Well since Steam is highly automated and what is there that isn’t automated is presumably run by underpaid people in Mumbai/Bombay (likely the exact same ones who run the non-automated parts of the US storefront) I’m assuming most of it goes directly to Valve’s profits.
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Ok so it’s not like the publisher is saying… in this region I want to set this item at pricepoint A, and in this other region I want to set it at pricepoint B… is what you’re saying?
From what I’m understanding, the publisher sets one price, in one region, and the price is somehow not equivalent (talking about currency exchange) in another area?
Yep, that’s what I’m saying at least for the EU. By way of example here is the Steam prices page for Broadway 1849, notice the direct conversion of dollars to Euro, which lead to assume it is an entirely intentional and likely automated process that does not take into account the regional differences, as the Chrome webstore used to do.
It also proves Steam can set better regional prices since they do manage to do it for the UK, but they somehow believe the US dollar and the Euro are direct 1:1 equivalents, which they’re obviously not.
In that case, and forgive me if this is obvious, but have you tried bringing up the matter with Steam directly?
I doubt any of us here can help you with Steam pricing. 
I did, never received a reply to that email. Since they don’t really do phone or letters that’s where it ends for me. Anyway Steam likely full well knows this and it is probably a matter of policy to bilk EU customers if only to get back at the EU for forcing the refunds issue. It is also a widely known problem on the internet so I’m hardly the only one but I do not have the time or resources to take any further actions on this except to vote with my wallet wherever possible. Sadly voting with your wallet in the face of entrenched monopolies is a singularly ineffective strategy.
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Then perhaps a radical suggestion… if you have the financial resources, why not become a distributor for the EU region and charge fair pricing?
I’m just not an entrepreneur (I really don’t have a head for numbers), sorry and besides I so do not have the financial resources for that. As for the guys who do, most of them end up being either bought out or destroyed by the monopolies anyway.
I mean it took Google to sort of compete and even they folded and bowed out of the PC market, instead of expanding to include AAA games and more indies.
In that case I’m out of creative suggestions, except for maybe becoming a U.S. citizen to qualify for U.S. pricing.
Well technically I’d just need a US credit/debit card and a decent VPN.
I mean all that takes is me getting either a promotion or enough of a windfall so I can buy @cascat07 's “waterfront” property in Arizona, which I can then use to obtain a US bank account and debit card. Of course since I’m not ultra wealthy I’d be double taxed on it by the Dutch and US governments.
But that doesn’t resolve the Steam (near) monopoly situation when it comes to PC gaming.
(thinking for a bit…)
Ok, I have it.
The solution is to let Steam become an actual monopoly so that anti-trust laws will kick in?
Edit: Also, this is totally random, but couldn’t you just incorporate in the U.S. even as a “foreign entity”?
Please pardon my complete lack of knowledge on the subject.
This website seems to suggest:
Generally, there are no restrictions on foreign ownership of a company formed in the United States. The procedure for a foreign citizen to form a company in the United States is the same as for a US resident. It is not necessary to be a US citizen or to have a green card to own a corporation or limited liability company formed in the United States.
I could, but a) I don’t want or need a company of my own and b) my own government would double tax me at corporate amounts on it, unless I can prove that all revenue generated in the US is re-invested in the US. It would also require permits, liability insurance, etc, etc.
Seriously, just owning a vacation home in the US or Canada would be the easiest route, since I’m not nor do I desire to be an entrepreneur, as there are some tax benefits for private citizens to owning vacation homes (instead of just maintaining a sham corporation), it’s just the US or Canadian bank account that would be double taxed. However since I can just about sort of afford my first home right now it ain’t happening any time soon.
Dutch citizens can own up to two “vacation” homes (the criterion being that we live at least 6 months a year in the Netherlands and no more than 4 months a year in any of them) without incurring significant additional tax and financial liabilities, apart from the usual mortgage (if applicable), insurance and upkeep costs of the homes themselves.
Uh, folks, you’re forgetting about VAT.
$50 in the US priced as $60 in Euro is not Valve just pocketing the difference. It’s VAT being collected by Valve and remitted to your country of residence.
