I dont mind the price but we should all be paying the same amount regardless of country.
60 US dollars is 38 pounds not 50 pounds.
Why should I pay more ?
again that is US price before tax. 64.99 is what we will pay. $64.99 is rought 41 pounds. 41 pounds plus your vat of 20% is roughly 50 pounds.
If us had vat of 20$ it would coust us 64.99 + 20% which is roughly $79.99
79.99 is 50 pounds..... Thankfully U.S doesnt have to pay VAT
do the math as many times as you like. its not arena net or ncsoft thats making the price different.
I'm not 100% sure but I think not all countries in europe have taxes on software or even laws for purchase over internet abroad but they are yet charged like they do have it.
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life." -------------------------------
I think one of the advantages to buying direct is having access to all the closed betas up to launch. Not sure if you get the same feature purchasing retail. But if so, then definitely makes more sense to go retail.
Definitely in the boat of people who doesnt mind paying for the game but not having a sub. Honestly believe that would be a better model for TOR and even though I love TERA in the beta I played its becoming hard to justify a 15USD/month fee to play for the few days a month (weekends) I have for MMOs.
I will be pre-ordering GW2 April 10th. Even if I dislike the game I'll always be able to play it if they change. Win win for me.
Not really. It's the price of a console game in a typical UK store. New PC Games tend to cost around £35-40, but PC Games don't tend to be MMORPGs as feature rich as Guild Wars 2. Personal Story, Dynamic Events, Highly Replayable Dungeons, Hot-Join PvP, Tournament PvP, World vs World and more. All for £50
I know I just sounded like an ad, but I don't see how people can complain about all of what Guild Wars 2 will offer for the price of the full game. You aren't paying a deposit, like you do with subscription based games. You are buying the game.
I will see if they have all that when it launches.... then consider if the price is worth what is present at launch. I have seen too many promises pre-launch broken at launch.
To the OP,; did you expect them to give it away? You need to understand profit motive, its the only reason anything in human history has ever been done.
Anyways, 60 bucks with an expansion every six months to a year is still cheaper than 60 bucks plus 15 a month, stop whining.
I'm more shocked that you think it's shocking to see it retail for standard new game price...US that is. I can't comment on other currancies as I'm not familiar with their intracacies.
Where exactly is the 50GBP figure coming from? Because if it's coming from ArenaNet, VAT is not included. Foreign entities CANNOT collect taxes on behalf of another nation, at least not without a special trade agreement in place. The only way they can do that is if they are based in Great Britain and are selling it there locally, because that would make it a British company. If it's coming from the US, VAT will be applied at the point of entry into the country in the form of customs and duties + brokerage. That means you can take that 50GBP number, then add VAT to it when it comes into the country.
I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that American companies are expected to collect taxes on behalf of the British Crown. That would be a new one on me. Even with NAFTA in place, Canadian and American companies don't collect one another's taxes and we have the closest trade ties on the planet. All those fees are applied at the border when goods enter and they are IN ADDITION TO the price that the importer has already paid the seller for the goods.
For instance, I will be buying the game from the US for $60. But before I can take possession of it, I will have to pay an additional 7% GST on top of it, but not to ArenaNet. ANet gets $60. The extra 7% will be paid when I pick it up or when it arrives at my door. ANet will not be remitting taxes to the Canadian government for the box I bought from them. Neither will they be doing it for their British customers.
Unless the rules governing international trade have changed drastically over the last 10 years, 50GBP is the price before any taxes or trade fees. So the question is why is it more than10GBP higher than the price it should be after the exchange adjustment, knowing that VAT will be applied AFTER the sale happens?
In the UK, Australia and most other countries outside the US, it is a legal requirement that tax is included in the advertised price. It was a bit of a culture shock going to the US and finding out that tax wasnt included on advertised prices. Most other countries in the world do not do that. Considering that its a localised distribution, it will include the tax.
