SONY DLC Discrimination!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Conza
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TheDomsta1234
Peugeots are crap as in Australia...
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I resent that nonsense my 306 is brilliant, as of recent years (past the '06 models) they haven't been great, but mine and others are. So you mean to say most new Peugeots
 
BNGTracer
Don't forget all the taxes we have in Australia. We are the highest taxed nation in the world (and New South Wales is the highest taxed state in Au. so lucky me!!) so I think the extra cost over the USD is based on a 10% GST on everything that crosses our border!! Blame the Australian government not just Sony (though I imagine they still make a pretty tidy profit from it)
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Have some free education regarding taxation;

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-taxed-countries-in-the-world-2011-4?op=1
 
Hey, I wouldn't worry about it too much, here in the UK we quite often pay the same amount in GBP as it costs in USD in the US, (i.e. £10 for something that costs $10 in the US)
 
So you pay more for DLC's. I bet you pay less for oil, and cigarettes, and taxes, and cars in general, and alligator meat, and coral reef than we do.
 
Don't know much about economics, but for instance the Norwegian currency is worth more than the Swedish (I think 1 Norwegian krona (NOK) = 1.20 Swedish krona (SEK), or something like that), but that doesn't stop things in Norway being a lot more expensive than in Sweden. Food, for instance, a pizza in Sweden is 70 SEK, a pizza in Norway is 120 NOK. And don't even get me started on butter...

So, the value of the currency isn't everything when it comes to what things cost. It matters more if you want to buy something from another country.
 
Rayzah
So you pay more for DLC's. I bet you pay less for oil, and cigarettes, and taxes, and cars in general, and alligator meat, and coral reef than we do.
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Id actually wager quite a bit that americans pay near if not the least for all of those. (we actually dont have alligators so id imagine importing the meat would be very expensive). Im sure there's an explanation as to why Australians pay more but it just seems odd that 10 years ago when this sort of price disparity was actually waranted we payed 100-110 dollars for a new video game while now in 2012 when our dollar is basically on par with america's we still pay 100-110 dollars.
 
Why do EB charge AU $98 for a DS3.
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Online is supposed to be cheap.
Because its AU thats why. Nothing has changed since PS2.
Your games are still high price....
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chrisheadshot
Id actually wager quite a bit that americans pay near if not the least for all of those. (we actually dont have alligators so id imagine importing the meat would be very expensive). Im sure there's an explanation as to why Australians pay more but it just seems odd that 10 years ago when this sort of price disparity was actually waranted we payed 100-110 dollars for a new video game while now in 2012 when our dollar is basically on par with america's we still pay 100-110 dollars.
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Very simple, because Australians make roughly twice as much as Americans (Given that our dollars are roughly equal.)
 
yep its around $32 to buy all the DLC including the new ones, and we have the most expensive cigarettes in the world (or so it would seem) thanks to the recent tobacco excise increase of 25% ($18 a pack for my brand), and our fuel is about $7.50 a gallon. Its not just sony butthurting us haha. I understand it has allot to do with actual value of our dollar and inflation rates and our geographical remoteness.
 
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Delta795
Someone else pointed out PPP or Purchasing Power Parity

Population United States of America 309,975,000
Population Australia 22,421,417

Australia holds a -17 valuation of the local currency against the dollar in %
for the basic reason you have a very low population. It's not PD or Sony boys and girls, but simple economics. We have more and buy more so things in general cost less.
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I was about to start typing, I'm glad I read the entire thread first. Spot on Delta:tup:

This is also the key reason why our fuel costs (upon many other things) remain lower than Europe/Australia. But no worries friends, the way Obama is spending money things are sure to change quickly.
 
Delta795
Unfortunately taxation has nothing to do with price being higher in this case
http://www.ato.gov.au/
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Except for the corporation/company tax Sony pay the Australian government for the privilege of operating in Australia. Also everywhere else.

Which pretty much covers this whole thread. It costs more to buy (product) from (company) in (territory with higher tax rates) because (company) has to pay more tax on their profits in (territory with higher tax rates) compared to (territory with lower tax rates) and passes that onto the consumer. If (territory with higher tax rates) didn't levy such high taxation rates, the consumer wouldn't be getting ripped off compared to the consumer in (territory with lower tax rates).


BMW in Denmark aren't ripping consumers off when they charge 1,461,900 Danish Kroner for a BMW M3 Coupe - US$251,472 at today's exchange rates and four times as much as US customers pay (US$60,100). It's the Danish government levying massive taxation on new cars and on companies by comparison to the US government.
 
Rayzah
So you pay more for DLC's. I bet you pay less for oil, and cigarettes, and taxes, and cars in general, and alligator meat, and coral reef than we do.
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Couldn't be more wrong.

Cigarettes are twice as much, we pay about $5 per gallon, taxes make US taxes look like a joke
 
Conza
But what the do you actually charge us?

Car Pack 3 $5.99 USD = $8.45 AUD [snip]
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Well, let's wait and see as to whether it's actually going to be A$ 8.45. I wouldn't be too surprised if it were to show up in the store tomorrow for A$ 10+.
 
