Why? Europeans shouldn't have to pay more for digital goods than I do.
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So, did Valve actually agree to change their policy if this petition reaches 20k signatures, or is this just another "hey, let's put up a petition and nothing will change" thing?
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^This. I why on earth a Euro is equal to one dollar? Why?
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Does it really exists a UK Steam store? In the receipts sent by email to me Steam Store address is located in Luxembourg.
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well you are ignorant American indeed o.OEuroipe isn't a contry it's a continent. and UK isn't a continent - it's a country which is part of Europe ;P And in Continent of Europe there are many different countries...
It's like I'd say that Mexico and Canada are a part of USA, cause you all live on the same continent...
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If I could say I would love to buy game from steam in $ instead of €, but UK store? I think the price there are in £? This is even worse than paying in € O.o
And you're right, but I say that people in Poland would like to buy in $ becouse exchange 'pln to $' is cheaper than 'pln to €'. And only this^^
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Well, circa 2012, the sovereignty/independence of European countries is something of a dying concept, so SuddleD could be forgiven for thinking of mainland Europe (at least the EU "member states") as a single entity...
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...although it still remains [within -- remember, not all the European countries are in the EU] a single continent, not many =P
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Don't trust the others, they're two separate planets.
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Europe is a continent. (Sort of. It's complicated.) It contains about 50 independent countries. (It's complicated.) 27 of them are part of the European Union, an international organization. The United Kingdom is in Europe and is part of the European Union (EU). However, it chose not to replace its currency with the Euro, which is why it has a separate Steam store.
The petition will be sent as part of a letter to an institution in the European Union, the European Commission, which is responsible for, among other things, the implementing of the union's decisions. And the decision in question is Directive 97/7/EC, according to which companies are not allowed to discriminate by country of residence anywhere in the EU. Note that while the UK store is listed as an example due to the different currency used, this also applies to blocking or cutting games in the German Steam store.
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question 1) Mostly yes: 1$ + VAT = 1€ (more or less)
question 2) no, UK is a part of europe, just disagrees with most europe countries in some parts, i.e. they dont want to have a shitty currency that devaluates when a country like Greece has a problem
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The petition is to allow citizens of the EU to buy in the UK steam store. The EU law states that we have a right to do so (buy any product or service within another EU member state) but the Steam store does not allow us to do that which is in some way limiting out rights.
Valve has the power to allow us to do that, even if publishers decide to restrict certain games to only certain regions. For instance, the batman games are not available in EU countries where GFWL is not officially supported, so the games arent listed for those countries in the steam store. All fine with that, but since EU law states that we have a right to buy from other regions, valve should allow us to buy, say a batman game, from the UK store.
It should be like buying a TV from another country because that certain TV isnt sold in your country for some stupid reason. Its OK to buy it where it is sold and importing it, even though its a small hassle. The same could be said for digital licenses.
Not allowing EU citizens from buying in the UK steam store is like having a guard in front of your shop and only letting in UK citizens.
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In Union European you can't force a shop to delivery outside its own country. And shops who are interested to sell to others European countries have to deal with some laws existing in each country (for example applying the correct VAT rates: Germany 19%, Italy 21%, UK 20%, etc...). I guess Steam does that in a transparent way. Yes, UK prices are sometimes cheaper (but also more expensive, if I'm not wrong) than EUR ones, but I'm not sure that this petition is legally well-founded. Protesting is legit though.
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This isnt about pricing. I dont want access because its cheaper or more expensive, I want UK store access because they sell games that are not available to me but should be. If I walk into a GAME store in the UK, I can buy any game I wish and go home to my country and play it there even if the publisher doesnt want me doing that, they cant really do shit from preventing me from doing that and why should they? Steam sides with the publisher on this one and does prevent me from doing just that.
As for VAT, I dont think they have to apply correct VAT for any other country. If you are from an EU member state and buy something of high value from another EU member state, you dont have to pay an import tax on that item because VAT was already payed once you bought it - the money just didnt go to your own country. If you import something of high value from Hong Kong for example, you will pay an import tax - because no VAT way payed for your country (never bought a physical game from the UK? they apply UK VAT, not your own country VAT rate). Thats one of the points of the EU. We arent shipping fridges here, its a digital licence.
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Two random examples where you can see clearly how VAT works:
Of course you can find a store that doesn't care about the law, but serious shops do and pay this income to the correct country, replacing the VAT rates as necessary.
What is important is the law, the law of where you are physically present. If a game isn't available in your region, then I can only think there is a valid reason for that. It's Steam loss too.
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Those are just some examples but as far as i am aware, its legally not required to do that (the hut store chain in UK does not do that, Steam does not do that either). Steam has a flat tax rate with VAT included in the price or more specifically, Valve itself pays VAT costs to "HM Revenue & Customs" who destriute it to EU member states as stated here. So wheres the problem in buying from the UK store? The VAT tax rate is the same for everyone.
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VAT isn't the same for everyone US customers dont have to pay it at all, most if not all countries outside US the same. Thats why prices in US are cheaper than in EU.
And yeah, prices in whole EU zone and even UK are more likely the same unless publisher doesnt decides different.
BTW what is "the hut store chain" never heard of them. maybe thats why they don't care about some law's cos noone really care about them and won't take legal actions against them. Legal restricions aren't just a problem on steam, i have them also on Gamefly which is also a big game reseller
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That's right but people think Steam is almighty and can do what they want. Steam is in most cases just reseller and have to take the deal that they negociate with publishers - if not, the game will not be avaible on steam. Also they cannot allow people on german territory to purchuse uncut games cos it's agains german law and they could be sued. Also region restrictions are made by publishers not Valve, and those publishers could also take legal actions ageins them if they try to bypass that.
So the right way would be:
1) if you dont like you have to pay 1€ for 1$ woth of game - write petition to goverment to not charge digital goods with VAT
2) if you don't like uncut versions in your country - write to your goverment to change the policy about those restrictions
3) if you dont like that some titles arent avaible for you on steam - write to the publishers to allow steam to seal those titles to you.
Those are the people who made those restrictions and the only ones with the power to remove them.
if you are aiming a reseller for not giving you the opportunity to bypass them you are doing it wrong imo
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I'm from Europe - Belgium,... signed! let's hope it'll provoke something
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no they don't, as someone said prices in british pounds are sometimes even a bit cheaper than in euro zone, mostly because prices are being rounded - sometimes a bit up sometimes a bit down. And the whole 1$=1€ is (as people before said) becouse they have to add VAT tax when they sell something in Europe - they were made to do this because of EU law (made by more likely the same organisation they are now writting petition to). Only a few prices aren't fair - but that affects other publishers (EA seems to like UK more than other EU countries) not Vslve.
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Sign petition for better prices in EU here
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