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Aha! Discovery!
Also this:
Since the VAT differs from country to country in Europe it is not shown on that Steam Price screen. Our 23% VAT rate is added on top of that listed price. Our VAT is regressive and outrageously high, but that is a problem with our conservative government and not CoG or Steam. Steam directly translating the base price before VAT one on one from dollar to Euro is.
Our current, conservative government like to facilitate tax cuts, such as the scrapping of dividents tax and lowering of the top rates through increasing VAT. A policy I obviously disagree with, since VAT tends to disproportionately impact the economically vulnerable.
Also Chrome has always been subjected to the same VAT rules but for the most part did appropriately convert the base price for the EU.
A lot of stores and even paypal does that to an extent, where the conversion between currencies is not what it should be according to the market. It’s not exclusive to the Euro, (or to steam for that matter) it’s just something that is done because they can get away with it. (I notice the difference when my currency is converted over as well).
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It sure is and the 23% in my case VAT is added on top of that. 
Which is why our August regulators really should start to pay more attention to online sales in particular to ensure that it is brought more in line with the “free” market rates.
Also as @ruhenri said before a lot of Southern and Eastern European countries still earn much less per capita then the US and most certainly Western Europe so it is a double or even triple whammy (with VAT) for customers there.
But to clarify for Jason this is about the conversion of base prices, which is a problem with Steam, as opposed to VAT, the rates of which are a political problem with our own governments and to a limited extent the EU.
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Yeah we have the good old GST (similar to VAT) here although at least it’s only 10% not 23%.
I agree that it’d be nice to have some regulation of the free market exchange rates though.
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Particularly that online retailers adhere (within a margin of +/- 5% for administrative purposes and to guard against the average daily fluctuations) to them and list them on the receipt. Of course legislation to that effect has been proposed half a dozen times in our national parliament and at least twice on the EU level and it has always failed to pass, which is no surprise with our recent succession of conservative governments and misses Merkel dominant on the EU level.
Oh, the standard cries of “government overreach” and deregulation for the most part. In addition to the also standard operating procedure of the national government trying to point to the EU and the EU saying “subsidiarity” and pointing right back to the national government in the limited political discourse there has been on the subject and pointing to the Bank in Luxembourg.
Lastly the fact there hasn’t been a strong enough public interest to (put in the effort to effectively) pierce these political smoke screens at the moment. But with online commerce growing I figure that last part at least is only a matter of time.
At this time it is also simpler for the left-of-center parties, who are after all not currently in government, to just make the argument for directly lowering the VAT, rather than tackling the relatively arcane and wonky issue of retailers unfairly and inaccurately converting between currencies to the detriment of some European consumers. Which is obviously only really a problem for those who do regular business as a consumer with companies based outside of the EU and certainly out of the Netherlands.
Also since the currency thing does affect the EU as a whole it is probably something that needs to be tackled on the EU or Euro-zone level, which the current Juncker Commission is not terribly likely to want to do.
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Honestly speaking… I feel that the price of Quality CoG is fair , as long as we truly like these Novels. I don’t mind paying the current fees of obtaining the title i truly cherish to read… especially during the promotion period… with a 40%-50% discount.
I had witness how some people willing to pay hundreds , thousands and even millions in some mobile games just to build up his/her account in a short amount of time to become a power house of the game…
Yes… some kid(s) willing to pay millions of dollars just to show he is the Rank #1 of the game…
and during the in-game product , a new hero + some goodies package usually cause few hundreds dollars
Some player(s) even willing to buy an account for a minimum fees of $300…
Hence , i think paying such small amount of fees for a novel i truly love is reasonable for me… in fact i manage to find some “older” CoG/HG title still with their original lower price , which i may consider buying them in future…
Well… consider it as an encouragement and motivation for the authors to further their good works
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I think the prices are pretty fair too, and I wouldn’t mind a slight further increase in price if I meant more money actually went to COG and the authors of the stuff.
No clue how they could do that, but it they found a method that costed a bit more money but meant more profits went to them I’d be in favour of that.