5 ms·

A comment on the site points it out already but they charge European users more now (€9.99 which is $13.17 currently). Is there an external reason? Does that i

A comment on the site points it out already but they charge European users more now (€9.99 which is $13.17 currently). Is there an external reason? Does that include VAT? Did they get a datacentre somewhere in the EU?

jrnkntl 12y ago
Yeah, what's up with that? Apple-esque practices for digital goods. I just used a VPN to purchase the $ plan instead.
- petercooper 12y ago
  If you bought it personally (i.e. a B2C sale) you should be fine, but as a warning for any (update: UK based, at least) VAT-registered traders or businesses, you will need to reverse charge the VAT which mostly defeats the point.
  - jrnkntl 12y ago
    You don't need to reverse charge the VAT as a EU business because there's no VAT stated on the invoice at all (b/c it's a US company). [edited] this is bullocks, IANAA(ccountant) applies here deservedly.
    - petercooper 12y ago
      Maybe VAT law is different in your country but that is not true in the UK where reverse charging of VAT is required on services where the supplier is "outside the UK" (including outside the EU). Indeed, HMRC's guidance on this includes an example of a US-based Web hosting company providing hosting to a UK business: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/vatpossmanual/vatposs14300.htm http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/vatpossmanual/vatposs14300.ht... HMRC do note that "the UK applies the reverse charge provisions more widely than elsewhere in the EU", however, and for this I get the joy of having to reverse charge about 50 invoices a quarter for US services (all our hosting, SaaS bills, etc) ;-) For example, if a host in the US bills us $100, we then have to reverse charge $20 converted into GBP at approved rates, then claim the equivalent back.. so the net position is zero but it has to be accounted for (holds head in hands and rocks back and forth).
    - jrnkntl 12y ago
      ^ to peter [edited] Aha, just checked with my accountant and that is indeed the case, it is a net zero operation. Still doesn't matter for the $ / € story though.
petercooper 12y ago
It's weird because it doesn't really say anywhere, but prices should include VAT, although unless they're selling as an EU-based or VAT-registered company, it's not mandatory. Since this seems more B2C than B2B, I'm assuming the £79/year I see includes VAT, so that's £65.83 without 20% VAT, which is $109.17 at today's rates. I would not consider this too unfairly deviant of the US pricing considering the volatility of exchange rates.
chmars 12y ago
Many American cloud providers, software vendors etc. charged their USD prices in EUR to European customers, even to European customers outside the Euro zone. An American VPN and sometimes some further fiddling with your browsers usually allows to purchase in USD … For my commercial purchases, i.e., purchases as a company, I have to pay the local VAT anyway upon import including digital services like Dropbox.

jrnkntl 12y ago

Yeah, what's up with that? Apple-esque practices for digital goods. I just used a VPN to purchase the $ plan instead.

petercooper 12y ago
If you bought it personally (i.e. a B2C sale) you should be fine, but as a warning for any (update: UK based, at least) VAT-registered traders or businesses, you will need to reverse charge the VAT which mostly defeats the point.
- jrnkntl 12y ago
  You don't need to reverse charge the VAT as a EU business because there's no VAT stated on the invoice at all (b/c it's a US company). [edited] this is bullocks, IANAA(ccountant) applies here deservedly.
  - petercooper 12y ago
    Maybe VAT law is different in your country but that is not true in the UK where reverse charging of VAT is required on services where the supplier is "outside the UK" (including outside the EU). Indeed, HMRC's guidance on this includes an example of a US-based Web hosting company providing hosting to a UK business: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/vatpossmanual/vatposs14300.htm http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/vatpossmanual/vatposs14300.ht... HMRC do note that "the UK applies the reverse charge provisions more widely than elsewhere in the EU", however, and for this I get the joy of having to reverse charge about 50 invoices a quarter for US services (all our hosting, SaaS bills, etc) ;-) For example, if a host in the US bills us $100, we then have to reverse charge $20 converted into GBP at approved rates, then claim the equivalent back.. so the net position is zero but it has to be accounted for (holds head in hands and rocks back and forth).
  - jrnkntl 12y ago
    ^ to peter [edited] Aha, just checked with my accountant and that is indeed the case, it is a net zero operation. Still doesn't matter for the $ / € story though.

petercooper 12y ago

It's weird because it doesn't really say anywhere, but prices should include VAT, although unless they're selling as an EU-based or VAT-registered company, it's not mandatory. Since this seems more B2C than B2B, I'm assuming the £79/year I see includes VAT, so that's £65.83 without 20% VAT, which is $109.17 at today's rates. I would not consider this too unfairly deviant of the US pricing considering the volatility of exchange rates.

chmars 12y ago

Many American cloud providers, software vendors etc. charged their USD prices in EUR to European customers, even to European customers outside the Euro zone. An American VPN and sometimes some further fiddling with your browsers usually allows to purchase in USD … For my commercial purchases, i.e., purchases as a company, I have to pay the local VAT anyway upon import including digital services like Dropbox.