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Why make Canadian Subscribers Pay More?

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Why the fixed rate on canadian subscriptions. Why can't we just pay in USD? It is kind of annoying knowing that right now I have to pay more for my subscription than anyone else.

Right now this is one reason I don't think im going to re-sub.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    A little thing called exchange rates . Currently the CDN $ is running a 5 cent on the dollar difference . Which is better than the 25 cent difference of years past.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Vuk wrote: »
    A little thing called exchange rates . Currently the CDN $ is running a 5 cent on the dollar difference . Which is better than the 25 cent difference of years past.

    So it costs an extra 1.5 Loonies to buy STO in Canada?

    :cool:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    we in the UK get charged in USD but it's converted to UK sterling when the bank is charged before being converted back by the bank paying Cryptic to dollars so we end up paying $16.50 a month for it. Which is why, in the UK, if you must play it then the only sensible way is 60 day game cards on ebay which are cheaper per month than a subscription.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I get that its due to the exchange rate. What makes me mad is that they dont update the price based on the exchange rate. So right now (and for a few months now) we have been paying more than we should be.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Perhaps you should move.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    From someone who routinely works with foreign banks, there is no real way around this issue. You have to either set up bank drafts, which you can do through paypal, which STO accepts, or timecards. Bankdrafts give you the luxury of paying the current conversion rate to USD, and then paying cryptic directly in USD instead of three or four conversions where numbers get added.

    Be grateful, in the US, if I buy something from a UK site, I get charged .60 cents per dollar in international fees due to stupid US Credit law. So if our situations were reverses, it would be costing me 24 dollars a month, or for my life time: $398.40. This is why I like services like Click and Buy which avoid the exchanging of monies, and does not constitute an international transaction.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    NemoSD wrote:
    From someone who routinely works with foreign banks, there is no real way around this issue. You have to either set up bank drafts, which you can do through paypal, which STO accepts, or timecards. Bankdrafts give you the luxury of paying the current conversion rate to USD, and then paying cryptic directly in USD instead of three or four conversions where numbers get added.

    Be grateful, in the US, if I buy something from a UK site, I get charged .60 cents per dollar in international fees due to stupid US Credit law. So if our situations were reverses, it would be costing me 24 dollars a month, or for my life time: $398.40. This is why I like services like Click and Buy which avoid the exchanging of monies, and does not constitute an international transaction.


    Time card is easily the best option. You can buy them from ebay for 19.98 per 60 days which is less than a subscription fee even without the currency conversions added on.

    If it were converted at today's rate a time card costs me $14 a month.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I guess I just dont get why STO is the only MMO I have seen that does this. Every other MMO company charges in US dollars instead of making up their own conversion rate.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Cryptic isn't "making up" any exchange rates. They are actually charging in USD, and then posting the conversion directly rather than making you figure it out. They have no control over what the conversion is going to be, so you get hit with your own country's economic fluctuations.

    Don't blame Cryptic for something they have no control over.



    Also, they are not allowed to charge anything except USD, since they are a USA company. No other currency is valid here, so they have to get it exchanged.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Canadians used to be charged in USD (when CND was below USD. This is before launch, when people were getting life time subs) and we were being overcharged by about $30 for the lifetime sub, so they switched to CND for us.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    No they really arent charging in US. The prices listed when I go to subscribe have not changed since the game was first released and the exchange rate has changed quite a bit in that time.

    This was also a problem with lifetime subs as the price of them before launch was way too high for canadians. They adjusted the price to be more reasonable, but they still aren't at the correct conversion rate.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    It's the Shatner tax.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    As an example, right now a month sub for me is 16.49 as per cryptic.

    Our conversion rate right now is 0.97 = 1 USD

    At the current conversion rate a 14.99 sub should be 15.43

    Which mean they are taking an extra $1 per month from every Canadian Subscriber (currently).
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Canadians will continue to pay more until . . .

    they Execute "Terrance and Phillip" for currupting our children.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    /changed /10char
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Canadians need to bail out the American economy silly. Gosh....
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Not currently a subscriber to STO (was at launch).. but as a Canadian, I too would be aggravated by this.

