bandit1200
Level: Master Delver
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Registered: 10-29-2003
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I'd not played DROD for a looong time until I played the TSS demo a few weeks ago, and only yesterday decided to buy it. I very nearly didn't bother when I saw the price of 16.48GBP on BMT Micro. Luckily I spotted the thread about GOG, made an account there and got it for 9.59GBP - that's more my price. To be fair, if there hadn't been the GOG option, I'd have paid the full price when my blood pressure returned to normal.

Before anyone tells me it's worth the full price, what annoyed me is that $19.95 is about 12.73GBP at the moment, yet the BMT Micro price is 13.73GBP, plus the dreaded VAT, which probably can't be avoided but is still %^&*^ annoying.

Anyway, let's hope TSS isn't too difficult for me after a long lay off from DROD, I'm looking forward to playing.

Anyone know why the GOG download is around 640MB yet the installation is nearer 420MB?

Kallor
Level: Master Delver
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Oh it is going to be difficult. Don't give up. Keep on trying, think very hard and if nothing helps consult the H&S. Remember that conquering difficult challenges is more satisfying than conquering easy ones. Good luck for your journey!

____________________________
Kallor

Ethereal
Level: Goblin
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You could've chosen USD as a currency. As of this writing, the standalone download costs £13.74, 17.34 €, or $19.95. It isn't made immediately clear, but while BMT Micro provide a long list of currencies to choose from, only three are "real": the USD, the euro and the pound. Everything else is provided for information purposes only, and the customer is actually billed in USD.

More importantly, it wasn't that good a deal, because the GOG version doesn't include the soundtrack, and it isn't sold outside of the $24.95 bundle. (And yes, the soundtrack by itself is worth the full price of the bundle. )

As for the installer size, GOG bundled the .NET 3.5 distributable into their Windows installer.

bandit1200
Level: Master Delver
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Ethereal wrote:
You could've chosen USD as a currency. As of this writing, the standalone download costs £13.74, 17.34 €, or $19.95.

plus 20% VAT.

Choosing dollars still comes to the equivalent of 15.22GBP. Cheaper, but not as cheap as 9.59GBP

More importantly, it wasn't that good a deal, because the GOG version doesn't include the soundtrack, and it isn't sold outside of the $24.95 bundle. (And yes, the soundtrack by itself is worth the full price of the bundle. )

It may be worth it if you are interested in the soundtrack, which I aren't, so in my case it WAS a good deal.

As for the installer size, GOG bundled the .NET 3.5 distributable into their Windows installer. Adding 200mb of download without first finding out whether it is needed seems like an odd way to go about it. Still, ours is not to reason why.

Thanks for the info.

slimm tom
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I'm not exactly sure why BMT Micro charges VAT in the first place. Of the countless times I purchased something in USD or GBP on the web I have never needed to pay VAT.

bandit1200
Level: Master Delver
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slimm tom wrote:
I'm not exactly sure why BMT Micro charges VAT in the first place. Of the countless times I purchased something in USD or GBP on the web I have never needed to pay VAT.

It does seem rather strange. BT Micro are in the USA and charge VAT, whereas GOG are in Europe and don't mention VAT, although it could be a hidden charge.

kieranmillar
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In America VAT is handled differently to Europe/UK. Here in the UK if you go to the shop and try to buy an item that's £5, you will be charged £5. In America if you go to buy an item that costs $5, you go to the till to buy it and get charged something like $5.55. In America the sales tax (VAT) charge is added separately to the listed price of things. I believe the reason for this is because the sales tax is set individually by each state, so not baking the tax into the price means the producer and/or retailer doesn't need to change the packaging depending on which state the good is being sold in.

Some storefronts like Steam will list their prices based on what local consumers expect to see. In the UK if I buy a game for £5 I get charged £5. This causes all sorts of internet uproar when people convert from the $ price to the £ price and wonder why the UK price is more expensive, it's because the sales tax is listed as part of the price shown on the storefront for the UK but not the US. (Also I believe there may need to be additional charges to cover extra work to comply with local regulations, e.g. they might need to add extra cost to cover UK business tax rules etc.).

BMT Micro is an American company that seems to not totally understand this cultural difference, which is why us UK users get charged VAT separately instead of including it into the listed price.

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[Last edited by kieranmillar at 12-12-2014 06:45 PM]

Tuttle
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kieranmillar wrote:
I believe the reason for this is because the sales tax is set individually by each state, so not baking the tax into the price means the producer and/or retailer doesn't need to change the packaging depending on which state the good is being sold in.

State and city/county. You can drive a few blocks in the US and be paying a different rate. That leads to fun lists like http://dor.wa.gov/Docs/forms/ExcsTx/LocSalUseTx/LocalSlsUseFlyer_15_Q1_alpha.pdf .

In the UK (and Australia, where VAT is called the GST instead), it's more than cultural -- it's actually illegal (considered misleading conduct) for local businesses to advertise a tax-exclusive price to regular consumers.

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[Last edited by Tuttle at 12-13-2014 02:04 AM]