I won't dispute that because it's the first I've heard of it. However, the fact remains that those taxes are going to a foreign company as part of the initial box price, and that company has no obligation to remit them to the country to which they are owed. That's why foreign entities can't collect taxes for another country. They aren't obliged to remit anything to any government but their own.
Imagine owning a business where you sell widgets worldwide. Are you really going to collect and track the taxes you collected for all of those different countries, then remit them at the end of the year somehow? No. That's why taxes are applied at the border when those widgets enter a country. The agent at the border who brings them across (usually a brokering firm), would be responsible for applying all applicable duties, taxes, tarriffs, etc., collecting them and sending them along to their own government.
I understand that many nations have a lot of bizarre quirks when it comes to international trade, but I don't see how any nation would agree to have a foreign-based agent collect taxes for them since they would only be answerable to their own federal government. Perhaps the games are being sold by a local subsidiary of NCSoft and people are paying for something that's already crossed the border, or in the case of digital media, has at least been declared?
It's a bit off-topic, but I'd appreciate having the mechanics of that explained since I may be spoiled by NAFTA, where stuff like this rarely comes up.
60$ is normal price for MMOs pretty much. Now regional price is defined by several factors outside of US. IT's msotly negotiated between retailer/distributor and publisher. A 60$ game from one company may have completely different price than 60$ game from other company. For example Blizzard games always seem to be at highest possible price.
In Poland ME3 (60$ game) was sold for 129 PLN, while Diablo 3 (another 60$ game) is sold for 179 PLN. That's 16$ difference despite the original cost being same.
Pretty standard price for the basic box, and I'm not really intending to get the $150 version. Kinda tempted by the digital deluxe, just for the Mistfire Wolf animal companion skill. At any rate, the price is well worth it when you consider no sub fee.
there's 2 kinds of stupid repeated throughout this topic
the first is people who can't tell the diff between pounds and dollars...
the second is people who bring up the lack of sub fees, which has nothing to do with what the box costs.
to address something else, prices are deflated all over except where supply can't meet demand (obviously doesn't apply to digital items where there's no end to the supply), because of the piss poor economic situation all over the world. we aren't 'lucky' it's not higher. we are very very misfortunate to live in a world where most governments are broke, millions are starving, billions poor, and 90% of all capital controlled by 10% of the population.
But hey, thanks for the depressed game prices, makes everything else worth it....
Where exactly is the 50GBP figure coming from? Because if it's coming from ArenaNet, VAT is not included. Foreign entities CANNOT collect taxes on behalf of another nation, at least not without a special trade agreement in place. The only way they can do that is if they are based in Great Britain and are selling it there locally, because that would make it a British company. If it's coming from the US, VAT will be applied at the point of entry into the country in the form of customs and duties + brokerage. That means you can take that 50GBP number, then add VAT to it when it comes into the country.
I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that American companies are expected to collect taxes on behalf of the British Crown. That would be a new one on me. Even with NAFTA in place, Canadian and American companies don't collect one another's taxes and we have the closest trade ties on the planet. All those fees are applied at the border when goods enter and they are IN ADDITION TO the price that the importer has already paid the seller for the goods.
For instance, I will be buying the game from the US for $60. But before I can take possession of it, I will have to pay an additional 7% GST on top of it, but not to ArenaNet. ANet gets $60. The extra 7% will be paid when I pick it up or when it arrives at my door. ANet will not be remitting taxes to the Canadian government for the box I bought from them. Neither will they be doing it for their British customers.
Unless the rules governing international trade have changed drastically over the last 10 years, 50GBP is the price before any taxes or trade fees. So the question is why is it more than10GBP higher than the price it should be after the exchange adjustment, knowing that VAT will be applied AFTER the sale happens?
In the UK, Australia and most other countries outside the US, it is a legal requirement that tax is included in the advertised price. It was a bit of a culture shock going to the US and finding out that tax wasnt included on advertised prices. Most other countries in the world do not do that. Considering that its a localised distribution, it will include the tax.
I won't dispute that because it's the first I've heard of it. However, the fact remains that those taxes are going to a foreign company as part of the initial box price, and that company has no obligation to remit them to the country to which they are owed. That's why foreign entities can't collect taxes for another country. They aren't obliged to remit anything to any government but their own.
