Considering buying EoD, why doesn't Anet adjust for currency value in Euro €?

[NerevarineNinja.1643]

Hey Everyone!  Happy Holidays, hope you're all having a wonderful wintersday!

 

I want to buy EoD,  but I noticed some pricing discrepancy. 

I have been in Europe for some time now and will likely not be back in the US any time soon, and unfortunately the actual value of what I'm purchasing seems to be different here.

 

So I have one simple question, for the devs really: Why do you not adjust for currency value between USD and Euro?  Why financially discriminate against customers in Europe?

 

I'm considering buying EoD Ultimate edition.  I was gonna get it for myself for a Christmas present :)

 

I logged on to do so, and realized it costs the same in Euros and in USD! :( 

Not the same value, just the same numerical digits.

 

$79.99 ≠ €79.99 (just a friendly fyi, ahem, Anet.. they might LOOK the same numerically, but you're gonna wanna check the market currency exchange rate and update your math, it fluctuates.)

 

To make matters worse, they actually advertise $79.99 to me... then when I go to actually buy it they try to charge €79.99!  So that's not just ripping off people in Europe, that's lying and false advertising!

 

Now I do realize it's not much money, and you may think I'm making too big a deal, or that i'm rich or whatever since I'm wanting to buy the ultimate edition.

But I'm not rich, and while I want to support Anet for making a truly amazing game that I love and continue to enjoy... I just can't stand for this.

 

I mean... what would happen if I try to buy it with Pesos or Rupees...

 

I was curious, I thought it was ridiculous they were charging me and extra $10 in value just because I am in Europe... They wouldn't do that for most other currencies, because if they did they did the ultimate edition of EoD would be valued at about $1.00 in India (approx $79.99 converted to rupees).  That thought was slightly entertaining, but Obviously they would never do that.  My question is what makes it OK to do it the other way around, and not adjust fairly in a currency that's almost always valued higher than USD$?  

 

SO, I VPN'ed myself to India, and checked the price, lo and behold: $79.99, with the exchange rate decided by your card/bank.

Same with every other country I have checked outside of Europe, like Mexico, or Brazil.

(I tried to purchase with a VPN active, but I got error 106 when I tried to enter my card.  I don't actually know if that has anything to do with the fact that I was using a VPN, hopefully just an unrelated error that will sort itself out in time.  I will try again.  Hopefully it will work eventually.  On moral principle, I am not OK with Anet ripping off people in Europe or discriminating in any way.  I would like to pay the fair and advertised price, and I would like for everyone to be able to do so.)

 

So my line of questioning continues: wtf?   It may not seem like a big deal to some people, or obviously to Anet, but the more I think about this the more crazy it seems.

Why charge $79.99 everywhere in the world but Europe, and yet charge €79.99 in Europe?  

I wonder if it would stay that way if the Euro dropped below the dollar?

Why not just charge $79.99 in Europe too?

 

If i'm understanding the bigger picture I'm seeing correctly... it's currently about $10 in value more expensive to purchase EoD ultimate edition in Europe vs everywhere else.

The Euro has recently been dropping in value recently, so buying in Euro's is less of a rip off now than it has been.

So anyone who bought gems or EoD when the Euro was high got even more screwed!

 

Why have the system like this?!

 

I bought this up in Lions Arch in game, and people didn't seem aware of this fact.  Gems are literally more expensive in Europe.  Currently "scaled 13% for all your purchases" more expensive, as a helpful fellow pointed out to me in game chat.

 

So I thought people should be aware of it.  I am wondering what everyone else thinks.

 

Am I missing something?  I obviously have not yet gone through with the purchase, so I hope it works out... but for the moment I find myself very disappointed in Anet and confused as to why they would do this?  Considering most people remain ignorant of the fact that people in Europe are paying 13% more for Guild Wars 2 purchases than the rest of the world... I don't really know what to make of it.  At the very least they could at least advertise the price correctly and let people know what value they're spending/getting in comparison... At the very best they could simply sell in USD and let the exchange rate adjust for the value fairly in Europe.  Like they do for the rest of the world.  What's different about Europe, am I missing something as far as convenience or buying power?

 

I am no expert economist or anything, but this seems unfair and dishonest.

