[oversizedfiveyearold] Wow - they must be taking the time out to realign the UK prices [/oversizedfiveyearold]
 
 
 
 
 

John T


<drum roll>

 
I thang yooooooo
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'm a limey, and I really don't care much what it costs elsewhere. Or rather, yeah, it's kind of lame, but it;'s a bit like getting angry about the colour of the sky; it is what it is.

I choose to look at it another way, which is this: have Sonar upgrades generally been worth the money, to me? To which the answer would have to be yes. I spend more on train journeys I don't want to make every month than I do on Sonar in a year. It might be cheaper elsewhere, but I don't live elsewhere, so it's kind of moot.

This is an old story and is not exclusive to Cakewalk. Look up "Cubase 5" on Amazon.com. $469.99. Now look up "Cubase 5" on Amazon.de. EUR 594.30.


Granted, the Amazon.de price includes VAT, but even if the VAT was 20%, the German price would be higher than the U.S. price by the same proportion at Sonar.

lorneyb2


Last year everybody from Europe felt they should only have to pay 99 euro  and this year it is only 89 euro.  It kind of looks as if you got what everybody was asking for last year.  LOL. 

I don't think you're reading the same web site as everyone else Lorney.  It's 89 UKP, 99 Euro.  Last year it was 89 UKP,  99 Euro
 
BUT THAT = 145 USD  (give or take a cent)
 
We're not even complaining that it's cheaper in the US, we're complaining that the whole world pays $99 except for UK/Euro who pay $145.
 
All we're asking, and all we asked last year, is WHY?

Exactly right.

Dude,  This is NOT a Cake phenomenon. 
Haven't you noticed that the price of most technology products from US-based companies are around the same nominal $ price as nominal £ price?!
Take DELL or HP Computers... a $500 laptop will be listed as £500 in the UK retail market.  N'est pas ? LOL ;-)
Oh but wait, that isn't fair... blah, blah, blah.
The cost of doing business outside the US is higher due to governmental and cultural issues. 
Until that changes, the cost will get passed along to your consumers.

Some of it is the cost of doing business. Some of it, if everyone's being honest, is the fact that you can cynically get away with it. In this sense, the people complaining have a point.

It's all very well saying Cakewalk are protecting their distribution network.
The distribution network however does not offer downloads.
When purchasing a download from the Cakewalk store, the distributer is not involved.

How is it justified that Cakewalk charge the inflated price that a distributer charges?

Cakewalk will say it is to reflect sales taxes and the like in the customer's region but will not provide details of the taxes charged nor details of their account with the EU tax authorities. Until they do then we can only summise that this is a lie and that the price is fixed at a level to discourage people in the EU from using the web store and encourage them to purchase through their local distributor.

Please Cakewalk - allow us European/UK customers to pay the same price as the rest of the world and account for our own taxes and import duties to our local authorities.

Many other US businesses allow this and still manage to maintain distribution networks.

John T

Twigman


It's all very well saying Cakewalk are protecting their distribution network.
The distribution network however does not offer downloads.
When purchasing a download from the Cakewalk store, the distributer is not involved.

No, but significantly cheaper downloads would undermine the physical distribution network, and physical distributors would get mighty pissed about it. It's the same reason games aren't generally cheaper on Steam (in fact, often more expensive).

Myself, I long for the day when software is by default download only, and this issue is pretty much moot.

2 years ago Robin Kelly suggested that Cakewalk themselves collected and paid the VAT over http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=1493554 ...if thet were the case then they would surely provide their VAT registration details on request. I have previously requested but never been given them. I can only draw the conclusion that they are not EU VAT registered and that they are spinning a yarn to all those who question their pricing policies.

Do cakewalk provide a legitimate VAT invoice with their downloads ( including VAT reg details and VAT amount charged) ?

I have never bought a download from Cakewalk.com, I would like to, perhaps but I suspect I would not receive a VAT invoice so have not,  so cannot say for sure but I suspect not.

Karyn



To single out one market and make it 40% more expensive than the rest of the world is...   I can't say for fear of being banned, but you know what I'm thinking...

Racist?
No
Fascist?
Probably

John T


"Fascist"?

Bit of a lack of perspective there, I reckon.

Nope - irrational discrimination is always fascism.

> Nope - discrimination is always fascism.

It's really not. This is a simple "look it up" thing.

Karyn

Twigman

2 years ago Robin Kelly suggested that Cakewalk themselves collected and paid the VAT over http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=1493554%C2%A0 ...if thet were the case then they would surely provide their VAT registration details on request.

Further to that, under the regulations for trade/transfer of goods/services by electronic means from countries outside the EU, (that's means a download from Cakewalk), I can provide my VAT registration number with my order and they are required to charge me the pre-tax rate, ie. the same they charge everyone else in $.
 
Faliure to accept my VAT reg no, is a breach of the regulations. Failure to provide a VAT invoice is a breach of the regulations. 

and Cakewalk fail on all counts here.

Hey, Mods. Could you please move this to the Coffee House? I get tired of even having to see the thread title at the top of the SONAR forum for 30 days every year.