Imagine owning a business where you sell widgets worldwide. Are you really going to collect and track the taxes you collected for all of those different countries, then remit them at the end of the year somehow? No. That's why taxes are applied at the border when those widgets enter a country. The agent at the border who brings them across (usually a brokering firm), would be responsible for applying all applicable duties, taxes, tarriffs, etc., collecting them and sending them along to their own government.
I understand that many nations have a lot of bizarre quirks when it comes to international trade, but I don't see how any nation would agree to have a foreign-based agent collect taxes for them since they would only be answerable to their own federal government. Perhaps the games are being sold by a local subsidiary of NCSoft and people are paying for something that's already crossed the border, or in the case of digital media, has at least been declared?
It's a bit off-topic, but I'd appreciate having the mechanics of that explained since I may be spoiled by NAFTA, where stuff like this rarely comes up.
No im not, but im also gonna do my best to tell the customer what they have to pay to recieve my widget, if i sell it in the US there is a state tax, which is why i cant include tax in the price because its different in every state.
if the country doesnt have tax at the (state, providence, or whatever you call them) level and its a Country wide tax i can include that in the price so they get a reflection of what its gonna cost them
there's 2 kinds of stupid repeated throughout this topic
the second is people who bring up the lack of sub fees, which has nothing to do with what the box costs.
Doesn't it?
I mean I see your point but...let's jsut say, hypothetically, that an MMO developer built a AAA+ game and offered you one of the following options:
1) Standard box price, and then standard 15/month sub fee
2) Higher box price, entirely optional microtransacations, and never pay a sub fee.
I'll take door 2. I agree with you the price is a bit higher than we're used to seeing (damn near feel over at the cost of the deluxe and CE), but I still think it's a fair trade to get a game on par with ToR/WoW/Rift/etc but not cost me a thing after purchase unless I want it to. This game costs a boat ton of mponey, and no matter that NCSoft and Arenanet have told us, that has to come from somewhere.
Where exactly is the 50GBP figure coming from? Because if it's coming from ArenaNet, VAT is not included. Foreign entities CANNOT collect taxes on behalf of another nation, at least not without a special trade agreement in place. The only way they can do that is if they are based in Great Britain and are selling it there locally, because that would make it a British company. If it's coming from the US, VAT will be applied at the point of entry into the country in the form of customs and duties + brokerage. That means you can take that 50GBP number, then add VAT to it when it comes into the country.
I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that American companies are expected to collect taxes on behalf of the British Crown. That would be a new one on me. Even with NAFTA in place, Canadian and American companies don't collect one another's taxes and we have the closest trade ties on the planet. All those fees are applied at the border when goods enter and they are IN ADDITION TO the price that the importer has already paid the seller for the goods.
For instance, I will be buying the game from the US for $60. But before I can take possession of it, I will have to pay an additional 7% GST on top of it, but not to ArenaNet. ANet gets $60. The extra 7% will be paid when I pick it up or when it arrives at my door. ANet will not be remitting taxes to the Canadian government for the box I bought from them. Neither will they be doing it for their British customers.
Unless the rules governing international trade have changed drastically over the last 10 years, 50GBP is the price before any taxes or trade fees. So the question is why is it more than10GBP higher than the price it should be after the exchange adjustment, knowing that VAT will be applied AFTER the sale happens?
In the UK, Australia and most other countries outside the US, it is a legal requirement that tax is included in the advertised price. It was a bit of a culture shock going to the US and finding out that tax wasnt included on advertised prices. Most other countries in the world do not do that. Considering that its a localised distribution, it will include the tax.
I won't dispute that because it's the first I've heard of it. However, the fact remains that those taxes are going to a foreign company as part of the initial box price, and that company has no obligation to remit them to the country to which they are owed. That's why foreign entities can't collect taxes for another country. They aren't obliged to remit anything to any government but their own.
