This euro/dollar thing

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
thefool
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Post by thefool » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:20 am

its a tax thing but i found a way around it :P
Just let americans buy the stuff for you and transfer the license.

OR with melodyne, it is available for 200$ at places like audiomidi (and talked with celemony, its WITH the upgrade to DNA when it comes). 200$ with tax and shit, then you just have to pay a bit for sending.

Its a gift. Its legal.
In many cases with smaller prices its not worth it, but here when we talk 200$ compared to 650$ or such, its another story.

Hm but yes usually when they are listed like that the prices, its because the euro prices has added VAT.

Denmark has 25% vat compared to germany's eh what, 19%? So if i can get stuff from over the border i get it. Inside EU its allowed, if buying from outside eu i have to pay tax ON TOP of the price, + 10% import price + 20$ import fee.

Buying books from amazon.co.uk is smart due to the uk's VAT on books thing
Last edited by thefool on Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

bartvd
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Location: netherlands

Post by bartvd » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:27 am

some sites dont check your IP.. just fill in a non euro country so the price will be displayed in Dollars.
You can still download the software and pay for it.. only now its the better dollar price.
macbook 2ghz, 2g ram. live 7
yamaha wx5/ akai ewi usb

micro-jr
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Post by micro-jr » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:33 am

tw1nstates wrote:To save Neb a bit of hassle (although what a kind offer, this forum really is pretty good IMO)

You can also check out JRR shop, I just bought Melodyne from them using email delivery.

Loads cheaper than here.. . .


Cheers

TS
Hi, checked out JRR and they sell Live for $499 instead of the EUR 499 at ableton.com. It does not say if it is possible to buy the download version though. Anyone knows if this is possible only from Ableton?

thefool
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Post by thefool » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:37 am

bartvd wrote:some sites dont check your IP.. just fill in a non euro country so the price will be displayed in Dollars.
You can still download the software and pay for it.. only now its the better dollar price.
WHICH IS DANGEROUS. I talked with RefX about doing that and they said the order would be cancelled by shareit due to the VAT. Same goes for other places. You risk of getting an after tax smash hit
Hi, checked out JRR and they sell Live for $499 instead of the EUR 499 at ableton.com. It does not say if it is possible to buy the download version though. Anyone knows if this is possible only from Ableton?
Did you read what i wrote? The eur price is WITH tax. The $ is not.

micro-jr
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Post by micro-jr » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:45 am

thefool wrote:
Did you read what i wrote? The eur price is WITH tax. The $ is not.
Yeah, read it after writing my question.
Do I have to pay tax when receiving a serial number by e-mail?

thefool
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Post by thefool » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:50 am

micro-jr wrote:
thefool wrote:
Did you read what i wrote? The eur price is WITH tax. The $ is not.
Yeah, read it after writing my question.
Do I have to pay tax when receiving a serial number by e-mail?
I am sure ableton will not let you buy it in $ if you are from the eu :)

forge
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Post by forge » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:53 am

micro-jr wrote:
thefool wrote:
Did you read what i wrote? The eur price is WITH tax. The $ is not.
Yeah, read it after writing my question.
Do I have to pay tax when receiving a serial number by e-mail?
I'm sure you'd find technically you're supposed to, but whether or not it's enforcible is another matter

micro-jr
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Post by micro-jr » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:56 am

thefool wrote:
I am sure ableton will not let you buy it in $ if you are from the eu :)
Thats my fecking point!
The JRR shop will let me buy it in $ though, and as the customs guys probably wont check my e-mail my question is: Will I be able to buy the download version/ serial number from someone else than Ableton?

Timur
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Post by Timur » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:03 am

I'm going to buy a bunch of hardware from the US, because even after shipping and customs it's still way cheaper than buying in Germany (and that includes german products that are produced in Germany).

I think it's like with Danone Joghurt in France. Because of the extreme competition of discounts in germany they have to sell them alot cheaper in Germany than in France even upto the point where the french customers pay the difference of what Danone thinks to have missed in income from Germany.

