Anet don’t have control of a constantly fluctuating exchange rate and differences in VAT between countries though, which I assume affect regional gem price differences.
I don’t know about Russia, but I believe unlike my country (UK), the US gem price excludes VAT. Not sure what the VAT in the US is exactly, but I imagine it’s close to 20%.
Thats the fee a country puts to products sold in their country anet has no control over it. Now idk if you can buy gems from anet directly but if thats possible then the prices should be balanced
I don’t know about Russia, but I believe unlike my country (UK), the US gem price excludes VAT. Not sure what the VAT in the US is exactly, but I imagine it’s close to 20%.
Sales tax varies across the country, mine is 6.35%. We are still billed it but because it’s not baked in the price in the US is listed without tax.
Anyways it’s the company ANet hired to handle processing who then includes whatever tax is required for that region or state being sold to. At the time of launch $10 US, excluding local taxes, was set to be either 10€ or £8.50 including a 20% VAT due to NC Europe being based in the UK and hasn’t changed to reflect current exchange rates. Gems are actually cheaper, pre-VAT today than it was at launch.
The way tax is shown could well be the difference. I know that throws me off sometimes.
The UK and most other European countries (possibly all?) include the tax in the display price. So when I go on the gem store and see £8.50 for 800 gems I know the final price I will pay is £8.50. (And at the end it tells me some amount of that is tax.)
Whereas in the US I’d see $10 for 800 gems, and then when I get through to the confirmation page that price will change to $12 or whatever because of the tax (which is different depending on which state you’re in).
Having said that I know Elder Scrolls Online players are having issues at the moment with everything in that game being massively expensive in Russia – way out of proportion with tax and the exchange rate. So it could be something that’s going on with online purchases from American companies generally, but I’m not sure.
Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).
Nothing to do with fluctuations, this exchange rate was like 1,5 year ago. And no VAT in Russia for Soft (at least for now) And don’t you think that Anet should be competitive on the market with the same price if there is any VAT?
So basically it is like you choose any neighbor eastern European country and get correct prices in US dollars, but if you go for national currency, you overpay 20%
The issue is exchange rates; it’s got little to do with taxes. Banks charge retailers a fee and 3rd party providers for retail sales pass those fees back to their corporate clients. While the price is fixed in dollars, euros, and pounds, the rate for other currencies varies relative to those three.
ANet has no particular use for rubles or rupees, since it has no corporate presence in countries that spend those currencies. Consequently, it’s not worth it to ANet to save a fraction of its potential players that fraction of the game’s cost that is due to variance in exchange rates.
Other companies, such as Steam, can afford to offer prices in all sorts of other currencies, because the volume is high enough that they can minimize transaction costs.
In short, as long as the world continues to use different currencies, there are going to be price discrepancies due to the costs of converting and the volatility of the rates of exchange.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
What is DRI? I know only one cool crossover thrash band with this name)
Digital River. They are the 3rd party handling transactions on behalf of Anet. If I make a purchase via the gem store, it appears on my bank statement as a purchase from Digital River.
Hope that there would be update in price policy for region. Waiting to swipe my credit card at 15 shared slots, and the only reason stopping me is obvious overpay.
The difference in gem price by region has ready been explained as being beyond ANet’s control. That is, differences in taxes according to where you live and the fluctuations in value of dollars to other monies. Which means the price policy is not going to change.
Be careful what you ask for
ANet may give it to you.
Fluctuations of ruble was dealt with… in early 2015 I suppose (as most of game market in Russia done after late 2014 ruble drop)
But since then 2,5 years passed, and main trend was ruble slowly going up (from 80 per USD, to 56 per 1 USD today). I’m okay to pay 560-600 Rub per 800 gem, but not 700 Rub per 800.
This is 2,5 years of non existent price update.
And man, why THE HELL GW2 even charge in rubles??? We have 0% support of Russian so far (we even not allowed to type in chat in Cyrillic). I’m ok to pay in USD as any other “small” country.
Or, in many cases in the US, we are not charged any tax, at all.
I can certainly say this is true in my state. When I buy a $25 Gem Card, I pay exactly $25. No tax added, which is rather surprising since my state loooooves to tax everything,
Asura characters: Zerina | Myndee | Rissa | Jaxxi | Feyyt | Bekka | Sixx | Akee | Tylee | Nuumy
| Claara
Your skin will wrinkle and your youth will fade, but your soul is endless.
Fluctuations of ruble was dealt with… in early 2015 I suppose (as most of game market in Russia done after late 2014 ruble drop)
But since then 2,5 years passed, and main trend was ruble slowly going up (from 80 per USD, to 56 per 1 USD today). I’m okay to pay 560-600 Rub per 800 gem, but not 700 Rub per 800.
This is 2,5 years of non existent price update.
And man, why THE HELL GW2 even charge in rubles??? We have 0% support of Russian so far (we even not allowed to type in chat in Cyrillic). I’m ok to pay in USD as any other “small” country.
Arenanet doesn’t charge anything, their business partner Digital River who handles all e-commerce on arenanets behalf does. They have a russian branch which is likely responsible for any electronic transactions in Russia.
Now as to why they charge this amount? Take it up with their customer support.
Long story short: the GW2 forums are not the place to argue pricing of gems since no one here is responsible or can help you as far as that is concerned.
Taking it up with support won’t make a difference either. Support are white collar workers hired by ANet to fix various computer problems, etc, etc, using tools provided to them by the Devs and following rules in a guide book. What they don’t do is set policy, make new rules or change gem pricing. At best they’ll explain it to him (once again) and send him to the forum to make a thread about it if he’s not happy with the pricing (which he already has done).