Imagine owning a business where you sell widgets worldwide. Are you really going to collect and track the taxes you collected for all of those different countries, then remit them at the end of the year somehow? No. That's why taxes are applied at the border when those widgets enter a country. The agent at the border who brings them across (usually a brokering firm), would be responsible for applying all applicable duties, taxes, tarriffs, etc., collecting them and sending them along to their own government.
I understand that many nations have a lot of bizarre quirks when it comes to international trade, but I don't see how any nation would agree to have a foreign-based agent collect taxes for them since they would only be answerable to their own federal government. Perhaps the games are being sold by a local subsidiary of NCSoft and people are paying for something that's already crossed the border, or in the case of digital media, has at least been declared?
It's a bit off-topic, but I'd appreciate having the mechanics of that explained since I may be spoiled by NAFTA, where stuff like this rarely comes up.
For digital distribution the company is responsible for paying the VAT, not the consumer. For individual purchases from the US for something like Ebay, where a physical item is delivered, it is up to the customer to pay on collection of the item. Lots of international companies like Amazon will include the VAT if you specify a UK delivery address.
GW2 regular edition is digital distrubution only for pre-purchase, the Collectors Edition is picked up from UK stores. Hence either way, they are responsible for including the VAT.
No im not, but im also gonna do my best to tell the customer what they have to pay to recieve my widget, if i sell it in the US there is a state tax, which is why i cant include tax in the price because its different in every state.
if the country doesnt have tax at the (state, providence, or whatever you call them) level and its a Country wide tax i can include that in the price so they get a reflection of what its gonna cost them
I hope you aren't invoicing them at that amount then, because you're declaring to foreign customs a value that's higher than than the actual worth of the product. The taxes and duties that are calculated on it at the border will be on the value plus taxes.
Sorry guys. I spent three years in the 90s brokering my own goods to and from the US, Britain and Germany and all of this sounds pretty bogus. I was never expected to know the local ins and outs of a foreign tax system and neither were my suppliers/clients ever expected to know mine. We invoiced on actual value and left the government markups to the customs officials. The only time we would go further than that is when a product qualified for special exemptions and we would have to explain it in the customs documentation (supplied in quintuplicate).
Granted, things may have changed over the last 20 years, but I just don't believe that British VAT is being rolled into the MSRP that ArenaNet is charging to British customers. That makes it a declared value. It means that VAT gets charged twice to the client, once from the seller at the point of sale and once from the Crown on taking possession, only the seller gets to keep their share because a US based business cannot collect taxes for a foreign government. Even if they are charging it as part of the price, they never have to remit it. If this isn't the case, let me know, because it would be the first I've ever heard about it.
No im not, but im also gonna do my best to tell the customer what they have to pay to recieve my widget, if i sell it in the US there is a state tax, which is why i cant include tax in the price because its different in every state.
if the country doesnt have tax at the (state, providence, or whatever you call them) level and its a Country wide tax i can include that in the price so they get a reflection of what its gonna cost them
I hope you aren't invoicing them at that amount then, because you're declaring to foreign customs a value that's higher than than the actual worth of the product. The taxes and duties that are calculated on it at the border will be on the value plus taxes.
Sorry guys. I spent three years in the 90s brokering my own goods to and from the US, Britain and Germany and all of this sounds pretty bogus. I was never expected to know the local ins and outs of a foreign tax system and neither were my suppliers/clients ever expected to know mine. We invoiced on actual value and left the government markups to the customs officials. The only time we would go further than that is when a product qualified for special exemptions and we would have to explain it in the customs documentation (supplied in quintuplicate).
Granted, things may have changed over the last 20 years, but I just don't believe that British VAT is being rolled into the MSRP that ArenaNet is charging to British customers. That makes it a declared value. It means that VAT gets charged twice to the client, once from the seller at the point of sale and once from the Crown on taking possession, only the seller gets to keep their share because a US based business cannot collect taxes for a foreign government. Even if they are charging it as part of the price, they never have to remit it. If this isn't the case, let me know, because it would be the first I've ever heard about it.
so what your saying is that there gonna charge you (50 pounds +20%) which is roughly 60 pounds translated to about 95 us dollars.
