Hey kaveman, I sure hope our boxes are worth the extra 52 EUR! I'm going to frame mine after all, I am paying about 1/2 of What Poser 6 cost before shipping!:)

Just clarify my previous post - the $AUD 42 was at the time of order on todays rate that is now $AUD 46.92 before shipping. In another thread someone speculated that Digital River were using the Euro as a hedge against the flucuations in the $US - I know we have had some wild exchange rates with the $US at times - but I seriously doubt if the $US would have fluctuated by about 25% since the 19th Feb.

::::: Opera ::::

My Invoice for Shipping to Victoria, Australia is:

Poser 6: 109,65 EUR
Shipping: 52,42 EUR
Total: 162.07 EUR

At today's exchange Rate = $AUD 274.992

As I said above and in other posts - had I have been able to order in $US, it would have meant a difference of about $42 before shipping...

Here is the official response from Curious Labs after about 5 emails were exchanged - I too am in Australia and followed up on why I was charged in Euros - I did post this in another thread but here it is again.

***"We apologize for the problems you have been encountering.

The reason you can not order threw the US site is because the shippers
do not ship to Australia or New Zealand from the US. We do not have
control over how the currency is used on the website .

Thank you for contacting the online store's Customer Support. If you
have any further questions or concerns, please "reply" to this e-mail.

Sincerely,
Michelle B.
Customer Care Center"

So no way out of it - you have to pay in Euros and wear the extra $AUD 42 before shipping..... Not that that makes me happy but that seems to be Digital River's Policy - along with fact they can't spell either...

Well here is the official answer from CL - at long last:- "Dear Tastiger, We apologize for the problems you have been encountering. The reason you can not order threw the US site is because the shippers do not ship to Australia or New Zealand from the US. We do not have control over how the currency is used on the website . Thank you for contacting the online store's Customer Support. If you have any further questions or concerns, please "reply" to this e-mail." So looks like the US site can only ship to the US, rest of us are stuck with the international site and they can't spell either.

Well here one for you - I am in Australia and I wasn't given the option of ordering in $US - only the euro or pound. A difference of $AUD 34 before shipping. So I am getting hit with a tax that I am not subject to! So is the pricing fair? - think about it for a while this is not just an issue of EU countries.....

I am not blaming CL for this as DR are only their online store - but CL may be able to get a straight answer from them as I cant. I posed a simple question in an email to them: "When Pre-ordering the Poser 6 Upgrade, although I am in Australia, I was only given the options of ordering via Euro or English Pound. I have just done a quick conversion comparison on exchange rates - had I been able to order in $US it would have meant a saving of about $34 AUD before freight costs. Is there some reason why Australian residents are not offered the option to purchase their product in $US ?" What I got back was a 1 page rambling reply but the essence of the reply seemed to be this paragraph. "- Tax was assessed to the order, causing the total amount of the transaction to be higher than the amount listed prior to purchase." As stated on the shopping cart screen: "For Minnesota, California and Washington state residents, applicable sales tax will be applied." We apologize if this information was not communicated clearly. Please note that Digital Products sold into ALL EU Countries will be charged VAT at 17.5%." My issue here is I am not in any of those States or the EU! I should imagine that my order already involves a component of US sales tax - but I have then been hit with the VAT component which should not apply to residents outside EU countries - Australia is subject to a 10% GST. I suppose my whole point is that I still want my copy of Poser 6 but I also don't want to be penalised a tax that I am not subject to and after all $34AUD is $AUD34. Remembering that that amount is before shipping - which shipping has amounted to roughly 1/3 of the total charge.....

Just wondering if anyone else from Australia or outside the US has had the problem of only being able to order in Euro or English Pound? I am currently following up on it and awaiting a reply from either DR or CL. I have to recant an earlier statement I made regarding not saving a lot with exchange rates. A quick calculation shows that I would have saved about $34 AUD before shipping had I been able to order in $US Dollars but soon as I entered "Australia" I was redirected to the "Global Store" which only had the Euro or English Pound Options.....

