Defense Grid

It's not a 1:1 conversion. Steam doesn't charge VAT separately in Europe. If a game is 19.99€, it's 19.99€. VAT is included in that price.

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"The Cookie of James Cookiejar."
- Mromson

I think that what some people don't understand, is that (most) European Countries tax digital purchases with VAT (Value Added Tax) at anywhere between 5-25%. So lets say you have a game at $19.99 USD. First you convert that into EURO; 14.96€ EUR. Then you apply VAT to that number. For Countries who are members of EU, the VAT is at around 20%, so the price ends up at around 17.95€ EUR - with 2.00 EUR left out for various reasons such as change in the currency value. etc.

Then you have Countries such as Norway that don't tax digital material. Here I would simply suggest that Steam removes EUR altogether from Norwegian STEAM and sticks with USD, or at least give us the option to choose which currency we wish to pay in. My gripe with STEAM and their unnecessary VAT charges on purchases in Norway, is simply because games end up being more expensive than the retail counterparts.

But then again, this generally doesn't apply to Defense Grid: The Awakening, since there is no retail version to compare it's price to, only a US STEAM Store. It would be nice if the Norwegian STEAM store didn't automatically put VAT on games when Norway doesn't require it. But that would still put the price at around 16.99€ EUR, so it ain't as big of a deal.

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. ;-)

_____________________________
"The Cookie of James Cookiejar."
- Mromson

What about countries such as my own (Norway), that don't have VAT?

_____________________________
"The Cookie of James Cookiejar."
- Mromson

I wanted to buy the game today, but going to wait until it is solved. Not because I don't think you guys deserve the money, but I cannot send a message when I buy a game, no matter how measly the difference is. VAT isn't the only difference. Let me give you an example. $19,99 x 1.19 (VAT)/1.39 (current conversion rate) = €17.11 which makes the game 16% more expensive at the current price of €19.99. Even if the conversion rate was lower, it wouldn't be the same until the conversion gets to a low 1.19. Also note, the difference between USD and EUR is actually increasing. And to show how unfair it is. the current conversion between GBP and EUR is 1.06, so the Euro prices should actually be almost the same as the GBP one. As the UK prices include VAT, it's sometimes even cheaper than the US ones.