So your saying anet is charging you $95 for your standard edition
Edit i see someone explained it better then i could...
Where exactly is the 50GBP figure coming from? Because if it's coming from ArenaNet, VAT is not included. Foreign entities CANNOT collect taxes on behalf of another nation, at least not without a special trade agreement in place. The only way they can do that is if they are based in Great Britain and are selling it there locally, because that would make it a British company. If it's coming from the US, VAT will be applied at the point of entry into the country in the form of customs and duties + brokerage. That means you can take that 50GBP number, then add VAT to it when it comes into the country.
I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that American companies are expected to collect taxes on behalf of the British Crown. That would be a new one on me. Even with NAFTA in place, Canadian and American companies don't collect one another's taxes and we have the closest trade ties on the planet. All those fees are applied at the border when goods enter and they are IN ADDITION TO the price that the importer has already paid the seller for the goods.
For instance, I will be buying the game from the US for $60. But before I can take possession of it, I will have to pay an additional 7% GST on top of it, but not to ArenaNet. ANet gets $60. The extra 7% will be paid when I pick it up or when it arrives at my door. ANet will not be remitting taxes to the Canadian government for the box I bought from them. Neither will they be doing it for their British customers.
Unless the rules governing international trade have changed drastically over the last 10 years, 50GBP is the price before any taxes or trade fees. So the question is why is it more than10GBP higher than the price it should be after the exchange adjustment, knowing that VAT will be applied AFTER the sale happens?
In the UK, Australia and most other countries outside the US, it is a legal requirement that tax is included in the advertised price. It was a bit of a culture shock going to the US and finding out that tax wasnt included on advertised prices. Most other countries in the world do not do that. Considering that its a localised distribution, it will include the tax.
I won't dispute that because it's the first I've heard of it. However, the fact remains that those taxes are going to a foreign company as part of the initial box price, and that company has no obligation to remit them to the country to which they are owed. That's why foreign entities can't collect taxes for another country. They aren't obliged to remit anything to any government but their own.
Imagine owning a business where you sell widgets worldwide. Are you really going to collect and track the taxes you collected for all of those different countries, then remit them at the end of the year somehow? No. That's why taxes are applied at the border when those widgets enter a country. The agent at the border who brings them across (usually a brokering firm), would be responsible for applying all applicable duties, taxes, tarriffs, etc., collecting them and sending them along to their own government.
I understand that many nations have a lot of bizarre quirks when it comes to international trade, but I don't see how any nation would agree to have a foreign-based agent collect taxes for them since they would only be answerable to their own federal government. Perhaps the games are being sold by a local subsidiary of NCSoft and people are paying for something that's already crossed the border, or in the case of digital media, has at least been declared?
It's a bit off-topic, but I'd appreciate having the mechanics of that explained since I may be spoiled by NAFTA, where stuff like this rarely comes up.
For digital distribution the company is responsible for paying the VAT, not the consumer. For individual purchases from the US for something like Ebay, where a physical item is delivered, it is up to the customer to pay on collection of the item. Lots of international companies like Amazon will include the VAT if you specify a UK delivery address.
GW2 regular edition is digital distrubution only for pre-purchase, the Collectors Edition is picked up from UK stores. Hence either way, they are responsible for including the VAT.
Ah, of course. Thanks for that. I was too set on physical goods instead of intangible stuff like DDs. I grok it now -- to the point at least that I now know that I don't know how it works.
No im not, but im also gonna do my best to tell the customer what they have to pay to recieve my widget, if i sell it in the US there is a state tax, which is why i cant include tax in the price because its different in every state.
if the country doesnt have tax at the (state, providence, or whatever you call them) level and its a Country wide tax i can include that in the price so they get a reflection of what its gonna cost them
I hope you aren't invoicing them at that amount then, because you're declaring to foreign customs a value that's higher than than the actual worth of the product. The taxes and duties that are calculated on it at the border will be on the value plus taxes.