[NerevarineNinja.1643]

*update*

 

So I tried again.  Turns out I can't even seem to log in to the GW2 website while a VPN is active.  I can browse while not logged in, but as soon as I try to check out it just says "log in to continue".

 

If I don't use a VPN it works fine, but the advertised price is originally $79.99, and then changes to €79.99 (over $90) when I check out.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Do those who use Euros have tax added, or is it included in the price?  Because most places in the US add tax. 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Inculpatus cedo.9234
grammar

[anninke.7469]

EU price is already with the tax.

[NerevarineNinja.1643]

Alaska does not add sales tax to purchases, online or otherwise.

Seems like I should just go home already...

 

I think they should consider being more clear about that, instead of advertising one price in USD and then charging another in Euro.

Edited December 27, 2021 by NerevarineNinja.1643

[Gibson.4036]

I can’t speak to why, but I’ve seen this same practice in other MMOs over the years. GW2 isn’t an outlier.

[Ashantara.8731]

11 hours ago, anninke.7469 said:

EU price is already with the tax.

Yes, but the taxes are not high enough to warrant a 1:1 conversion.

The companies are still making extra money by milking the foreign currency markets.

12 hours ago, NerevarineNinja.1643 said:

So I have one simple question, for the devs really: Why do you not adjust for currency value between USD and Euro?  Why financially discriminate against customers in Europe?

For the same reason Steam and all other game companies do it: greed  it is simpler and doesn't cause you a headache to convert to foreign currencies, and the extra money is nice, too. 😉

[NerevarineNinja.1643]

1 hour ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

Yes, but the taxes are not high enough to warrant a 1:1 conversion.

The companies are still making extra money by milking the foreign currency markets.

For the same reason Steam and all other game companies do it: greed  it is simpler and doesn't cause you a headache to convert to foreign currencies, and the extra money is nice, too. 😉

Thanks for your honesty!

That makes sense, it's what my intuition was telling me.

 

No chance the devs will ever acknowledge this then I suppose 😒😕

[Dawdler.8521]

3 hours ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

Yes, but the taxes are not high enough to warrant a 1:1 conversion.

The companies are still making extra money by milking the foreign currency markets.

For the same reason Steam and all other game companies do it: greed  it is simpler and doesn't cause you a headache to convert to foreign currencies, and the extra money is nice, too. 😉

We pay 25% in taxes. I believe that is even more than a 1:1 conversion.

[Leo.3428]

@NerevarineNinja.1643 - I would ask customer support if there is a way to retain your original US location during the purchase, provided that you use a US bank account. Not sure they can help, the security system kicks in like crazy but it may be worth a try.

[Healix.5819]

€ expects the displayed price to include tax, so the price includes a 20% tax. $ doesn't include the tax and has a variable amount added at the end depending on location. At the current exchange rate, it should actually be €84.72.

IPs that have been used to attack the game are blocked from accessing account management, so if you wanted to use a VPN, you'd need to either find a rarely used one or host your own.

[Linken.6345]

On 12/27/2021 at 9:08 AM, anninke.7469 said:

EU price is already with the tax.

It is even worse all countries in Europe get tax added no matter if they have it or not,

Norway dont have tax on steam but we do on gw2 since they treat everyone like they lived in great brittan were their purchases is handled.

[Bakeneko.5826]

8 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

It is even worse all countries in Europe get tax added no matter if they have it or not,

Norway dont have tax on steam but we do on gw2 since they treat everyone like they lived in great brittan were their purchases is handled.

EU goes through Ireland

[Dawdler.8521]

2 hours ago, Bakeneko.5826 said:

EU goes through Ireland

And further on top of that, I dont believe Norway is part of the EU customs union so I'm guessing that has something to do with it.

[Pifil.5193]

14 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

It is even worse all countries in Europe get tax added no matter if they have it or not,

Norway dont have tax on steam but we do on gw2 since they treat everyone like they lived in great brittan were their purchases is handled.

Norway does have tax on Steam (MVA/VAT at 25%) which is included in the price.

You can see the tax rates for various countries here:

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/finance/taxfaq#CurrentRates

Edited December 29, 2021 by Pifil.5193
Missing word

[Ashantara.8731]

On 12/27/2021 at 9:45 PM, NerevarineNinja.1643 said:

No chance the devs will ever acknowledge this then I suppose 😒😕

I am not sure the devs have any say in this. Isn't everything financial handled by the publisher (in this case NCsoft)?

