Jabbathesloot Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Hi was just looking at the Star wars / Origin sites, seen what i thought was a great deal, Authenticator for $4.00, i thought bang on, yet when i get redirected to the UK price its £8.99, hmm something seems wrong with the values here. Now i can see how postage and packaging can come into it, but im guessing they probably wont be being dispatched from the US. Also US ones would have to be posted also. What is the deal with the different prices from US to Europe ? Oh p.s. i dont have a mobile phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annedromeda Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 (edited) It does seem silly, but there is also VAT in the UK as well if you're forgetting, but it still doesn't seem enough to justify the huge price hike, especially when the currency exchange is something like $1.60 to the £1.00. We should be paying the equivalent to $4.00 and we are not. I feel like I just spoke gibberish. Just gone to a currenty converter and this is what I get: 4.00 USD = 2.47693 GBP 1 USD = 0.619233 GBP 1 GBP = 1.61490 USD So yeah, we're being cheated by about £5.50. Edited May 5, 2012 by Annedromeda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekkx Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 That's over $14 US! $10 mark-up just for being in the EU. Disgraceful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jandi Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 They make and ship them from the UK tp EU people, there is no VAT. I paid 13e for mine. That's roughly 17$ plus change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annedromeda Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 They make and ship them from the UK tp EU people, there is no VAT. I paid 13e for mine. That's roughly 17$ plus change. Oh, thats so very interesting! Makes you wonder then why do the people in the UK and beyond still pay more than the Americas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tautha Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 P&P, shipping, handling charges, admin costs... All used regularly to bump profit, and usually far in excess of any real expense incurred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venirious Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 ...We should be paying the equivalent to $4.00 and we are not....So yeah, we're being cheated by about £5.50. Except you can't simply convert the currency because different laws and economic structures make the cost of business vary between places. I'm not saying cheating doesn't happen in certain places, but more often than not it's simply more expensive to operate in some places rather than others. I pay somewhere between $3-4 american for a gallon (note the unit of measurement) of gasoline in California, how bout you guys in the UK/EU? Different product, same idea; other variables besides form of currency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jandi Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 I was wrong, don't know why I thought they are made in the UK, I'm dumb that way. Regardless. most likely logistics and general market value variables. They all come from China, so it's the same slave labor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NasherUK Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 (edited) I was wrong, don't know why I thought they are made in the UK, I'm dumb that way. Regardless. most likely logistics and general market value variables. They all come from China, so it's the same slave labor. Yep, and it's probably much cheaper to ship to the UK and EU from China than it is to the US as well. China can just chuck them on a ship and send them down the busiest shipping lane in the world to south England for dirt cheap. But they probably have to fly them to the US :/ It's nothing but a rip-off tbh. Edited May 5, 2012 by NasherUK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gradivus Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Heh. You people at least get to complain about the price. I from Ireland (that's where the EU servers are located) can't even order the authenticator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jandi Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 (edited) Yep, and it's probably much cheaper to ship to the UK and EU from China than it is to the US as well. It's nothing but a rip-off tbh. No, it's a company making profit. Everything is a rip-off if you think of it that way. The computer you pay 1k for costs like 50 to make. The thing with global industry and economy is that the amount of fingers in the pie grow with it and everyone needs to make a profit. Edited May 5, 2012 by Jandi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenalandavie Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Except you can't simply convert the currency because different laws and economic structures make the cost of business vary between places. I'm not saying cheating doesn't happen in certain places, but more often than not it's simply more expensive to operate in some places rather than others. I pay somewhere between $3-4 american for a gallon (note the unit of measurement) of gasoline in California, how bout you guys in the UK/EU? Different product, same idea; other variables besides form of currency. You may pay $3 for Gas, I have been purchasing and ordering things from the US back to the uk for Decades now and if it was $5.00 it worked out to £2.50 - £3.00 depending on the fluctuation . Never in my life has it been it costs us more in £££. Not for a simple purchase. And this game didnt cost me more either. Things maybe cheaper in the US but the standard of living is lower in alot of places to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabbathesloot Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 I pay somewhere between $3-4 american for a gallon (note the unit of measurement) of gasoline in California, how bout you guys in the UK/EU? Different product, same idea; other variables besides form of currency. Ok i get that , like the major difference is the tax that is put onto the cost of ours, in the uk i would say it costs about £1.35 a litre, that being said it costs about $10 dollars for a gallon here. Now the point being is the product is made in the same place, we have factored in the cost of our VAT on electrical goods and still we come up short so why does it feel like i have got derrière clamps on , i feel we being shafted proper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nywac Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Easy solution get a smartphone and join everyone in the digital age and u can have the authenticator for free. not like u cant get a free smartphone from almost any company with a new line activation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenalandavie Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Ok i get that , like the major difference is the tax that is put onto the cost of ours, in the uk i would say it costs about £1.35 a litre, that being said it costs about $10 