Sorry guys. I spent three years in the 90s brokering my own goods to and from the US, Britain and Germany and all of this sounds pretty bogus. I was never expected to know the local ins and outs of a foreign tax system and neither were my suppliers/clients ever expected to know mine. We invoiced on actual value and left the government markups to the customs officials. The only time we would go further than that is when a product qualified for special exemptions and we would have to explain it in the customs documentation (supplied in quintuplicate).
Granted, things may have changed over the last 20 years, but I just don't believe that British VAT is being rolled into the MSRP that ArenaNet is charging to British customers. That makes it a declared value. It means that VAT gets charged twice to the client, once from the seller at the point of sale and once from the Crown on taking possession, only the seller gets to keep their share because a US based business cannot collect taxes for a foreign government. Even if they are charging it as part of the price, they never have to remit it. If this isn't the case, let me know, because it would be the first I've ever heard about it.
so what your saying is that there gonna charge you (50 pounds +20%) which is roughly 60 pounds translated to about 95 us dollars.
So your saying anet is charging you $95 for your standard edition
Me? No, I pay what Americans pay since the Canadian dollar is pretty much at par these days. But all that I wrote only applies to physical goods being purchased from a foreign seller. As was pointed out, it doesn't apply to digital distributions.
No im not, but im also gonna do my best to tell the customer what they have to pay to recieve my widget, if i sell it in the US there is a state tax, which is why i cant include tax in the price because its different in every state.
if the country doesnt have tax at the (state, providence, or whatever you call them) level and its a Country wide tax i can include that in the price so they get a reflection of what its gonna cost them
I hope you aren't invoicing them at that amount then, because you're declaring to foreign customs a value that's higher than than the actual worth of the product. The taxes and duties that are calculated on it at the border will be on the value plus taxes.
Sorry guys. I spent three years in the 90s brokering my own goods to and from the US, Britain and Germany and all of this sounds pretty bogus. I was never expected to know the local ins and outs of a foreign tax system and neither were my suppliers/clients ever expected to know mine. We invoiced on actual value and left the government markups to the customs officials. The only time we would go further than that is when a product qualified for special exemptions and we would have to explain it in the customs documentation (supplied in quintuplicate).
Granted, things may have changed over the last 20 years, but I just don't believe that British VAT is being rolled into the MSRP that ArenaNet is charging to British customers. That makes it a declared value. It means that VAT gets charged twice to the client, once from the seller at the point of sale and once from the Crown on taking possession, only the seller gets to keep their share because a US based business cannot collect taxes for a foreign government. Even if they are charging it as part of the price, they never have to remit it. If this isn't the case, let me know, because it would be the first I've ever heard about it.
so what your saying is that there gonna charge you (50 pounds +20%) which is roughly 60 pounds translated to about 95 us dollars.
So your saying anet is charging you $95 for your standard edition
Me? No, I pay what Americans pay since the Canadian dollar is pretty much at par these days. But all that I wrote only applies to physical goods being purchased from a foreign seller. As was pointed out, it doesn't apply to digital distributions.
So there are prices for us and uk, well and what about Europe (the rest of it, oh, England is just an Island ^-^, you know what i mean), in Euros? Any 1 knows?
So there are prices for us and uk, well and what about Europe (the rest of it, oh, England is just an Island ^-^, you know what i mean), in Euros? Any 1 knows?
Sad part is alot of gaming companies are doing this to our poor UK fellows. I think I read an article about Mass Effect or some game, costing 59.99 Pounds. 59.99 Pounds=/= 59.99 Dollars lol. I'm in the US and I was shocked. And the price for consoles are going up too. If you ask me, they are milking those poor bloats for every bloody cent they can get.
So there are prices for us and uk, well and what about Europe (the rest of it, oh, England is just an Island ^-^, you know what i mean), in Euros? Any 1 knows?
Mainland europe actually get a better deal than UK with 55 euros.
