Euro/Dollar Parity?

[spannbeton]

Imho the price of Utopia is more than justified. However I'm quite astonished by the fact that a Swedish Publisher is so openly favoring american customers over their european counterparts.

Is there at least a way to pay in Dollars as a European?

 

[jalapen0]

VAT

 

[spannbeton]

If that is included it is a fair deal. But it is easy to circumvent.

 

[jalapen0]

But it is easy to circumvent.

Go for it, especially if you pay income tax too.

 

[spannbeton]

It is just that states still havent figured out that we are in the digital age. Antique beurocracies...
Over here you are still required to have an "adress".

 

[monsterfurby]

As far as I am aware, Steam actually enforces (well, more "strongly recommends") an official price conversion scheme to a degree (aside from regional pricing for secondary markets like Russia and discount promotions) and releases official tables of pricing tiers to publishers. Basically, they tend to treat €/$ as 1:1 most of the time.

 

[stumason]

It looks as if us Brits might get a better deal than everyone - PC Gamer thinks it will be £14.99, while the Pound Sterling is quite low atm

 

[Drinko]

20 U.S. dollars = 18.8884167~ 19 Euros

Not a disaster in my option

 

[spannbeton]

It looks as if us Brits might get a better deal than everyone - PC Gamer thinks it will be £14.99, while the Pound Sterling is quite low atm

The brits and their special treatments. As a german I can only hope the Eu will be very harsh on them when brexit comes.

 

[spannbeton]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_the_European_Union
Fun Fact, Italy pays more to the Eu than Britain.

 

[GloatingSwine]

If that is included it is a fair deal. But it is easy to circumvent.

More to the point, in Europe prices are quoted with VAT included, and in the US prices are quoted without sales tax because that varies by state.

The price things are advertised at is not the price US purchasers pay.

 

[Kat Tsun]

It is just that states still havent figured out that we are in the digital age. Antique beurocracies...
Over here you are still required to have an "adress".

VAT is a digital age revolution.

The reason US Steam doesn't add tax is because:

1) The United States has no national sales tax. Adding taxes to sticker prices is something that only happens in small businesses and proprietorships in the United States.
2) Some American states do not have sales tax for online purchases. The major reason for this is because these states charge sales tax based on physicality of location rather than point-of-sale. If a business sells goods online but has no physical presence in that state, they generally aren't required to collect taxes. It's changing slowly, some states have amended their laws to require people who sell so many dollars worth of goods in their state to charge taxes if they're based in another state. The problem here is that it's probably difficult for sole proprietorships to collect taxes for Missouri if you live in New York state or California, which are halfway across the country.

The price things are advertised at is not the price US purchasers pay.

Utterly false. I will pay $19.99 for Utopia, assuming no major tax law changes enter force in the next couple of weeks.

 

[spannbeton]

Great. Americans dont even have to pay taxes.
Makes me a bit angry, but then I only need to remember that there actually is a legal way to not pay taxes at all as a german citizen.

 

[Arkangilos]

Utterly false.

Not utterly false. Some states do enforce a sales tax on online goods like this. Also, other states (like mine) have taxes we are supposed to pay (but often don't) called a "use tax". This includes any online purchases, no matter where you get it from. The thing is that until recently it was "report it yourself." Now they are making deals with companies to enforce it automatically (like Amazon). So I can buy something online from out of state and still pay a state sales tax.

I want to say Texas has to pay taxes for online goods like games, but I could be wrong about that.

 

[Arkangilos]

Great. Americans dont even have to pay taxes.
Makes me a bit angry, but then I only need to remember that there actually is a legal way to not pay taxes at all as a german citizen.

We pay taxes, don't let others fool you. We just don't have a national sales tax. We have Nationals Income Tax, state income tax (for most states), and state sales taxes.

 

[The Founder]

The price things are advertised at is not the price US purchasers pay.

If you got variable taxrates you usually do price calcualtion for the highest, then adapt your win margin accordingly where you sell it.

Example:
In Germany a McDonalds worker asks if you are eating there or taking it with you.
Reason: Some services and goods have lower Sales Tax. 7% rather then 19%. And where you eat your McDonalds/Burgerking/etc. Meal defines wich version of the Tax they have to pay for selling it!
They either calculate for 19% (the rest is income), the other (, or for a statical average of either case (they got enough data to figure that out).

Doing something similar via electronically controled transactions (Steam Walet and PayPal) is childs play.

 

[Daddl]

Dollar price is without tax because there is no sales tax for online purchases in the US, at least in most states (Or is it that you have to pay sales tax only if you live in the same state as the company you buy through? So if you buy through Steam you only have to pay sales tax if you happen to live in Washington? Or is that a myth? Its not easy).

Euro price is with sales tax, for example 19% in Germany. That means its effectively cheaper here. Some countries actually "introduce" sales tax for games/digital products this year (Switzerland, South Korea, New Zealand, India, some others) because they didn't collect it until now which might raise prices in these countries.

I would happily engage in a discussion about tax systems and tax "optimization", but I fear that is beyond the scope of this thread.

 

[Kat Tsun]

Great. Americans dont even have to pay taxes.
Makes me a bit angry, but then I only need to remember that there actually is a legal way to not pay taxes at all as a german citizen.

"Some". As in "a quantity less than the sum".

Not utterly false. Some states do enforce a sales tax on online goods like this.

If even Rhode Island lacked a sales tax on online goods, it would still be wrong. The correct answer is closer to "it varies based on state tax laws", but I think for about half of Americans it's "nothing" and for the other half it's "state sales tax".

Now they are making deals with companies to enforce it automatically (like Amazon). So I can buy something online from out of state and still pay a state sales tax.

It's generally between physical presence or monetary quantity of goods sold.

 

[spannbeton]

This discussion makes me wish to ablolish nationstates alltogether and finally form the United Federation of Planets...

 

[Arkangilos]

If even Rhode Island lacked a sales tax on online goods, it would still be wrong. The correct answer is closer to "it varies based on state tax laws", but I think for about half of Americans it's "nothing" and for the other half it's "state sales tax".

Well yeah, I wasn't saying you were wrong, I was saying it's not "utterly" wrong. I have to pay more for it because my state has a "use" tax where I'm charged sales tax for any purchase that doesn't have a sales tax already on it. So even though it doesn't actually have a presence in OK, I pay sales taxes on it.

It's generally between physical presence or monetary quantity of goods sold.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this, but like I said, I'm supposed to pay taxes on almost ALL purchases.