Looks great, but the announced pricing surely is a misprint?

Hey there,

Longish-time Cakewalk customer here (since SONAR 3!).

Looking forward to upgrade from Sonar 8.5 Pro come December, however, there's this little thing - 99 USD does NOT equal 99 EUR or 89 GBP. Not even close. Could somebody mention this to friendly sales guys at Roland please? Being ripped off really ruins my day.

Cheers!

Pretty sure import tax etc. has little to nothing to do with it in my case.

Anyway, the US Dollar took a huge dive in relation to the ZAR last year. So was it R9000 in February or in December? Or was it 9000 all year through? If the latter: Pure rip-off.

Supaboid


Hey there,

Longish-time Cakewalk customer here (since SONAR 3!).

Looking forward to upgrade from Sonar 8.5 Pro come December, however, there's this little thing - 99 USD does NOT equal 99 EUR or 89 GBP. Not even close. Could somebody mention this to friendly sales guys at Roland please? Being ripped off really ruins my day.

Cheers!

Same here, since V2.
You've got a point.  If the price is 89GBP from the US I would have to pay Duties and VAT in ADDITION to that.  We'll have to wait and see what our local distributors are charging.  If the UK distributor wants £89 just to ship it internally in the UK then that's a ludicrous markup on the US $99 (£62 today).  I think from memory Cakewalk bulk ship to somewhere in Ireland from where european distribution happens, so by putting that into the chain means someone else needs to make a turn on warehousing, bulk handling, shipping, etc. 

Don't forget that $99 excludes sales tax, but £89 and €99 includes VAT.
Nevertheless, I agree that the pricing is as wrong for non-US customers as it's always been. In the UK for example it's a $121 equivalent compared to $99 in the US, i.e. 22% more expensive.
(£89 x 1.6 $/£) / 1.175 (UK VAT adjustment) = $121.19

£99 pounds include vat but delivery will be extra if you want a  boxed version plus the boxed version will probably cost £10 extra.
The £99 is probably just for the downloadable version. I would not worry about the VAT when you pay your £99 pounds as its down to cakewalk to pay this or not.
Cakewalk ship to the HP (Ballybrit) Galway (Irleand) and is then distributed around Europe.
89.00 GBP = 142.386 USD 99.00 EUR = 138.282 USD You have a choice to go for an upgrade or not. But The exchange rates once again are not fair.
We have this row every year. No one in Cakewalk with answer this just complaint in private or on the forum check last years row on this forum.
You either take it or leave it.
I would  not rush to buy right away, just wait and see how buggy it is if any and then wait for the update that's how most companies work. You are looking for trouble jumping in first day if you are working on serious project with deadlines. If just a hobbyist then go for it.

@  This is not about buying in the US or the UK,  it's about buying in Dollars or Sterling.

UK customers are forced to use the Sterling priced store,  Euro Customers are forced to use the Euro priced store.
EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD can buy in Dollars, and THE PRICES DON'T MATCH.

It's not about sales tax  (which we call VAT)
It's not about import duty  (we get charged that seperately,  sometimes.)

It is indefensible of Cakewalk to keep doing this. - Europe (including U.K) are getting ripped off. I find it disappointing that some members here do attempt to justify Cake, claiming import tax etc. - If an international customer buys directly from Cakewalk, for a download upgrade, all we should pay is the current value of the dollar against our currency + vat.

JenksTer


  all we should pay is the current value of the dollar against our currency + vat.

and they should provide a VAT invoice with their EU VAT registration details on it so that those of us who are registered for VAT can claim it back.

AT


Must we go through this every year?  There are a lot of reasons why non-US pay more, some to do w/ tax structure, import duties, etc.

In the US you pay State sales tax on top of the list price to pay for local governments.  So here in dallas, you pay about $109 for the upgrade if you buy it in the store.  Still not the same, I know.  But just wait - if we get a VAT, too, then you dosh garn forgieners will have to pay that, too.
@

The same rules apply here in Norway; when I receive my package from Cakewalk, I'm billed 25% sales tax from the shipping provider .
And as I said earlier we do NOT have to pay VAT on digital downloads/electronic delivery.

Norway is NOT a member of the EU and we don't use Euro, why should I be forced to pay in one foreign currency instead of another?

I don't think it is fair that I have to pay more to Cakewalk than you have to.


Per

There are all kinds of variables in international trade - even over the internet.  One thing is that (I think) the Eu and Europe have a higher cost of doing business - reflected in the price of things.  More rules and regulations.  More government employees to check all the rules and regs.  And finally the way things are taxed. 

In the US most national taxes comes out of our paychecks, not when buying.  Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare are taken out of our paycheck off the top.  So if you make a dollar, you only see about 85 cents.  Then there is income tax, also taken off the top.  So to buy a $99 bit of software "costs" about $114 in real purchasing power and the income tax on that - anywhere from 0 to 36%.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't more EU etc. taxes paid as sales tax, even if hidden ones?  So Cake charges $138 to the EU users, but has to pay 20+% of it to the government?  I'm no international tax expert (hell, I can barely manage my income tax), but my rough calculation looks startling like the same relative price in the US/Eu.

As noted by Twig, Cake doesn't do VAT rebates.  I can only assume it is cost prohibitive to do the paperwork.  Maybe not - you'd have to bring that up w/ their accountants but there is probably a good (for Cakewalk/Roland, anyway) reason for it.  I don't suppose they just want to piss off their EU customers.

Either way, Roland/Cake will charge what they can get away with both here and there.

AT




As noted by Twig, Cake doesn't do VAT rebates.  I can only assume it is cost prohibitive to do the paperwork.  Maybe not - you'd have to bring that up w/ their accountants but there is probably a good (for Cakewalk/Roland, anyway) reason for it.  I don't suppose they just want to piss off their EU customers.

it's not cake who would do the rebates it's the EU local tax authorities.
If cake are paying (and charging VAT) they are bound by law to issue a VAT invoice containing their VAT registration details and the amount of VAT they charge at the point of sale. The purchaser then reclaims that VAT against their own return/payment of VAT.
If Cake are charging VAt and paying it to the approproiate authorities there is no additional paperwork required beyond issuing the appropriate invoice and submitting the appropriate tax return - which they would have to do anyway.

Twigman

AT




As noted by Twig, Cake doesn't do VAT rebates.  I can only assume it is cost prohibitive to do the paperwork.  Maybe not - you'd have to bring that up w/ their accountants but there is probably a good (for Cakewalk/Roland, anyway) reason for it.  I don't suppose they just want to piss off their EU customers.

it's not cake who would do the rebates it's the EU local tax authorities.
If cake are paying (and charging VAT) they are bound by law to issue a VAT invoice containing their VAT registration details and the amount of VAT they charge at the point of sale. The purchaser then reclaims that VAT against their own return/payment of VAT.
If Cake are charging VAt and paying it to the approproiate authorities there is no additional paperwork required beyond issuing the appropriate invoice and submitting the appropriate tax return - which they would have to do anyway.

+1

...and once again we get the silent treatment from Cakewalk, though I'm pretty sure they know they're on thin ice here

Karyn,

Twig sez the VAT is easy, you say it is a ****.  If you guys don't agree, what is a stupid american to make of it ?  Regulations and uncertainty raise prices, tho you have to try hard to do an extra 40%. 

@

I really would like to see a comment from Cake about this.

I get around this VAT issue by buying from my local distributor.

In however many years I have never bought at cakewalk.com, always at Edirol or Digital Village.
Of course I pay the local distributor prices and not the nice prices that our US cousins get.  - but at least I know the VAT is being paid and I get a VAT invoice.