16 hours ago, Dawdler.8521 said:

And further on top of that, I dont believe Norway is part of the EU customs union so I'm guessing that has something to do with it.

If that was the case, there would have been different prices within Europe and not the 1:1 conversion for all countries that we are seeing everywhere in games and on gaming platforms.

I also remember South Americans complaining about the horrendous prices in gaming that many just cannot afford (in relation to their regular salary).

Let's just face it: a uniformed price tag just isn't fair nor correct (in terms of conversion rates and taxes).

Edited December 30, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[Linken.6345]

17 hours ago, Pifil.5193 said:

Norway does have tax on Steam (MVA/VAT at 25%) which is included in the price.

You can see the tax rates for various countries here:

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/finance/taxfaq#CurrentRates

That is strange since I buy games cheaper then when I lived in sweden.

And the only thing I could think of was the vat tax but according to that site it is the same as swedens.

[Bakeneko.5826]

On 12/30/2021 at 3:42 AM, Ashantara.8731 said:

I am not sure the devs have any say in this. Isn't everything financial handled by the publisher (in this case NCsoft)?

If that was the case, there would have been different prices within Europe and not the 1:1 conversion for all countries that we are seeing everywhere in games and on gaming platforms.

I also remember South Americans complaining about the horrendous prices in gaming that many just cannot afford (in relation to their regular salary).

Let's just face it: a uniformed price tag just isn't fair nor correct (in terms of conversion rates and taxes).

I mean difference would be 6 or 7 EUR, it's not that much

[mythical.6315]

If you were in a similar situation as them, would you do what you’re requesting of them (i.e. pay the tax for every purchase out of your company’s pockets)?  Most likely not. 

[Ashantara.8731]

48 minutes ago, Bakeneko.5826 said:

I mean difference would be 6 or 7 EUR, it's not that much

"7 EUR are not that much" - great attitude towards hard earned money. 😂

[NerevarineNinja.1643]

51 minutes ago, mythical.6315 said:

If you were in a similar situation as them, would you do what you’re requesting of them (i.e. pay the tax for every purchase out of your company’s pockets)?  Most likely not. 

Oh yes, most definitely.

 

If I had that much money I like to believe I would definitely do the morally correct thing and treat people fairly!

 

Then again, I'm not NC soft.

 

Maybe if I was I would already be corrupted

[NerevarineNinja.1643]

1 hour ago, Bakeneko.5826 said:

I mean difference would be 6 or 7 EUR, it's not that much

Haha, obviously NC soft disagrees with you or they would do it differently.

 

And I disagree with you. No offense of course 🙂

[NerevarineNinja.1643]

On 12/30/2021 at 1:42 AM, Ashantara.8731 said:

I am not sure the devs have any say in this. Isn't everything financial handled by the publisher (in this case NCsoft)?

If that was the case, there would have been different prices within Europe and not the 1:1 conversion for all countries that we are seeing everywhere in games and on gaming platforms.

I also remember South Americans complaining about the horrendous prices in gaming that many just cannot afford (in relation to their regular salary).

Let's just face it: a uniformed price tag just isn't fair nor correct (in terms of conversion rates and taxes).

I agree.

 

And i didn't mean that the devs could fix it.

 

I meant that they could acknowledge it, and acknowledge the public pressure on their publisher to treat people fairly and be mathematically correct in their transactions.

 

But that would perhaps put their funding at risk I suppose...

So i guess i understand why they don't..

 

That's how greed wins.

[Tukaram.8256]

They did not seem to do international pricing very well... 

I am in the Philippines, our upgrade is $79.99 USD.   Then they add sales tax, raising the price to $86.59 - tax, when I am not even in the US?!  The minimum wage here is $6 a day... good for me that I am retired. 😎

[mythical.6315]

1 hour ago, NerevarineNinja.1643 said:

Oh yes, most definitely.

 

If I had that much money I like to believe I would definitely do the morally correct thing and treat people fairly!

 

Then again, I'm not NC soft.

 

Maybe if I was I would already be corrupted

This issue is your government. If you don’t like having to pay that tax then take it up with them.  Don’t insult a company that doesn’t pay the tax for you. 

Edited December 31, 2021 by mythical.6315