I just found out that Australia has to pay $90 (which equates to... $90 US), so they get the worst deal out of everyone.
Looks like I will be using Paypal and getting the US version.
Comments
I'm not 100% sure but I think not all countries in europe have taxes on software or even laws for purchase over internet abroad but they are yet charged like they do have it.
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
-------------------------------
I think one of the advantages to buying direct is having access to all the closed betas up to launch. Not sure if you get the same feature purchasing retail. But if so, then definitely makes more sense to go retail.
Definitely in the boat of people who doesnt mind paying for the game but not having a sub. Honestly believe that would be a better model for TOR and even though I love TERA in the beta I played its becoming hard to justify a 15USD/month fee to play for the few days a month (weekends) I have for MMOs.
I will be pre-ordering GW2 April 10th. Even if I dislike the game I'll always be able to play it if they change. Win win for me.
I will see if they have all that when it launches.... then consider if the price is worth what is present at launch. I have seen too many promises pre-launch broken at launch.
Currently bored with MMO's.
To the OP,; did you expect them to give it away? You need to understand profit motive, its the only reason anything in human history has ever been done.
Anyways, 60 bucks with an expansion every six months to a year is still cheaper than 60 bucks plus 15 a month, stop whining.
I won't dispute that because it's the first I've heard of it. However, the fact remains that those taxes are going to a foreign company as part of the initial box price, and that company has no obligation to remit them to the country to which they are owed. That's why foreign entities can't collect taxes for another country. They aren't obliged to remit anything to any government but their own.
Imagine owning a business where you sell widgets worldwide. Are you really going to collect and track the taxes you collected for all of those different countries, then remit them at the end of the year somehow? No. That's why taxes are applied at the border when those widgets enter a country. The agent at the border who brings them across (usually a brokering firm), would be responsible for applying all applicable duties, taxes, tarriffs, etc., collecting them and sending them along to their own government.
I understand that many nations have a lot of bizarre quirks when it comes to international trade, but I don't see how any nation would agree to have a foreign-based agent collect taxes for them since they would only be answerable to their own federal government. Perhaps the games are being sold by a local subsidiary of NCSoft and people are paying for something that's already crossed the border, or in the case of digital media, has at least been declared?
It's a bit off-topic, but I'd appreciate having the mechanics of that explained since I may be spoiled by NAFTA, where stuff like this rarely comes up.
It should have been cheaper with that shitty ending that betrayed players of the first 2 games by making their choices meaningless.
On topic - You wouldn't be seeing the ending of GW2 as fast as you saw ME3 either. Again, well worth the price.
60$ is normal price for MMOs pretty much. Now regional price is defined by several factors outside of US. IT's msotly negotiated between retailer/distributor and publisher. A 60$ game from one company may have completely different price than 60$ game from other company. For example Blizzard games always seem to be at highest possible price.
In Poland ME3 (60$ game) was sold for 129 PLN, while Diablo 3 (another 60$ game) is sold for 179 PLN. That's 16$ difference despite the original cost being same.
Pretty standard price for the basic box, and I'm not really intending to get the $150 version. Kinda tempted by the digital deluxe, just for the Mistfire Wolf animal companion skill. At any rate, the price is well worth it when you consider no sub fee.
there's 2 kinds of stupid repeated throughout this topic
the first is people who can't tell the diff between pounds and dollars...
the second is people who bring up the lack of sub fees, which has nothing to do with what the box costs.
to address something else, prices are deflated all over except where supply can't meet demand (obviously doesn't apply to digital items where there's no end to the supply), because of the piss poor economic situation all over the world. we aren't 'lucky' it's not higher. we are very very misfortunate to live in a world where most governments are broke, millions are starving, billions poor, and 90% of all capital controlled by 10% of the population.
But hey, thanks for the depressed game prices, makes everything else worth it....
60 US Dollars is pretty reasonable for this game, 50 pounds is not.
Also 60 US Dollars is about 57 AUS Dollars except GAME is selling this for 88 AUS Dollars.
