIP detection works before implementing the custom module.

GeoIP Always Returns Empty

Possible reasons include:

• GeoLite database is missing.

• GeoLite database permissions are incorrect.

• Testing using localhost.

• Reverse proxy configuration is incorrect.

• proxy_mode is disabled.

• Odoo cannot access the GeoIP database.

Always verify your GeoIP installation before troubleshooting the custom module.

This usually happens when:

• Your reverse proxy forwards its own IP instead of the client's IP.

• VPN or proxy services are being used.

• GeoLite database is outdated.

Check that:

• Multi-Currency is enabled.

• Website pricelists exist.

• Pricelists are available for the current website.

• Country mapping is configured correctly.

• Your custom module assigns the correct website pricelist.

Implementing automatic currency selection offers several advantages:

• Improved user experience

• Increased customer trust

• Higher conversion rates

• Reduced manual currency switching

• Better international shopping experience

• More professional global storefront

This solution works for both:

The GeoIP configuration described in this guide is available only for On-Premise deployments.

Odoo already provides the foundation for geographical location detection through its built-in GeoIP support for On-Premise installations. By combining GeoIP with Website Pricelists and a lightweight custom module, you can automatically display product prices in the visitor's local currency without relying on external IP lookup services.

This approach creates a more personalised shopping experience, reduces friction for international customers, and helps improve conversion rates. Since the implementation leverages Odoo's native capabilities, it is reliable, scalable, and easy to maintain for both Odoo Community and Enterprise On-Premise deployments.

This implementation relies on Odoo's built-in GeoIP functionality. Before implementing automatic currency selection, ensure that GeoIP is correctly configured by following the official documentation.

Odoo Official Documentation – GeoIP (On-Premise)

https://www.odoo.com/documentation/master/administration/on_premise/geo_ip.html