    World of Warcraft charges me properly at just a bit over 15 dollars a month in Canadian dollars.. just a little more than what Americans pay... the conversion is basically correct.

    When I was a subscriber for City of Heroes (NC soft), I was also charged properly.. they did not create a false, artificial price for me just because I wasn't an American subscriber.

    I don't understand why cryptic can't do this either if at least 2 of it's competitor can.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Hathur wrote: »
    Not currently a subscriber to STO (was at launch).. but as a Canadian, I too would be aggravated by this.

    World of Warcraft charges me properly at just a bit over 15 dollars a month in Canadian dollars.. just a little more than what Americans pay... the conversion is basically correct.

    When I was a subscriber for City of Heroes (NC soft), I was also charged properly.. they did not create a false, artificial price for me just because I wasn't an American subscriber.

    I don't understand why cryptic can't do this either if at least 2 of it's competitor can.

    Sony also charges the correct amount for their MMO's, and as far as im concerned they are the devil!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Maybe, because people don't like Canadians.



    I have no idea, just wanted to put that out there.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    AtomicFB wrote:
    Maybe, because people don't like Canadians.



    I have no idea, just wanted to put that out there.

    Well nobody likes Americans either.. so shut it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    910burns wrote: »
    Canadians will continue to pay more until . . .

    they Execute "Terrance and Phillip" for currupting our children.

    This made my day. You sir are full of win. Thank you.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Hathur wrote: »
    Well nobody likes Americans either.. so shut it.

    Naw, I don't think so, about the shut it part.


    What do I care if no one likes us Americans.


    Besides I wasn't insulting Canadians, I happen to know a few and they are all good people. I was just putting that out there.

    (I really don't care if another country likes us or not, I live in Texas, we don't like other states either. ) :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Be glad you don't live in sweden.... for us the sub fees and C-Points get slapped with 25% in tax! >.<
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    so if they charged you 15.00/mo in CAN, then you would be paying less for the game than I as a US citizen which means you would be paying 14.55.

    Then.. maybe I could make my own thread of why Canadians subscriptions are less per month than mine!

    Peeps gave several options to avoid the conversion rate. I would recommend you research them and use them if you choose.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    TF-Omega wrote: »
    so if they charged you 15.00/mo in CAN, then you would be paying less for the game than I as a US citizen which means you would be paying 14.55.

    Then.. maybe I could make my own thread of why Canadians subscriptions are less per month than mine!

    Peeps gave several options to avoid the conversion rate. I would recommend you research them and use them if you choose.

    Not the point... point is that Cryptic's competitors (Blizzard, SOE, NCsoft) don't gouge their non-US subscribers like this.. they charge them properly, rather than using an artificial, unfair pricing scheme.

    There's NO reason Cryptic can't do it if other MMO studios can do it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I paid in US currency via pay pal for my lifetime sub.
    I live in Canada.
    Just sayin'
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    denare wrote: »
    I paid in US currency via pay pal for my lifetime sub.
    I live in Canada.
    Just sayin'

    That's a good idea.. though I can't seem to find an option to subscribe like that... perhaps it only worked for the lifetime offer?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I would pay in US currency in paypal if i could. This website doesnt give me the option to.
    TF-Omega wrote: »
    so if they charged you 15.00/mo in CAN, then you would be paying less for the game than I as a US citizen which means you would be paying 14.55.

    Then.. maybe I could make my own thread of why Canadians subscriptions are less per month than mine!

    Peeps gave several options to avoid the conversion rate. I would recommend you research them and use them if you choose.

    You missed the point. The point is I should be paying 15.43 with conversion which is 14.99 USD. Not the 16.49 they want me to pay
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Because Canadians are fun to watch complain about it.

    Also it has something to do with exchange rates and all that non-sense, but the real truth is the one above.
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