LaserSoft Imaging

I bought an Epson 4990 scanner today, and wanted to upgrade from the SF SE 6.2 software bundled with it, to AI (possibly Studio).

I find it very disappointing that you show prices in US Dollars, but say that customers in Europe will be charged in Euros.

Why do we have to pay the same numerical figure in a different currency?

?59 = $45.

There is NO reason why European customers should be charged a higher price for the same product.

Is there any way I can be charged in US $ rather than Euros? We don't even use Euros in the UK.

J

I?m really sorry to tell you that it is not possible to order SilverFast in Europe with US prices.

Orders of American customers are invoiced by our American company. Orders of European customers are invoiced by our German company and therefore have to be invoiced in Euros.

The US prices are lower because the US market is totally different to the European market. Our dollar prices are adjusted to the US market.

Best regards,
Monika Grunwald
LaserSoft Imaging AG

The market is totally different???

How so?

Why do Europeans have to pay 25% more than US customers? I thought we were in a global marketplace now?

If you're going to charge in Euros, make it equivalent to the US $ price... How can you justify charging over $76 for an electronic delivery when someone in the US only pays $59, and gets the same product?

$59 is not the same as ?59.

What is different about me compared to a US citizen?

Puzzled.

J.

plexus wrote:The market is totally different???

How so?
What is different about me compared to a US citizen?

Hmm, over there they have the legal right to carry guns with them, isn?t it!?

SCNR, only kidding

Really weird situation, while in europe jobs gone lost more and more, we also have to pay more ?cause of the "market situation" *shake my head*

regards
wolke

lsi_monika.grunwald wrote:
The US prices are lower because the US market is totally different to the European market. Our dollar prices are adjusted to the US market.

Best regards,
Monika Grunwald
LaserSoft Imaging AG

One Euro is $1.34
Tried Silverfast demo and very impressed but I will not be paying ?45 more than US customers for the same software! I realise that exchange rates are a nuisance but feel some effort should go into fairer pricing.

You can't get any fairer pricing that just charging in US Dollar...

It doesn't matter if you buy in the US, UK, Africa, Middle East or Europe, $1 US = $1 US.

Silverfast get the exact price they charge for their software, no matter where the buyer is. IE: If they charge $100 for the software, they'll get their $100 no matter where the customer is.

It's only the customer who gambles with the exchange rate...

but to INSIST on charging on the basis of $1 = ?1 is absolutely ridiculous, and automatically means people outside of the US are being ripped off....

I've seen the argument of "It's a totally different marketplace"... What rubbish.

It's a serial number you're providing. How can you justify upto almost a 35% increase in costs for the automated supply of a serial number?

All,

Sitting in the US and having lived in Europe for 11 years (prior to the existance of the Euro) in the past I feel your pain.

I am sure there is more to this than just whimsically charging a price pulled out of the air. I believe TAXES, TARRIFS, and GOVERNMENTAL REGULATIONS play a role in this if only a little. For example there are some states in the US that do not charge sales TAX, while others do pay sale TAX.

I am sure LaserSoft does what it can to gain and keep customers, but we are not fully a global economy yet and I think it is less than fair to take it out on LaserSoft. IMHO

Europe is much the same.

UK has VAT - 17.5%
France 19.6%
Germany 16%
Sweden 25%
Austria 20%

But providing you have a VAT registration number, the seller doesn't have to charge you the VAT.. you have to account for the VAT yourself.

So I still don't see how that affects the US / Europe pricing....

plexus,

I was only trying to give examples of some of the variables involved in doing business on a global basis and merely used TAX as an example.

My point is there are many variables involved and I am sure many of them are not controlled by LaserSoft.

I would love it if I did not have to pay $20 for a bottle of Apfel Korn here, when it only costs a fraction of that in Germany, but I don't think that Barentzen is in a position to do anything about this, at least not if they want their business to be profitable.

That being said, I suppose LaserSoft could sell the product for less or make it shareware or freeware, right?

If it were a physical product, yes, I could understand there being a justified difference in price.
I know that in my business, CD & DVD manufacturing, pricing differs considerably for the US, Europe, and it's way way down in the far east.... (but even that is not a truly valid comparison, as the production quality differs due to the various quality of the core components, eg: the grade of the polycarbonate chips....

Anyway, what we're talking about is a serial number in an email.

Does a serial number really cost an extra $50 for arguments sake, to email to someone in Europe? Of course it doesn't.

It also doesn't carry any additional 'carriage' costs, not being a physical product, and is also exempt from any import/export duty.

Well, I felt really uncomfortable, too, seeing the pricing policy of SF - the same figure in $ and in EUR, and - as some others here in this thread - I can't see any sngle reason why this could be justified.

However, I paid the EUR price while gnashing my teeth.

I hope that Lasersoft will think this issue over and find eventually that there is really no (no!) reason to bill European Customers somewhat about 43% higher than US Customers. And, finally: The market is different, of course, but only in one way: The American Customer will probably shift to another product more readily if he finds the pricing policy, support or something he considers to be important somewhat obscure.