No im not, but im also gonna do my best to tell the customer what they have to pay to recieve my widget, if i sell it in the US there is a state tax, which is why i cant include tax in the price because its different in every state.
if the country doesnt have tax at the (state, providence, or whatever you call them) level and its a Country wide tax i can include that in the price so they get a reflection of what its gonna cost them
Doesn't it?
I mean I see your point but...let's jsut say, hypothetically, that an MMO developer built a AAA+ game and offered you one of the following options:
1) Standard box price, and then standard 15/month sub fee
2) Higher box price, entirely optional microtransacations, and never pay a sub fee.
I'll take door 2. I agree with you the price is a bit higher than we're used to seeing (damn near feel over at the cost of the deluxe and CE), but I still think it's a fair trade to get a game on par with ToR/WoW/Rift/etc but not cost me a thing after purchase unless I want it to. This game costs a boat ton of mponey, and no matter that NCSoft and Arenanet have told us, that has to come from somewhere.
For digital distribution the company is responsible for paying the VAT, not the consumer. For individual purchases from the US for something like Ebay, where a physical item is delivered, it is up to the customer to pay on collection of the item. Lots of international companies like Amazon will include the VAT if you specify a UK delivery address.
GW2 regular edition is digital distrubution only for pre-purchase, the Collectors Edition is picked up from UK stores. Hence either way, they are responsible for including the VAT.
I hope you aren't invoicing them at that amount then, because you're declaring to foreign customs a value that's higher than than the actual worth of the product. The taxes and duties that are calculated on it at the border will be on the value plus taxes.
Sorry guys. I spent three years in the 90s brokering my own goods to and from the US, Britain and Germany and all of this sounds pretty bogus. I was never expected to know the local ins and outs of a foreign tax system and neither were my suppliers/clients ever expected to know mine. We invoiced on actual value and left the government markups to the customs officials. The only time we would go further than that is when a product qualified for special exemptions and we would have to explain it in the customs documentation (supplied in quintuplicate).
Granted, things may have changed over the last 20 years, but I just don't believe that British VAT is being rolled into the MSRP that ArenaNet is charging to British customers. That makes it a declared value. It means that VAT gets charged twice to the client, once from the seller at the point of sale and once from the Crown on taking possession, only the seller gets to keep their share because a US based business cannot collect taxes for a foreign government. Even if they are charging it as part of the price, they never have to remit it. If this isn't the case, let me know, because it would be the first I've ever heard about it.
so what your saying is that there gonna charge you (50 pounds +20%) which is roughly 60 pounds translated to about 95 us dollars.
So your saying anet is charging you $95 for your standard edition
Edit i see someone explained it better then i could...
Ah, of course. Thanks for that. I was too set on physical goods instead of intangible stuff like DDs. I grok it now -- to the point at least that I now know that I don't know how it works.
Me? No, I pay what Americans pay since the Canadian dollar is pretty much at par these days. But all that I wrote only applies to physical goods being purchased from a foreign seller. As was pointed out, it doesn't apply to digital distributions.
To be honest I would pay even more if it is as good as they say it is. And remember: no subscribtion.
yea i edited my post. I understand now
yeah, considering I wasted the same as a digital prepurchase on DA2, I'm shocked they're selling it so cheap
Charr: Outta my way.
Human: What's your problem?
Charr: Your thin skin.
So there are prices for us and uk, well and what about Europe (the rest of it, oh, England is just an Island ^-^, you know what i mean), in Euros? Any 1 knows?
55 euros i believe
Sad part is alot of gaming companies are doing this to our poor UK fellows. I think I read an article about Mass Effect or some game, costing 59.99 Pounds. 59.99 Pounds=/= 59.99 Dollars lol. I'm in the US and I was shocked. And the price for consoles are going up too. If you ask me, they are milking those poor bloats for every bloody cent they can get.
Mainland europe actually get a better deal than UK with 55 euros.
I just found out that Australia has to pay $90 (which equates to... $90 US), so they get the worst deal out of everyone.
Looks like I will be using Paypal and getting the US version.