nachinus Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 A lot has changed in the retail market in the last few years. Very little of it was good for anybody, customers and produces alike. Retail is "imploding". That's so true. Download market for PC beats physical for many reasons. TBH, if it wasn't for the gorgeous box and (specially) the huge manual, I'd have gone for the download option. But I do like to have physical version of my favourite games, specially strategy or simulation, which come with long manuals you *really* need to read. I feel miserable when I read manuals in a screen. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Hey Battlefront why don't you just sell the manual and steelbox as a separate item for our Euro friends? It seems you could charge a lot less for that piece and save them a ton in taxes! They could just download the software or you could send the disk and sell the activation separately. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornfleek Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Not sure if this has been covered yet, but please don't put the sales value of the package on it. This saves lots of people lots of money, if I buy CD's from non-EU area I generally get packages that say CD 5$ on it, never have to pay taxes. One time I got hit with taxes thanks to play.com, putting sales value on the packaging. As far as I'm concerned there's a CD in a metal case and a booklet. Production costs of CD+case+booklet is, say 10$. Nobody needs to know more than this. :-( 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyJJ Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Not sure if this has been covered yet, but please don't put the sales value of the package on it. This saves lots of people lots of money, if I buy CD's from non-EU area I generally get packages that say CD 5$ on it, never have to pay taxes. One time I got hit with taxes thanks to play.com, putting sales value on the packaging. As far as I'm concerned there's a CD in a metal case and a booklet. Production costs of CD+case+booklet is, say 10$. Nobody needs to know more than this. :-( But BF also has to follow the laws and postal regulations in their own country which means they have to declare the retail of any merchandise they are shipping via the USPS. Or in other words, they can't lie to the USPS about the sales price of the item(s) they ship. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Well there certainly isn't anything illegal about selling manual and box as a separate item. Lots of companies do that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glukx Ouglouk Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Definitely agree with DaveyJJ - BFC can't lie on such things. That being said, in this case, the pre-order includes both a download and a physical media, so it migt be possible to (legally) put a lower value then $60 (+shipping) on the package, considering that only a part of that cost is for what's in the package... But I don't really know how that would work. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Springelkamp Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Definitely agree with DaveyJJ - BFC can't lie on such things. That being said, in this case, the pre-order includes both a download and a physical media, so it migt be possible to (legally) put a lower value then $60 (+shipping) on the package, considering that only a part of that cost is for what's in the package... But I don't really know how that would work. I am pretty sure that Europeans should (according to the law, not my wish) pay VAT on downloads that they buy outside the EU. The fact that it isn't enforced cannot be used to lower the value of the package. It could only be done if one could show that the VAT on the download was already paid. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Man, this sucks for you guys in Europe. I just got back a couple weeks ago and I would have been happy, well, not happy, but willing to take a couple suitcases of games over there to distribute just to avoid this ridiculous tax piled on tax. Maybe other folks are doing trips in the near future to EEC??? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackcat Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Books are of course VAT exempt in the UK. So if the manual were to be classed as a book the adjustments could be made to the value of the product for tax purposes.... Just thinking. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Springelkamp Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 While none of us is very happy at the moment we have to pay taxes, most of us realise that taxes have to be collected one way or another. Generally we all profit from a well organised state, and that costs money - and most of us don't believe you can just borrow that money. Most Europeans don't see taxes as robbery. But then, we generally get something back from our governments, like affordable medical care, and a pension, and a social safety net. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nachinus Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Man, this sucks for you guys in Europe. I just got back a couple weeks ago and I would have been happy, well, not happy, but willing to take a couple suitcases of games over there to distribute just to avoid this ridiculous tax piled on tax. Maybe other folks are doing trips in the near future to EEC??? This will only make sense with the (very few) games that are not published in the EU. Or that can't be shipped from inside the EU (like CMNN preorder). You can buy PC games at normal prices here as long as they are released here. We can also benefit from Steam, D2D, GG, and other Download platforms with cheap prices. I've been in the US a couple of times, visited PC games stores there, and although they were cheaper than in Spain (because of the $/€ exchange rate), it was not such a huge difference that would make a transatlantic smuggling run profitable business. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Springelkamp Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I've been in the US a couple of times, visited PC games stores there, and although they were cheaper than in Spain (because of the $/€ exchange rate) That $/€ exchange rate only needs to affect margin for the store, and then tightly coupled to the local wages. On the other hand, retail prices are not based on cost, but on the willingness of the consumer to pay a certain price. Identical products from international companies like IKEA, or major fashion houses, or supermarket chains, are sold at completely different prices - in Euro's - in different countries, depending on the local taste - and thus, perceived worth. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nachinus Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 That $/€ exchange rate only needs to affect margin for the store, and then tightly coupled to the local wages. Sorry I didn't elaborate better: I mean that the currently very cheap dollar made it a little cheaper for me to buy those games in the US than in Spain. In normal times, when exchange rates are closer to 1=1, they would've been about the same price. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Springelkamp Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Sorry I didn't elaborate better: I mean that the currently very cheap dollar made it a little cheaper for me to buy those games in the US than in Spain. In normal times, when exchange rates are closer to 1=1, they would've been about the same price. But those games sold in Europe are bought in the USA, so a low dollar means a low cost price for the retail in Europe. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glukx Ouglouk Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 No, most games sold in Europe aren't bought in the USA. For big titles, there's usually a different retail package for each country, or at most the same package is sold in a handful of countries. Some games are imported, but that's mostly only when a game isn't well distributed in a particular market by its publisher. edit: to clarify: for instance, if you buy an EA game in France, the price will be set by EA France or EA Europe, depending on what they think is the right price for the French market, and it won't be a straight conversion from the price set by EA America for the North American market. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ng cavscout Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 So, anyone getting hosed with taxes or import duties on their game? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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