Care to explain this?

@Dianesims I didn't even know until yesterday. Plum, i wouldn't have known even if i was from Europe, or Canada or the UK and that's because the sims 3 content that i did purchase back in the day (Sims 3, Sims 3 World Adventures, Sims 3 Ambitions, Sims 3 Nightlife) was purchased via steam. Origin didn't even exist yet.

I've been buying a lot of the EPs for $5 each on Steam. I used to have (and originally bought) TS3 on Steam; but transferred it over to Origin for sake of organization.

Looking at sales figures. 7.96M for TS3; 4.1M for TS4.

https://www.vgchartz.com/game/17805/the-sims-3/

https://www.vgchartz.com/game/72139/the-sims-4/?region=All

39.99€ is also the price of any EP for TS4 here, which is about the same than in the USA, however when there are sales, it rarely goes over 50% off here, while in the USA it can be more, from what I understood.

"Gguy;c-17421377" wrote:
@Dianesims I didn't even know until yesterday. Plum, i wouldn't have known even if i was from Europe, or Canada or the UK and that's because the sims 3 content that i did purchase back in the day (Sims 3, Sims 3 World Adventures, Sims 3 Ambitions, Sims 3 Nightlife) was purchased via steam. Origin didn't even exist yet.

"Gguy;c-17420925" wrote:
Well, between my friend's pic, your statements and my comparison to the prices in dollars, i think it's safe to say that my theory has been proven correct. Now we have to figure out just why the price is so higher in Europe (At least on Origin). I mean, if you convert Dollars to Euros, it should cost pretty similar, around 18 euros or something along those lines. I doubt regional prices would increase the price by 20, that's a crazy difference.

@SimGuruGraham Any input on this?

Could also be a country's taxes.

Most countries require stores to post prices that INCLUDE tax when they advertise price.

The US does not. So our price is without tax.

The other countries have their price as converted from dollars and then their tax added. And countries have different tax rates, I think many countries in Europe have a higher tax than the US.

So keep that in mind as well when looking at prices and comparing.

If I understand correctly, a lot of EU countries have VAT tax. VAT is added at every stage of production, so things in Europe can be substantially more expensive. However, VAT taxes usually replace income taxes, so pick your poison.

Replace ? In France we have VAT taxes for every single thing you buy but we also pay taxes on our income.

"meubanks;c-17421510" wrote:
If I understand correctly, a lot of EU countries have VAT tax. VAT is added at every stage of production, so things in Europe can be substantially more expensive. However, VAT taxes usually replace income taxes, so pick your poison.

"Gguy;c-17420915" wrote:
@SimAlexandria Yet again, like i just said, it's not about me. This was mainly taken to point out an oddity. Plum, i don't even use Euros, i use dollars. Can someone from Europe take an additional origin price picture? I'd like to confirm my theory that Europeans are being charged double the price (I highly doubt that only my pal is being affected)

I think you have to also take into account the rate of exchange, dollars to euros. That may well be why it appears to cost more. Otherwise, you're right, there's something shady going on somewhere.

"Seera1024;c-17421494" wrote:

"Gguy;c-17420925" wrote:
Well, between my friend's pic, your statements and my comparison to the prices in dollars, i think it's safe to say that my theory has been proven correct. Now we have to figure out just why the price is so higher in Europe (At least on Origin). I mean, if you convert Dollars to Euros, it should cost pretty similar, around 18 euros or something along those lines. I doubt regional prices would increase the price by 20, that's a crazy difference.

@SimGuruGraham Any input on this?

Could also be a country's taxes.

Most countries require stores to post prices that INCLUDE tax when they advertise price.

The US does not. So our price is without tax.

The other countries have their price as converted from dollars and then their tax added. And countries have different tax rates, I think many countries in Europe have a higher tax than the US.

So keep that in mind as well when looking at prices and comparing.

Yeah, there is something called a Vat-tax that the U.S. has managed to steer clear of. That drives up the cost like nobody's business.

I think you have to also take into account the rate of exchange, dollars to euros. That may well be why it appears to cost more. Otherwise, you're right, there's something shady going on somewhere.

Dollars are worth less than euros, though. If that was the case, it would have been the other way around.

"Gguy;c-17427447" wrote:

I think you have to also take into account the rate of exchange, dollars to euros. That may well be why it appears to cost more. Otherwise, you're right, there's something shady going on somewhere.

Dollars are worth less than euros, though. If that was the case, it would be have been the other way around.

Taxes are the likely culprit then. US prices don't show taxes on that screen and only at check out. Europe prices show with taxes on that screen. I also believe that many countries in Europe have a higher tax rate especially for things like video games.

"Seera1024;c-17427509" wrote:

"Gguy;c-17427447" wrote:

I think you have to also take into account the rate of exchange, dollars to euros. That may well be why it appears to cost more. Otherwise, you're right, there's something shady going on somewhere.

Dollars are worth less than euros, though. If that was the case, it would be have been the other way around.

Taxes are the likely culprit then. US prices don't show taxes on that screen and only at check out. Europe prices show with taxes on that screen. I also believe that many countries in Europe have a higher tax rate especially for things like video games.

Vat is 23% in my country. It no way would go from 19 dol to 39 euros...