Oh, I just noticed this on my recepit:

"VAT Number : EU826012240"

Perhaps those of you who live in Europe are paying VAT, not California sales tax.

Quote - On my reciept was a link to their W-9 tax form...but no shipping info. hopefully that will be emailed in the morning.

Same here, Invoice in my email with a link to a W-9 form and absolutely no shipping information at all. I have no idea what is happening other than they have my order.

Quote - Oh, I just noticed this on my recepit:

"VAT Number : EU826012240"

Perhaps those of you who live in Europe are paying VAT, not California sales tax.

Same here and putting that number in Google comes up with this

http://www.fastspring.com/features.php

Doesn't look like a mistake to me but then I have no legal background.

Question: I'm ugrading from 2012-- do I need to download all the new content installers?

They seem similar in size to the 2012 versions . . .

Quote - From Poser_Stefan over at RDNA:

"It's not FastSpring's job to write or enforce tax laws, but it is their job to follow them.

"For the non-EU supplier whose EU customers are non-business individuals or organisations, there will now be an obligation to charge and account for VAT on these sales just as EU suppliers have to do."

Source:
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs...1610_en.htm#a1 "

 

TD

Ok, you're joking right? That has been in effect 10 years now and suddenly SM discovered it now? I'm not buying it..... no pun intended.

Well they can sort out the tax issue, it makes no sense at all. I'm going lot's of download stuff in the US as well as in the EU and I never pay tax over it, so I'm not going to do so to SM, especially not if they're suddenly going to refer to 10 year old laws.

Hope they sort it out soon.

Just purchased from the United Arab Emirates. $199.-- straight via Paypal. Also, correctly shown in local currency. No taxes. Are there regional differences, or has SM sorted out the process?

Quote - Question: I'm ugrading from 2012-- do I need to download all the new content installers?

They seem similar in size to the 2012 versions . . .

Hmm ... thinking out loud here.

If you want Rex and Roxie, you'll need to download the Nude Figures installer.

The new Toons figures (which are fantastic and SOOOOO expressive) are in the PoserCartoons installer.

The Poser Support Files installer contains the Face Room support for all of the supported figures, including Rex and Roxie. Also the Project Guide files are in there as well (I believe).

Some starter clothing for Rex and Roxie will be in the PoserClothing installer.

Remaining from that are Poser Casual and Poser Hair (which includes a couple new hair fits for Rex and Roxie), and these are the smallest of the downloads. Offhand I can't think of anything new in Poser Props, but I'll have to verify that.

At least after reading through some of the Fasttspring stuff I don't have to worry about credit card charging for converting from dollars to sterling. So looks like it will just be shipping, import duty and collection commision to pay.

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - In the UK we should pay 17.5% but on those sites that do collect the tax 20% appears the norm.

VAT in the UK hasn't been 17.5% for a least well over a year. It went down a bit for a while to encourage people to spend, but then went up to 20%.

I ordered the physical upgrade from 2012 as my broadband tends to timeout with very large files.

Cost me £143.96 a bit more than I was expecting, but there was no tax added. I assume that import duty etc will be added when they deliver it to me.

o.0 I wonder if the tax is added to digital download.....GUH >.< so itching to go buy it right now.....but Not going to till I find out how much tax will be added.

o.0 I wonder if the tax is added to digital download.....GUH >.< so itching to go buy it right now.....but Not going to till I find out how much tax will be added.

Tax is added to the digital download - 20% if you are based in the UK.  Total cost to me was £179.84 including VAT and the Digital Backup Facilty (+£5.91).  About the same as a physical shipment I would guess once you have paid the import charge, unless you are lucky for it to slip through without.  Also not a massive different once my Card Provider did a dollar to pound conversion.

Hello people, anyone knowing how to know the price of the shipping for the physical version? Thank you... I think I will wait some days to purchase... waiting to read the notes of my Poser heros and gurus :)

fabi

Quote - Hello people, anyone knowing how to know the price of the shipping for the physical version? Thank you... I think I will wait some days to purchase... waiting to read the notes of my Poser heros and gurus :)

 

fabi

It's about $20 US more than the downloadble version. With the exchange rate, I paid $22 more than the download price.

Regarding the VAT again ...

If I'm not all mistaken, I think we non-US ppl payed the taxes, for the digial versions back when PP2012/P9 came out, already (I'm from .de as well). Something about paying VAT rang my bell, while reading through this topic here.

I looked at my paypal payment for PP2012 from back then, and it was exactly $287.49. IIRC, while the regular price was stated at $500 (for the PP2012 version), pre-orders were rewarded with a 50% coupon, so it was "just" $250 after all. But, as said, I was charged with $287.49 , that included a 15% tax (VAT).

So in conclusion I think it's all as it should be, by (tax-) laws at least :P

I just got it and got clobbered the 20% VAT here in the uk too, (29.97) but to be honest ive been dying for this and 29.97 aint gonna stop me lol. 

Now I will have to wait for my bank statement to see how much they charge me for the 'non-uk commission fee' on top of that!

Well I know what I need to save for now. I am anxious to see what the two new human figures are like.

Okay, took the plunge and paid my tax...

It requires your address and will calculate the amount based on the country specified - probably verified against your cc details as well.

However... You are free to choose your currency.

Setting it to UK pounds it calculates as £143.96 + £28.79 VAT = £172.75 total
However, setting the currency to US dollars it calculates as $199 + $40 VAT = $239.99 which, at the current conversion rate, is £158.20

They are using an exchange rate of about 1.38 dollars to the pound when it is currently about 1.52 - I know they probably want to standardise their prices but when was the exchange that low?

