In-game purchases, US dollar vs. Euro
Hello everyone! I‘m playing a game that offers in-game purchases which are sometimes displayed in Dollars, but usually in Euros, because I live in Germany. My problem is that the Euro price is way higher.
Example: the price of an item in Dollars is 1.99. I know, this is typically without tax. The Euro price is 2.49€. Prices in Germany are usually with tax, so it’s of course higher, but $1.99 converted to Euros plus 19% VAT is around 2.08€ and not 2.49€.
Of course, I feel ripped off. I asked the maker of the game and they said this „conversion“ is done by Apple‘s payment system. The question that forms now: is that so and if so, why is Apple ripping us off? And I don‘t mean reasons like „because they can“ or „the want to make money“. There are laws for international payments.
Usually, when purchasing something from outside the EU and priced in Dollars, I expect to pay the local added VAT, but nothing else. So what makes the in-game item 40 Cents more expensive than it should be? I mean, US customers, for example, would pay even less than those 2.08€, because afaik no US state has 19% tax.
