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Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

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Re: Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

#81

Post by Greg14 »

AverageBanana wrote: post #70
blowski wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the relationship between the dollar and euro have changed The Euro has never gone below $1.17, and has averaged at around $1.32 since Dropbox launched in 2008. > it accounts for VAT Dropbox don't pay VAT in the EU. https://www.dropbox.com/help/971

The whole area of VAT in the EU, for companies like Dropbox, changes on January 1, 2015. Dropbox will not be able to state that they don't pay VAT in the EU after this date as the rules will have changed. They will have to start paying VAT based on where their customer is located in the EU, e.g. German Dropbox customers will have to pay German VAT (19%). Hungarian Dropbox customers, meanwhile, will have to pay Hungar…

Dropbox should be charging VAT in the EU. There is an 2003 EU law that states companies selling "e-services" into the EU must charge the VAT rate of the country of the EU customer. Dropbox stating the following doesn't remove them from paying EU VAT. https://www.dropbox.com/help/971

Re: Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

#82

Post by nraynaud »

sugerman wrote: post #73
chton wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't just paying more. I'm aware of how tax-heavy europe is, and how much harder it is to support the wide variety of languages and laws. In most cases, I would be fine paying a bit more for a service. The problem is the way the mark-up happens. They're not calculating the difference and marking that up, they're literally just equating US dollars with euros. $99 and €99 might sound similar, but the diffe…

Who is to say they didn't do a "proper calculation" and result in something close enough to €99 that they just rounded up/down to keep things consistent?

India as 37 languages and a mess of a country, I guess they are selling their product for 150% of the American price there?

Re: Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

#83

Post by [deleted] »

deciplex wrote: post #79
dreen wrote: post #38

If you are in Europe I recommend hubiC instead of Dropbox. They are much cheaper and have servers in Europe (France - they are child company of OVH). Dropbox only has servers in America [1], so its slower. - 25GB free - 100GB 1€/m - 10TB 10€/m Yes you read that right, its TEN TIMES the space of Dropbox Pro, for the same price. Im not affiliated or anything, just a satisfied customer. [1] - https://www.dropbox.com/hel…

Also, they don't hand your data over to the US government.

[deleted]

Re: Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

#84

Post by antr »

Not unique to Dropbox but most software. This is why I have various Apple IDs. I purchase most, if not all, of the apps via the US iTunes store with my US Apple ID, given that many devs stills use $4.99 = €4.99.

I only use a non-US Apple ID to download region specific apps: banking, local TV apps, etc.

Re: Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

#85

Post by nraynaud »

Kequc wrote: post #22

In general; a $2 cup of coffee in north america costs 2€ in Europe. A $300 Wii U in north america costs 300€ in Europe. The only time currency conversion matters is because you are converting between two currencies, when buying a product from another country. GOG.com sells all their games in north american prices because it only has offices in north america. You are buying a product from north america when you buy fr…

Do not buy GSM stuff blindly in the US, some phones might not be used in some countries. The iPhones have different part numbers and different frequency ranges depending on the country.

Re: Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

#86

Post by masklinn »

claudius wrote: post #55
masklinn wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Import tax is generally the same as VAT as far as I know. There's no import tax on software, on services, on cell phones or on laptops. I could find no such thing on TARIC anyway. It does list consoles with 0% import tax.

There are no customs, but you still have to pay import tax of the same amount as VAT would have been if you had bought the item locally as a consumer, at least that was the case last time I bought something in the US.

You have to pay the VAT, which is just that, the VAT. The fundamental problem with locally sourced electronics or "1€ = $1" services is not so much the local VAT as the extra 10-20% on top of the VAT.

Re: Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

#87

Post by masklinn »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #77
masklinn wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except 1 EUR = 1.31 USD right now, so even with a 19% VAT, the EUR value should be lower than USD: $649 + 19% VAT is 588€ not 699. 19% european surcharge on top of the VAT.

How about import taxes then? I can imagine Apple is a US company and thus pays either no or very little import tax when they get their shipments from the production facilities in China, but to get it to Europe costs more money. I can imagine. I know nothing.

No import taxes on laptops or cell phones in the EU.

Re: Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

#88

Post by speeder »

simonh wrote: post #39
nicky0 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A $300 Wii U in north america costs 300€ in Europe. I don't get what you are saying. Do you think that the number will always be 300 everywhere. 300 Yen, 300 pounds?

No, he's saying what he's saying. A $1300 Macbook costs £1,000 here in the UK which is roughly 30% more expensive than a direct currency conversion would have you expect. If you take that $1300 Macbook, add 30% and convert that to Euros it just happens to be that it works out at about €1300 which is what they charge in Germany. Someone posted about that here earlier. Most of that 30% is due to VAT at around 20% for m…

When my sister went to a backpack trip.visiting lots of countries in Europe ( she visited England, Holland, and lots of countries.between.there and Croatia, Hungary, etc...) she was surprised.about how much everything was.cheaper than Brazil, government efficiency is always impressive, the more efficient your government is, the lower the prices compared to other countries,.nevermind.comparing to your own income ( ie: despite Europe having lower prices.than Brazil, salaries, even after all taxes, are much, much higher )

Re: Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

#89

Post by orbitur »

smnrchrds wrote: post #67
gadders wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And typically $300 converts to £300 which is even worse.

Yet it never converts to CAD $300

The EUR and GBP are worth significantly more than the USD, while the CAD is always less than the USD.

Basically, everyone outside the US is screwed in different ways.

Re: Weird pricing of Dropbox Pro

#90

Post by frabcus »

simonh wrote: post #39
nicky0 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A $300 Wii U in north america costs 300€ in Europe. I don't get what you are saying. Do you think that the number will always be 300 everywhere. 300 Yen, 300 pounds?

No, he's saying what he's saying. A $1300 Macbook costs £1,000 here in the UK which is roughly 30% more expensive than a direct currency conversion would have you expect. If you take that $1300 Macbook, add 30% and convert that to Euros it just happens to be that it works out at about €1300 which is what they charge in Germany. Someone posted about that here earlier. Most of that 30% is due to VAT at around 20% for m…

Medical insurance is an important exception.
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