Software piracy and rip off Britain.

shaun_from_Africa

I wasn't too sure whether this should go here or in the techie bord, abut as it's only a general vent, I decided on here.


I recently installed a trial version of Corel DVD pro on my laptop, and this trial period has just finished, so I was looking around at the price to purchase the full version.

It is available for download directly from Corel.co.uk for £59.99 but if you are not in the UK and you want it from Corel.com, it is only $49.99 (or about £33.30).

The difference in buying the DVD version is even worse.
Amazon.co.uk charge £53.76 but on Amazon.com it is $39.99 (or about £26.66).

I realise that VAT will make up 20% of the price difference, but with the UK prices being double what is being charged in the USA for an identical product, I can see why the software companies state that there is so much piracy of their products.
Maybe if the UK prices were a bit more realistic, people wouldn't take the risk with dodgy fake software.

I have just ordered a copy of this, along with a few other items from Amazon.com (I know a few people who travel between the UK & the USA on a regular basis), so although it will take a couple of weeks before I receive it, no UK company nor the UK government will get anything in the way of profit or tax from me.
If the price was more reasonable, I wouldn't have minded keeping my money with UK retailers

Nilrem

The thing to note, is that it will be Corel setting the RRP and deciding how much to sell it to the retailers in the UK

IIRC Adobe is even worse doing a straight $ to £ conversion at a rate of 1:1 for some of their software.

MS is currently in the process of doing something that will have a similar effect, as I believe they are about to peg the UK prices to the Euro prices rather than the US ones, which if memory serves is expected to lead to a fairly big effective price hike for the UK for many of their bits of software.

You are of course aware that if you're getting the software delivered from the states, it is likely to get hit for tax AND a handling charge upon entering the country? (the handling charge is likely to be about £8).

shaun_from_Africa

Import duty won't be a problem as I'm currently working outside of the UK and the person who is getting the items for me will be hand carrying them for me next time they travel out of the US.

DavidT

Adobe certainly is very expensive and the UK prices prohibitive especially compared to their US prices. My partner who earns very little ideally needs two Adobe programs together costing about £1,300 assuming you want to legally acquire the full commercial versions.

We can't afford that so do without for now. Thing is there are any number of sites that will provide working copies of this software for a fraction of that price. Now we would never buy this but I can see why so many do.

There will always be some that no matter how low the price will still not acquire what they want legally but the sort of prices Adobe charge at the moment is bound to lead to a huge counterfeit market. I have no idea what Adobe's costs are but their current pricing strategy is pricing out a huge potential slice of their market.

Maybe that's why Adobe now offer monthly subscriptions to their software, not enough people can afford to buy it any more perhaps? An okay idea but ultimately you have nothing to show for it once you stop paying.

fozmcfc

About 10 years or so, I emailed Microsoft about pricing of a piece of software which was $50 or £50 and they replied it was to do with the countries taxes etc.

Alienware was exactly the same when I was looking at their 11" gaming laptops a few years back. I posted it up on their facebook wall about ripping off UK buyers and they removed it lol.

Of course buying direct from the company when trials of software are finished usually end up being a complete rip-off to. This is particularly the case when it comes to anti-virus software.

I have seen companies want double or more of the shop price.

System

Are you not meant to declare goods you have bought in the USA and then hand carried back into the UK?

DavidT

Shaun, just a thought. In the past when I've bought Corel stuff I've gone straight to their American site and downloaded it from there which is much cheaper than downloading from their UK site. I don't know how the Corel USA site compares in prices to Amazon.com but its a thought. Assuming of course you are happy to download rather than get a CD in the post.

peter_the_piper

Been around computers since the 80's and its always been the same. Were not/are no I tunes the same?

shaun_from_Africa

goater78 wrote: »

Are you not meant to declare goods you have bought in the USA and then hand carried back into the UK?

Only if you are above the personal limit of £390 which won't be the case.

Shaun, just a thought. In the past when I've bought Corel stuff I've gone straight to their American site and downloaded it from there which is much cheaper than downloading from their UK site.

I was considering doing that until I discovered that I can get the boxed DVD from Amazon.com cheaper than the digital download from Corel.com. (about £33 for the download & £26 for the DVD), and I do prefer keeping a hard copy of software if possible.

Perelandra

Nilrem wrote: »

MS is currently in the process of doing something that will have a similar effect, as I believe they are about to peg the UK prices to the Euro prices rather than the US ones, which if memory serves is expected to lead to a fairly big effective price hike for the UK for many of their bits of software.)

Haven't MS's prices always been pegged to the Euro? Certainly their price lists were euro denominated when I used to be a software buyer, but maybe that's changed in the last 5 years.

C_Mababejive

Just switch to Linux. You know it makes sense. Mind you,GIMP has now been ported to windows so why bother with the inferior corel product?