Be careful what you ask for
ANet may give it to you.
Here’s an alternative to paying the high ruble-to-gem costs:
Find a friend in the US, EU, or UK who has access to a store with gem cards.
Send them your rubles, via check, money order, or bank transfer.
Have their bank (or yours) convert to local currency
The friend buys the gem card and sends it to you (or otherwise gives you the code so you can add it to your account).
Will that save you 100 Rubles per 800 gems? I’m not sure that it would. However, it’s the same thing that Digital River is doing, except they’ve automated the exchanges and paid someone to be their friend (for the purposes of the transfer) (plus, ANet is paying them to be their friend… and ours). They pay the bank fees and deal with the uncertainties of currency exchanges.
Banks charge a bit more than the exchange rate to account for variations (and to ensure profits) and they charge transaction fees (because they can). Similarly, DigitalRiver charges a bit extra because that’s how they make money, which partly goes to dealing with fraud etc.
So the question is:
How many rubles are you willing to spend to save yourself the trouble of waiting to buy gems (and having to trust someone else to get them for, and dealing with the banks)? Is it worth 100 rubles every 800 gems to avoid going through all that? If not, I’m sure someone will be willing to be ‘your friend’… for a low, low fee.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
Here’s an alternative to paying the high ruble-to-gem costs:
Find a friend in the US, EU, or UK who has access to a store with gem cards.
Send them your rubles, via check, money order, or bank transfer.
Have their bank (or yours) convert to local currency
The friend buys the gem card and sends it to you (or otherwise gives you the code so you can add it to your account).
I worked in US for quite some time, had and used US credit card for around 8 years even back in Russia. Never knew that I want my card back year after its expired. I think I even can open new card using my SSN and receive it in Russia by mail… well Russians always can find some gray services =)
I would spend fixed amount of money for gems anyway. I just don’t like overpriced stuff for no reason. (Main reason that I actually raised this topic). And even more in time when my national currency is in the kitten and I earn 40-60% less in US dollar compared to 2014.
I do care about other regional players as well. Main question what channel would lead to Anet consideration of topic.
I do care about other regional players as well. Main question what channel would lead to Anet consideration of topic.
ANet can’t afford to be in the business of worrying about currency exchange. That’s why they contract with DigitalRiver. You’d need to ask their management about their policies.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
Or, in many cases in the US, we are not charged any tax, at all.
I can certainly say this is true in my state. When I buy a $25 Gem Card, I pay exactly $25. No tax added, which is rather surprising since my state loooooves to tax everything,
The company might be abusing a loophole with inter state commerce and internet transactions.
I believe the current law requires the buyer to pay sales tax and report it to the state.
Either way, I am not a tax expert. I only understand a little bit this complicated stuff. Go consult an actual expert.
Actually, in my state, Gem Cards are considered Gift Cards, and are charged no tax, whether purchased online or offline (retail stores). Gift Cards are not charged tax, otherwise they would be collecting tax twice: once at the Gift Card purchase, and again when using the Gift Card to purchase items/services/etc.
Actually, in my state, Gem Cards are considered Gift Cards, and are charged no tax, whether purchased online or offline (retail stores). Gift Cards are not charged tax, otherwise they would be collecting tax twice: once at the Gift Card purchase, and again when using the Gift Card to purchase items/services/etc.
Thus, no loophole. =)
the issue is that gift cards are a proxy to real money. GEM CARDs are not and is practically its own currency.
Are you a tax expert? I am wondering. If you are, then I will concede.
It seems that most countries allow one of the 3 currencies where price is fixed, USD, British Pounds or Euros. For instance South Africa is charged in USD. European countries, even those that don’t use Euros, still uses Euros for gems. Since selecting Russia doesn’t use any of the three the must be more fees to first convert to one of these three and as long as it’s processed by NC Europe, will have 20% VAT applied as well. Earlier today that would be roughly 680 rubles (566 + 20% VAT).
I think South Africa is only charged in USD if one has an NA account. I’m pretty sure my Guildie gets charged in Euros, as he has a EU account, but plays on the NA servers.
Us New Zealander’s have to pay an extra $39.31 for every $100 worth of gems ($100 USD = $139.31 NZD, currently), that other countries don’t have to pay, simply because of the exchange rate. But I’m used to that :-/
Then, just when you actually WANT to buy gems, you get this lovely error message shown below – EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
I’ve given up buying gems. Clearly Anet doesn’t want my money. And yes I’m aware I can submit a support ticket, but I’m not doing this every time I want to buy gems sorry – life is too short to deal with that BS. I don’t care if it’s Digital River Ireland’s problem, I don’t care if it’s a Guild Wars 2 problem… If you want my money, fix it permanently. But I’ve said this before, and it still hasn’t been fixed, so I don’t think I’ll ever be able to just buy gems when I want to. Their loss, not mine.
Try having a weak dollar against the US. A small 800 gem purchase is like $15. Then if you save your gold for hot items people all wait for to be 20%+ off, gem prices make it a horrific conversion rate. So I have to bite the bullet and use money for high tier QOL purchases and extremely limited really nice skins, use gold to fill out if I am missing like 100-400 gems to avoid a further purchase etc. I have no problem letting ANET have real money purchase, they deserve it, it’s just I’d like to buy more but the currency rate is brutal.
Sadly after my return I didn’t take advantage of the mad March sale, and I had to get things like character slots etc all full price. I am always on the look out now though.