So the french pay for our joghurt and we europeans pay for american music software and hardware. 8)

thefool
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Post by thefool » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:06 am

Timur wrote:I'll be buying a bunch of hardware from the US, because even after shipping and customs it's still way cheaper than buying in Germany (and that includes german products that are produced in Germany).

I think it's like with Danone Joghurt in France. Because of the extreme competition of discounts in germany they have to sell them alot cheaper in Germany than in France even upto the point where the french customers pay the difference of what Danone thinks to have missed in income from Germany.

So the french pay for our joghurt and we europeans pay for american music software and hardware. 8)
I do the same with parfums (no not gay but hehe. Seriously, if i go to the store here and want to get a parfum, hm lets say armani or calvin clein i'll easily drop 100$ for the 50-100 ml's, while i can get 2-3 bottles for the same price inclusive posting, import tax and so on. I use it for presents to people, so they get all like "woot thats expensive".. "Yeah sure it is but you know i love you" hehe)

forge
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Post by forge » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:07 am

Timur wrote:I'm going to buy a bunch of hardware from the US, because even after shipping and customs it's still way cheaper than buying in Germany (and that includes german products that are produced in Germany).

I think it's like with Danone Joghurt in France. Because of the extreme competition of discounts in germany they have to sell them alot cheaper in Germany than in France even upto the point where the french customers pay the difference of what Danone thinks to have missed in income from Germany.

So the french pay for our joghurt and we europeans pay for american music software and hardware. 8)
except considering the overwhelming majority of audio software and hardware is German I think you lot still end up ahead! ;-)

thefool
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Post by thefool » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:08 am

forge wrote:
Timur wrote:I'm going to buy a bunch of hardware from the US, because even after shipping and customs it's still way cheaper than buying in Germany (and that includes german products that are produced in Germany).

I think it's like with Danone Joghurt in France. Because of the extreme competition of discounts in germany they have to sell them alot cheaper in Germany than in France even upto the point where the french customers pay the difference of what Danone thinks to have missed in income from Germany.

So the french pay for our joghurt and we europeans pay for american music software and hardware. 8)
except considering the overwhelming majority of audio software and hardware is German I think you lot still end up ahead! ;-)
no he won't. USA is just a poorer country than us in the EU, hence you get things cheaper.

smartass303
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Post by smartass303 » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:15 am

Timur wrote: I think it's like with Danone Joghurt in France. Because of the extreme competition of discounts in germany they have to sell them alot cheaper in Germany than in France even upto the point where the french customers pay the difference of what Danone thinks to have missed in income from Germany.

So the french pay for our joghurt and we europeans pay for american music software and hardware. 8)
I think its not that easy,
there seems to be a arcane link between music gear (soft/hard) prices in EU vs. USA.
This is timurs pov when i understood right. A lot more of competition in the US market etc. so the europeans have to pay the higher prices. okay...
But the superweak dollar and the ongoing market struggle is going to become a BIG FAT RECESSION.
Which is bad for everyone.
So i think in the short term it will stay like this US=cheaper, EU=pricier. But for how long? How does it look like in the long term?
Maybe is everything (not only muso gear, gas, gold etc.) becoming much more expensive?

spooky,

303

thefool
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Post by thefool » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:18 am

right now i'm just taking a big phat advantage of the weak dollar, but i've heard about some big companies over there starting to loose it and go bankrupt. Talked with one yesterday which brother just lost a job in such company. One day they where fine, the next the stock dropped from 82$ or so to 2$!

I don't think it will have big impact on the EU though, we're doing great. But maybe. Who know?

Timur
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Post by Timur » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:28 am

Well, if you see it this way then I'm even supporting both sides when buying from the US. I'm pumping money into the US economy by buying from there and I'm still supporting the german companies who build the stuff, assuming that they still make some income when selling their stuff in the US (albeit less than when selling it here).

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