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Founderspack Euro vs Dollar price = 24-25% difference?
johimja
Member Posts: 8 Arc User
I live in Norway, and no EU tax should be applied to my purchases. Why is the EURO price almost 25% more expensive than the DOLLAR price?
I was about to purchase the 199$ founders pack when I noticed the conversion on paypal.
1160NOK = 200 USD
1445NOK = 190 EUR
Could I at least get an option to choose if I want to pay in dollar or euro?
I was about to purchase the 199$ founders pack when I noticed the conversion on paypal.
1160NOK = 200 USD
1445NOK = 190 EUR
Could I at least get an option to choose if I want to pay in dollar or euro?
Post edited by johimja on
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ETA: Is this place seriously editing my posts because I used a currency symbol?!?!?!
Yet I see this complaint in almost every MMO I play.
That's a pretty weak argument unless you play every single MMO.
Another weak statement is saying that no other MMO does this and it is only Cryptic/PWE who does
Actually that's true. Perhaps I should have said that the other MMOs I have played don't have this surcharge.
Nonetheless the fact remains that Cryptic are putting a Euro based VAT surcharge on people in countries that do not use the Euro, and are not covered by the legal directives that Cryptic claim have forced them to do this.
EDIT NOTE - I changed this post after realizing that Pboar had a good point but before seeing his subsequent post.
So because some do it means that this is such a revelation? Other have done it before this game was made so maybe its not the publishers who are making this wild raise in prices.
The high euro number doesnt look good for marketing
Don't think that works. If you buy zen on the PWE page, you then have to assign it to a game. At which point you can't get it back out.
When I bought zen for Star Trek on Steam, the zen was automatically assigned to STO.
(Wish you could transfer zen between games - I'm able to farm quite a bit of it in STO. Which is exactly why they don't let you do this.....
Whether some other MMOs do or do not is irrelevant as PWEs argument that they are legally forced to do this because is WRONG.
The tax directives that PWE claim are forcing them to do this apply only to countries that use the EURO and the UK does not. So it is not covered by the aforementioned directives and hence there is no valid reason for the EURO based additional surcharge.
(Slight technicality: we do have VAT which is similar but it is at a considerably lower rate than the EURO surcharge.)
VAT + Exchange rate fluctuation = End of Argument
WRONG.
Paypal shows the Euro conversion amount before transferring into pounds.
And that has already has EURO VAT surcharge.
Looks like you have been forced to concede the point that PWE aren't legally forced to do this and are now desperately trying to (wrongly) blame currency fluctuations. Want to try again?
Any links to proof that this does happen this way? Would actually like to read up on this as it is interesting to me.
I have played most. It's just an observation that it's a common complaint in many MMO's from European players, don't get your panties in a bunch.
I was under the impression the UK VAT rate was around 20%?
We have issues with international companies (mainly American) charging more for Australian customers for the same online services (itunes, steam), Adobe being the most prevalent (it's cheaper to fly from Australia to the US and back to buy CS6 than it is to buy the same product in Australia). So I can understand your pain.
It is a flat 20% as of June (July?) of 2011, but it does vary for other goods/services.
Let me get this straight -after automatically supporting PWE you are now admitting that you haven't actually read any of the previous threads complaining about this? Wow.
That having been said at least you did admit you weren't aware of the discussion about it. The threads I remember seeing were about the price of the Founder packs and had links to PWEs official response blaming new laws concerning the EURO VAT rate. Should be easy enough to find I guess.
I think one has to be careful with talking about European countries, which is to be fair at the heart of the issue. There are countries in Europe which use the Euro as their main currency (for which the regulations would apply), and there are other countries in Europe which don't u where the directive won't. (Even this is actually simplified, but in any case the relevant EU directive definitely does not include the UK.)
However, simply the fact that some MMO don't do this for UK customers should strongly suggest that there isn't actually a legal requirement to do so. The original thread by PWE about this had a huge number of replies pointing out that this regulation did not cover the UK and some other European countries that don't have the EURO.
However since charging this way ends up being more profitable for PWE there isn't any financial incentive for them to change their system. Now the cost of the considerable loss of good-will on the other hand.....
So I have taken time to finally read up on the different countries VATs and other such taxes and the one question that comes to mind is on the Paypal who did it say was being paid to. And as for Official responses to this I found;
"To make complaints, discuss the specifics or dispute the pricing and VAT, please contact Support or email customerservice@perfectworld.com - The forums are not the place to provide support and discussions about the legal issues and taxes of other Countries, Regions, or the European Trade Union or the EFTA. Furthermore, having such posts which no one but either the parent company themselves or your Government Officials could answer only opens the door for drama and all else that has been seen in this post. Please use the proper means to discuss such as this is not in the hands of Forum Staff, Forum Users, and is most likely something not even under the control of PWE/Cryptic themselves.
Furthermore, trying to skirt around one's Country's Tax Laws is not a legal practice and therefore is not a topic for discussion.
Zebular, PWE Community Moderator"
So why is this even a forum topic? Its not like the European *****ing will change anything?
You seem to have totally missed the point - this is in no way the EU's fault.
PWE is quoting regulations that SPECIFICALLY only apply to those countries that use the EURO, and the UK does not. (In fact the UK has never had and is unlikely ever to allow its tax rates or other financial regulations to decided by the EU, due to the importance of the UK Financial Services sector.)
Basically this would be analogous to another country charging US customers more because of some regulations that Canada had passed.
Rather than bothering to differentiate between European countries that fall under these regulations and those that don't, PWE simply decided to charge anyone with a European IP the extra surcharge implemented which is only applicable on EURO denominated countries, all based on laws that DO NOT APPLY in the UK and some other European countries.
In fact PWE have never said nor will they ever say that this law applies to the UK as that would be provably wrong. They are always very careful to side-step as the quote shows. (Note that what they are doing right now is both easier and more profitable for them).
In summary:
PWE quotes laws that apply in some European countries.
PWE adds a X% surcharge to ALL European countries.
Customers who live in countries where these laws do not apply get annoyed at being charged extra based on a law that does not apply to them.
Hence the reason why this topic keeps coming up, because PWE are adding a surchargefpr certain customers based on laws that do not apply to them. Not sure that there is any more to add - read the relevant threads if you like.
Source for taxes:
http://www.dutycalculator.com/dc/85220-import-duty-rate-for-video-games-is-3.5/
OP, the tax added for Norway is 25%.
The tax and conversion rate are in the price, because whoever is providing access to the service has to make a check out to that government at the end of the day.
Open Beta is launch. There are no more character wipes.
Here is list of questions/answers called Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
http://nw.perfectworld.com/about/faq
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?18401-Neverwinter-Extended-FAQ
If not sure if a thread is posted, try the SEARCH function below:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/search.php
Isn't the VAT rate 25% in Norway?
Yes it is.
Um, again you miss the point.
Nowhere did I say that Paypal PUTS Euro VAT in place of a specific countries VAT. I said it takes a figure given by PWE that already has EURO VAT surcharge added.
Hence the issue, as if you from a European country that doesn't use the Euro this surcharge shouldn't apply but is added anyway.
PWE doesnt issue any taxes on the game, the taxes come per country. Really how hard is that to figure out?