idbeholdME: Isn't Washington the only US state where Steam collected sales tax? Or was it changed?
I am by no means an expert in this area and the last info I read about this is at least 3, maybe more years old. If something changed in that time, then I'm definitely not up to date on the current situation.
Pheace: It used to be only where they had a physical presence which is several different states but it's increasing now because of changes in US law end of last year. It's a matter of time till all states are adding sales tax probably
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/politics/supreme-court-sales-taxes-internet-merchants.html That's slightly besides the point though since that merely affects the price the consumer is paying. For us to be scammed we should be treated unfairly (by the publisher), so they'd be asking us to pay more than someone in the US.
In the US the publisher's income from a $50 priced game is $50 (before store cuts etc).
In the EU a 50 Euro game you need to deduce sales tax -21% for the Netherlands, then compensate for currency difference +15%. From the percentages you can already see that the income for a publisher from us is actually 6% lower than a US sale.
This is why it's misleading to just look at sticker price. There used to be a fair argument for $1 not equalling 1Euro but that was back when the currency difference was 35-50%
A bit late but thanks for explaining. However, given that what you say is true, how does GOG's "fair price package" work then? Is it only for when the publishers actually set unfair pricing between US and EU?
Cited from the GOG support center: "So, if you buy a game for 40 Euro (so roughly 45 USD), but the same game costs 40 USD in the United States and most other regions, we give you the 5 USD difference back, in store credit."
Is the 40 USD mentioned in the above before or after the sales tax?
Could you please explain on Darksiders 3 for example? GOG listed price is 68.04 USD with 8.05 USD compensated with wallet funds due to fair price package. If Americans actually pay more than 60 USD like you say, then why does it get compensated on GOG to correspond with the Steam's listed price of 60 USD? To add to that, Steam only allows me to buy in euros so I have to pay 60 euros on steam and 60 USD on GOG. Which is quite a big deal.