Famine


BMW in Denmark aren't ripping consumers off when they charge 1,461,900 Danish Kroner for a BMW M3 Coupe - US$251,472 at today's exchange rates and four times as much as US customers pay (US$60,100). It's the Danish government levying massive taxation on new cars and on companies by comparison to the US government.
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I couldn't (aka didn't want to, couldn't believe any country would "torture" their citizens like that) believe that and asked a colleague from Denmark about that. Sad thing is, it's entirely true.

Price of the car + 180% of the price (to register the car) + 25% (sales tax) = OMG.
 
doctorrg
Well, let's wait and see as to whether it's actually going to be A$ 8.45. I wouldn't be too surprised if it were to show up in the store tomorrow for A$ 10+.
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What price is reasonable? $1 for 1 car obviously is, but when you only like 2 (like me, DBS & Aventador), $4.20 each? Hmm

$5.99 * 1.40 = $8.38 surprisingly close wouldn't you say?

This also implies that in the US they operate in a tax free environment...
 
Conza
What price is reasonable? $1 for 1 car obviously is, but when you only like 2 (like me, DBS & Aventador), $4.20 each? Hmm

$5.99 * 1.40 = $8.38 surprisingly close wouldn't you say?

This also implies that in the US they operate in a tax free environment...
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Yet so many are done for tax evasion...
 
Conza
What price is reasonable? $1 for 1 car obviously is, but when you only like 2 (like me, DBS & Aventador), $4.20 each? Hmm

$5.99 * 1.40 = $8.38 surprisingly close wouldn't you say?

This also implies that in the US they operate in a tax free environment...
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Didn't really intend to suggest what is or isn't reasonable, I was merely questioning whether it will indeed be A$ 8.45 in store tomorrow. Seeing that the last car pack was, and still is, listed as A$ 5.60 (same price as the speed test pack, mind you) but actually costs A$ 6.95 in the store.
 
Conza
This also implies that in the US they operate in a tax free environment...
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No, just a less punitive one than Australia or Europe.

Incidentally, if you're expecting a DBS you're going to be disappointed.
 
Ah, like we did with DLC Car Pack 1, the paint pack, the gear pack and the Track Pack? We waiting for a whole week after the US got it until we did.


No, hang on, the other thing... they got it a week late. Knew it'd come to me.
 
Famine
Ah, like we did with DLC Car Pack 1, the paint pack, the gear pack and the Track Pack? We waiting for a whole week after the US got it until we did.


No, hang on, the other thing... they got it a week late. Knew it'd come to me.
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And they got free Stealth model cars for the 2.0 update IIRC as well as a special Camaro and then there was the...


I just bought the Car Pack 3 for $7.95 and the track for $5.06

:grumpy:
 
Ecchi-BANZAII!!
And they got free Stealth model cars for the 2.0 update IIRC as well as a special Camaro and then there was the...
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Yeah, and they got that Chromeline Jaguar XJ13 for free. Not to mention the GT Academy Special GT-R they got 6 months before anyone else just for entering the GT Academy time trial.


No, hang on, I've got that one wrong again...
 
Are we going to rehash this on every DLC pack? If we're going to do this every few weeks or months, maybe merge all of the threads into one.

I'm sure there is a reason for the price difference. We will probably never know the reason. Since when do corporations share those types of things(why)? If it's not fair, don't buy it. If you want the DLC, then we'll have to pay the adverted price. I wasn't very happy with the value for money on this one, but I bought it anyways, because I wanted it. I chose to do it.

If we want to get into the money exchanges and such, let's get into minimum wages in AU. This is a very basic bare bones assessment: The federal minimum is $15.00(I had to look it up). That's twice the US minimum. So if a 2 people do the same job every week at the minimum (one in US, one in AU) the person in Australia gets twice as much. That would stand to reason when the price of gas is about twice as much, a pack of butts are around twice as much (give or take), and the DLC costs twice as much. This may very well be the answer... why does Sony expect twice as much from AU? Because, theoretically, they get paid twice as much.
 
Australian prices confirmed:

Speed Test Pack: $6.95AUD
Car Pack 3: $9.95AUD

Total: $16.90AUD

Exchange rate as of 05:55 ACDST:

USD: $17.5942
Euro: €13.6999
GBP: £11.4058

Of course (pun fully intended!) I will buy it despite it being a little on the high side because there's nothing we can do about it unfortunately :(
 
Heathenpride
Australian prices confirmed:

Speed Test Pack: $6.95AUD
Car Pack 3: $9.95AUD

Total: $16.90AUD
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Excellent. I was guessing A$6.95 for the speed test pack and at least A$10.45 for the car pack, so it's actually cheaper than I anticipated. :lol:

Well, off to buy that DLC while I make my coffee. :)
 
doctorrg
Excellent. I was guessing A$6.95 for the speed test pack and at least A$10.45 for the car pack, so it's actually cheaper than I anticipated. :lol:

Well, off to buy that DLC while I make my coffee. :)
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Yeah I already got mine, unfortunately I have at least another 15 hours before I can try it due to work and cricket training 👎 :(
 

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