"Well, with Poser 5 upgrade you don't have to install Poser 4 beforehand IIRC :) You have to HAVE it, but it doesn't have to be installed." I don't think I've come across an "Update" version of anything that I had to install the old version first - Even Windows only checks to make sure you a previous version by inserting the CD "Not totally true. "Early Adopters" are getting a greater discount, limited-time only on pre-orders. So waiting means paying more." Point taken for early adopters - although I would have thought early adopters would be willing to adopt Poser 6 anyway regardless of what has or hasn't been said. As for others upgrading - from an earlier post:- "For upgrade pricing, the $129 US / 119 Euro / 82 Pounds price will remain the same those purchasing upgrades during the Poser 6 Special Edition promotion, will receive the Poser 6 Special Edition. Those who choose to wait until after the Special Edition runs out, will receive the same pricing options for upgrades."

Reading back over the thread, its a bit disconcerting to see so many negative comments so far on this issue of we havent been told enough. Its not as though CL is holding a gun to anyones head and making them pre-order, they have already stated that upgrade prices will remain the same after release the only thing that those of us who have pre-ordered are getting is the special box and content and of course the chance to play with it sooner.:) Everyone else is free to wait for Poser 6s release and then get feedback from those who did pre-order on whether they should go ahead and upgrade

"Base it on the Price in USD as they are a US company." I wasn't given the option of US$ - soon as my Country was entered - I was only given the option of euro or pound. Not that I think it is costing me much more given the current exchange rate with the $US and really the only way to know the "Real" Cost is after the amount has been debited from the creit card - anything could and most likely will happen with exchange rates between now and then. My only "real" complaint is with the shipping costs but again not much in the way of options there - unless I want to download it.....

"But I live in Australia, I'm not subject to VAT. And other people that have already ordered have said that VAT is added ON TOP of the higher price." For any other Australians out there - I just ordered the upgrade from P4 and the total cost is as follows: 109.65 EUR 52.42 EUR Shipping!!!!!!! 162.07 EUR Total = $268.55 AUD That should give anyone else a reasonable idea of your outlay costs to upgrade.... Bit p'd off about that roughly 1/2 of my outlay is shipping but what do you do - they only offer UPS overnight to us down in here in the wilds of the Southern Hemisphere.....

Really what all this has come down to here is not my plan, not my provider etc - 20 gig transfer has always got me by in the past and I was in the top 50 of most downloaded freebies, for me it's about the way Renderosity impliments it's free stuff.

Word is from high that if you change the URL it goes back into the review process and therefore ends up as "what's new" it's only if you change the thumbnail it remains as is (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

So I guess the bottom line is if you have a few downloads in free stuff and change hosts - either be prepared to accept the extra bandwidth or don't renew your downloads.

In my case I guess it's only the Renderosity members who miss out in the long run....

Thanks for the offer Laver2k - but I'm one of those types who likes to keep all my eggs in one basket, If have my stuff on my site I have easy access to it etc, etc. And perhaps you can imagine how I would feel if you took 10 gigs of transfer in 4 days because of my free stuff. That really isn't something I would wish on anyone. However it may be an option if I go the Postnuke route as the "downloads" module of is geared more towards offsite files....

It's all fine and well to say find a new host - bear in mind my over charges are in AUD$ - but I have had problems in the past dealing with overseas hosts, not to mention with the floating exchange rate, I was never sure what the next quarter's charges would be - that's why this time I went with an Aussie host - at least their responses to troubles are prompt and at the worst it is only a local phone call.

Problem seems to be with local hosting here is - you basically get what you pay for, and the features I needed for other parts of my site just weren't available on the "budget" plans.

I'm fairly sure that a lot of these people just download for the hell of it and never actually use the downloaded items.

Looking at these figures, I'm seriously considering using my extra database and re-developing the site into a Postnuke driven site with free membership.

Any other Aussies interested in displaying their art work if I go down this path? If I am going to do it that way - may as well build a decent site, as I don't really feel I could justify a free membership site based on my artwork alone...

We could call it something snappy like the "Land of Oz" or something like that - as we seem to be hiding a wealth of talent down here.....