I.e. either they are doing something wrong or are applying one heck of a mark up on the exchange rate. Guess which currency I chose to pay in.

Software didn't have any import duties for the EU when I looked a few years ago, just VAT. However on physical goods the shipping companies do like to charge for the onerous task of collecting the VAT (last time I had to pay for something the VAT was less than the handling fee).

Quote - I absolutely get the point! But I do not get the point why a german or swedish citizen has to pay more tax as an US citizen... (as more as we do not use the roads over there - that's the reason why everybody pays sale-taxes to his home land).

I wonder is it VAT for European customers? A lot of US companies are charging us VAT, and I don't like the idea because we have no way of knowing if they even pay it over to the EU.

I've held off buying until SM clarify this for us.

I'm back!

here's what SM wrote to me:

"These taxes are then reported and paid directly to the EU by FastSpring. The invoice we provide to you at purchase completion will include the VAT amount as well as the FastSpring VAT ID. For more information on VAT Taxes, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax."

So what is charged is Value added tax (Umsatzsteuer/sog. Mehrwertsteuer for german folks) not import tax. Digital goods are still import tax free.

I hope that clears up things a bit.

As Magic_Man said: Choosing the right currency is a legal way to save some bucks. And looking around at Amazon & Co for Poser 9 and PoserPro 2012 helps a bit to forget about the tax when you see what you are charged for old software...

Update: Oder is done. I did the following

Choosing US in the upper right corner but filling in my german adress. This way I could pay in Dollar. Paypal offered an exchange rate that saved me in the end more then 11 Dollar. IMHO a nice little plaster on the hole that the VAT teared in my purse.

Quote - I just got it and got clobbered the 20% VAT here in the uk too, (29.97) but to be honest ive been dying for this and 29.97 aint gonna stop me lol. 

 

Now I will have to wait for my bank statement to see how much they charge me for the 'non-uk commission fee' on top of that!

indeed. I am using my balance in paypal...but its part in pounds sterling part dollars and paypal is a tw*t when it comes to mixing currencies for some odd reason.

Didnt we say we werent going to upgrade? LOL.

Hmmm.... have to wonder just exactly what value is considered to be added in a digital download that makes it subject to VAT. :rolleyes:

Quote - Hmmm.... have to wonder just exactly what value is considered to be added in a digital download that makes it subject to VAT. :rolleyes:

Glad I don't live in Europe. 

I paid the upgrade price listed on SM's site, not a penny more. As it should be.

~Shane

Thanks for the clarification. I was rather annoyed when the discount prices were listed but a price about 10% higher came up when I went to purchase. I didn't understand why it was higher. In Australia it is illegal to advertise a price without tax included. I know that isn't the case in the USA.

Well, being  a Brit in Texas, I wouldn't even mind paying the 8% sales tax over the 20% VAT you have to pay back in ole blighty :P

I'm gonna hold off on buying anyway...have till the end of next month to take advantage of the intro price.

As I have said in another thread, living in the UK I have got used to paying in pounds what the buyers in the US pay in dollers, so in that sense it is cheap.

I also worked out that, assuming the same time period between this and the next release, it is going to cost me about £2.30 a week, or the price of a cup of coffee, now thats what I calla bargin.

Belgians pay 21% VAT. As in other countries however advertised prices should either include that VAT or mention when it's not. I can imagine those people at Fastspring dividing all that money per country or state.

I also worked out that, assuming the same time period between this and the next release, it is going to cost me about £2.30 a week, or the price of a cup of coffee, now thats what I calla bargin.

You are right! Compared with other 3D-software we are still on the side where a hobbyist can afford it as well. *

Where did you find the option to change currency? I see an option to change location, which needs to be UK for me, but no way to change currency to dollars (I have dollars in my PayPal account, so can avoid the conversion process).

Near the top right, there's a currency selector drop down - it's on the page where you enter your details.

The country is the currency. Select US there and it should go to dollars.

 ...or is the currency on the previous page, where the list of other products is? Can't remember exactly...

there is a second country selector in the contact details for your address.

Ah (or possibly d'oh). Thank you.

Quote - I also worked out that, assuming the same time period between this and the next release, it is going to cost me about £2.30 a week, or the price of a cup of coffee, now thats what I calla bargin.

You are right! Compared with other 3D-software we are still on the side where a hobbyist can afford it as well. *

Fantastic value and it will last much longer than a cup of coffee too. It went straight into my basket. :)

Edit to add: I think Roxie and Rex look cute too! I'm going to enjoy playing with them. :)

Got mine and since I live in Australia got slugged the GST for it so instead of the $207 I worked it out at, (being the Australian Dollar is lower at the moment) that and the extra 2 years service I paid $230 AUD for it...

Man I hate taxes but better than it could have been..

I remember buying my first version of poser.  was it 10 yrs ago maybe?  I bought poser 4 and I was so so excited.  but my product didnt arrive. I had a whole weekend off ready to play, and no poser, because customs held my little poser people to ransom. I had to pay about 110 dollars to get my poser people into the country.  since then I get downloads.  

Of course when my poser program did arrive I loaded in dork and accidentally twisted his head off.

Love esther

Actually Ghosty the GST doesn't kick in for purchases under $1000 so I'm guessing you paid the US taxes like I did...

Quote - Actually Ghosty the GST doesn't kick in for purchases under $1000 so I'm guessing you paid the US taxes like I did...

Your right so annoying it says $199 USD even with the current exchange rate $199 USD does not come to $221 AUD at the moment as of May 25th $199 US comes to $205.75 AUD, some shenanigans going on somewhere.

But as before could be a lot worse..