Unfair UK Pricing on US Website

benstaton

Hi all!

I hope this is the right forum for this (apologies if not).

I want to buy some software (download only) from a US website. The website forces UK customers to pay in pounds, but the cost is 40% higher than the equivalent US dollars price. US customers pay $199 (£124), while UK customers have to pay £169 (£45 extra)!

If it were anything other than a software download, I might be able to understand it. But given that there is absolutely no postage/packing/shipping involved I think it's grossly unfair. They are not registered for VAT, and will not issue a VAT receipt, so they cannot claim VAT as the reason for the inflated price.

To cut a long story short, I figured out a way to cheat the system. Like many websites, they get people to register before buying anything. If I register using a false US address (I would use the address of their company), but make the payment correctly using my real name, address and credit card via PayPal, it will let me pay in dollars. I will then be given access to the download. Once downloaded, I will register the software properly using my real name and address.

However, I have absolutely no wish to break any laws (especially just for the sake of £45). It's just the principal really. It just annoys the hell out of me that UK customers are being ripped off for no apparent reason, or just because it seems we Brits are used to accepting inflated prices without question.

I would be very grateful for your opinions on this. Is it legal? Am I justified in doing this, or am I missing something (or just plain blowing it out of proportion)? I just don't want to throw £45 away for no good reason.

Many thanks!

vuvuzela

Yes it is legal for them to charge different costs, they can charge whatever they want wherever they want.
What is the website ?

benstaton

vuvuzela wrote: »

Yes it is legal for them to charge different costs, they can charge whatever they want wherever they want.
What is the website ?

Thanks. I realise what they are doing is quite legal. It just seems really unfair to me, unless there is some legitimate reason for it that I'm unaware of.
I guess I was really asking if it's illegal for me to give a false address on a website. My guess is not.
Forgive me, but I would rather not mention the website in question at this stage because I'm still unsure as to the legal implications of this (if any).

geordieracer

its very legal for anyone to charge 2 different prices. You think you have found a way round it but im guessing that as soon as they see a UK IP address being used for the download they would stop it straight away as you did not pay the full price.

Optimist

Registering using a false address might work but if they are savvy they will also have some sort of check on your ip address although you can get around that by using a proxy.

As to the legalities I am not a US attorney so have no idea of any relevant US law you might break but I doubt they would invoke the 2003 Extraction Act in such a case

benstaton

geordieracer wrote: »

its very legal for anyone to charge 2 different prices. You think you have found a way round it but im guessing that as soon as they see a UK IP address being used for the download they would stop it straight away as you did not pay the full price.

You may well be right. If I decide to give it a go I'll have to test it out with something really cheap first!

garth549

I wanted to buy a piece of software a few weeks ago listed as $49 but when you go to pay it forces you to pay 49 Euros and you cannot change it (so like £15 more). I agree it is really annoying and it has cost the author a sale in my case.

benstaton

garth549 wrote: »

I wanted to buy a piece of software a few weeks ago listed as $49 but when you go to pay it forces you to pay 49 Euros and you cannot change it (so like £15 more). I agree it is really annoying and it has cost the author a sale in my case.

Perhaps you might try emailing them. If they know they've missed out on a sale then maybe they'll change it? In my case, I tried contacting sales support but they completely ignored it!

RadoJo

In fairness, it's perfectly possible that the exchange rate when they priced the product meant that there wasn't such a large discrepancy between the two prices - the exchange rate fluctuates quite a lot so it might not necessarily be a case of an actual policy to price things differently for the UK market.

Mk14:37

Would this help?

http://myus2.myus.com/About/HowMailForwardingWorks.aspx

Zippy123

If the company was in the EU then prices would have to be the same all round the EU save for VAT differences if they supply at country level but actually serve the software from one location.

If you buy software intended for the US market then you might find that you don't have a licence to use it in the EU. Amongst other reasons, this may be because another company has EU distribution rights.

The cost of providing help desk services to the EU may also increase costs.