Cubase Canadian pricing too high...

Well, that's irritating. The US price for upgrading from Cubase 9.5 Pro to Cubase 10 Pro is $99. Using today's currency conversion rate, that would be about $130 Canadian. When I tried to purchase the upgrade this evening, as soon as I put it into my shopping cart, the price switched to $150 Canadian. So now I'm trying to figure out a) why I have to pay $20 CAD more for the same product, and b) if there is a way I can buy it in US funds via Paypal... maybe login via VPN with a US IP address?...

This is the main reason I never chose Cubase in the first place.

 
I'm not planning to, at this point. The upgrade offers me very little, but when it first arrived I was curious about it and checked the pricing -- and found it a bit odd. I actually wonder if there is something wrong with their e-commerce setup, as Canadian pricing is actually a bit odd all around. 
 
If you buy their Dorico Pro 2 notation software through the Dorico.com site, the price is $844 CAD, and the site specifically says this includes 19% VAT as part of the price. Which is wrong -- if they are going to apply the HST tax where I live (and I'm not entirely sure they usually do), it would be 13%. If I buy Dorico 2 Pro through the main Steinberg online shop, it says "without VAT", but when it appears in my cart, it is the same price $844 CAD. Maybe local taxes are being applied. I dunno. It doesn't say anywhere. My invoice for Cubase 9.5 Pro crossgrade that I got last year says 0 tax applied. So I'm curious what is generating such a high price for Dorico 2, and is a (incorrect) 19% VAT actually being applied? One site says it is, the other says it is NOT being applied, but the price is the same. At the very least, that's a bit odd.

Nuendo 8 full version would cost me $2,499 CAD from a store in Canada (current price at Long & McQuade), but $2,837 CAD from Steinberg's online store. That's not a small difference, and I'm curious why it's there. I wonder if they are mistakenly charging the European VAT on some products to Canadians. There will come a point where I'll have to upgrade, probably, and I'd like to avoid paying more than I have to. 

Here in Canada, we're just used to paying more for everything, seems the world just takes advantage of us.
Business as usual. Steinberg send me emails about seminars and promotion tours . . . but apparently they don't ever come west of the rockies, kind of bugs me, like the map just ends there, but I guess there aren't many Cubase users out west to make it worthwhile ?
 
Think I'll wait until Cubase 10 has a sale, since Cakewalk by Bandlab is currently checking all my boxes for a DAW software, and somewhat leaving my Cubase dreams in the dust. 

And Steinberg is selling Cubase 10 with the dream of ARA2 coming in a few months.  Perhaps at that time and with a sale I will take another look at it.