Bid/Offer spreads on FX transactions

Just wondering how others feel about the practice of bid/offer spreads used by the banks. I recently purchased a relatively expensive item using a BofI visa card and saw an fx rate on my statement of 0.7965 compared to the central bank average rate for the day of 0.8093.

I understand that I was charged the bid rate, but my question is the lack of clarity involved. The banks already apply an FX charge and I think some customers are not aware of the additional charge incurred through the bid/offer spread.

Given that an ever increasing number of people are going on foreign holidays/buying over the internet, should banks not use the mid-rate and then impose a % fx charge that makes the full cost of the transaction visible to the customer?

I doubt they would do that. You rarely get the mid market rate from the bank.

The spread is normally applied by visa card not the bank. Most overseas shoppers talk of a weak dollar and splash out the credit card however the great rate they hear about isnt the one their card offers. The only consolation is that dollar and sterling are relatively weak