dollars for a gallon here. Now the point being is the product is made in the same place, we have factored in the cost of our VAT on electrical goods and still we come up short so why does it feel like i have got derrière clamps on , i feel we being shafted proper. The delivery is separate for me, does the base cost of the authenticator cost more in pounds then it does in dollars? i think it says below $4 and £8.99 english? was that including delivery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NasherUK Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 (edited) Easy solution get a smartphone and join everyone in the digital age and u can have the authenticator for free. not like u cant get a free smartphone from almost any company with a new line activation. Problem with those though is when you change phones you can't transfer the authenticator. You have to phone EA (at international rates) and jump through hoops for them to remove it. I also had one of the authenticator fobs break when I was playing wow, it's just as much of a pain when that happens too. Probably better to just not bother at all really. Edited May 5, 2012 by NasherUK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jandi Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Easy solution get a smartphone and join everyone in the digital age and u can have the authenticator for free. not like u cant get a free smartphone from almost any company with a new line activation. I would never trust my game access to a phone. Those things break far too easy. I'd rather pay 13e and leave it home, next to my PC. I've lost/broken enough phones in my time lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabbathesloot Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 Easy solution get a smartphone and join everyone in the digital age and u can have the authenticator for free. not like u cant get a free smartphone from almost any company with a new line activation. ERM yeah thanks tie my self down to a contract which would cost more than the authenticator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabbathesloot Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 (edited) The delivery is separate for me, does the base cost of the authenticator cost more in pounds then it does in dollars? i think it says below $4 and £8.99 english? was that including delivery? Yeah it does include delivery, how much does the delivery cost in the US then ? Edited May 5, 2012 by Jabbathesloot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenalandavie Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Yeah it does include delivery, how much does the delivery cost in the US then ? £8,99 including delivery? well that would be about right then Delivery cost is not cheap. I thought you meant it was £8.99 plus delivery and i dont know living in manchester i am not going to know am i lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabbathesloot Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 So it costs just over 10 dollars to post the item in the US ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venirious Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 (edited) ....I have been purchasing and ordering things from the US back to the uk for Decades now and if it was $5.00 it worked out to £2.50 - £3.00 depending on the fluctuation . Never in my life has it been it costs us more in £££. Not for a simple purchase. The topic on hand is buying the same product in 2 different markets, as opposed to buying a product from a different market than your own. If you're buying direct from a US store/location the price difference ends up being your overseas shipping/import/whatnot cost (after your currency exchange), but I'm pretty sure you're buying this authenticator from the UK site, not the American. Now if you ordered it from the UK site and it shipped from the US and the base value was still greatly different (exceeding shipping/import cost), then maybe I'd smell something fishy, otherwise it's business as usual. Edited May 5, 2012 by Venirious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amnie Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 heh, for this game there are mooore than enough examples for this. let's start with the CE 150€ that's roughly $230 (and shipping is .not. 80 dollar, I checked) then we have the monthly subscription cost. 13€ is ... well....$17 not much of a difference, sure, and some people in the US pay those online game taxes... but still. it adds up. then we have the authentification thingies... again, europeans are getting royally ripped off. anyone remember the deal with the offical merch a while ago? oh fancy, the shirts that cost $19 get automatically converted into Euro as soon as you put in the address to ship to (so technically even if you are let's say a soldier just stationed over here, still gettting paid in Dollar, you are screwed, because the shirt alone will already be $23 converted, not counting in shipping) and then we have the lovely European servers standing in freaking Ireland (nothing against the Irish, everybody loves you silly beans!) ... Ireland, obviously not the country known for technically advancement in Europe. the result? back in January lots of people from Mainland Europe couldn't play during certain times the day at all. my ping to the European servers is still not much better than it is to the US servers. why? well because having the Servers in Ireland is cheaper. d'oh. and the costumer support is in Spain so Bioware/EA can save some more.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amnie Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 The topic on hand is buying the same product in 2 different markets, as opposed to buying a product from a different market than your own. If you're buying direct from a US store/location the price difference ends up being your overseas shipping/import/whatnot cost, but I'm pretty sure you're buying this authenticator from the UK site, not the American. Now if you ordered it from the UK site and it shipped from the US and the base value was still greatly different (exceeding shipping/import cost), then maybe I'd smell something fishy, otherwise it's business as usual. no it's not. show me any online store that will automatically force a certain currency on you - and instead of just using the daily exchange rate will ... well.. make one up on the spot. I order from the US all the time. films, toys, clothing, shoes, make-up... never has this happened to me before I started playing this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISDEnterprise Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 (edited) America just usually pays less for things. It's how it's economy works. We pay less for food. We pay less for games. blablabla... However get pay MORE for healthy food, considerably LESS for unhealthy food like McDonalds (one reason why we're so fat) and stuff like that. Economies are not simply exchange rates. Edited May 5, 2012 by ISDEnterprise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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