Australia is getting screwed on game prices

Mutantchipmunk said:
I dont feel bad for them. Their minimum wage is $23hr.
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Anthony Anderson Abc GIF by HULU
 
We do have sales tax in AUS (10% and its called GST) but it's included in the sticker price.

Stellar Blade is 124.95 AUD, without GST it's 113.59 AUD which converts to 74.18 USD.

So really, only $4.18 USD more expensive?

How much is sales tax generally (I understand it varies by state) in the US on a 70 product? I'm guessing more than $4
 
Aussies don't work on weekends and you have to pay them twice if you need to get things done. I remember working with one Aussie team. Whole place is really expensive.
 
Nah, we tend to pay slightly more but if you are able to buy physical you can get some insane discounts, overall the pricing has improved massively from a decade ago.

The fact that you actually made a thread about this shows how little you know about about regional pricing.
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For Xbox I used to move to Argentina, redeem some keys, then move back.
Don't know if this trick still works, but you could get games like Elden Ring for half the price (compared to Euro).
 
spons said:
For Xbox I used to move to Argentina, redeem some keys, then move back.
Don't know if this trick still works, but you could get games like Elden Ring for half the price (compared to Euro).
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I read on another forum recently that someone had their Xbox account banned for doing just that.
 
Traxtech said:
Australia has a way higher minimum wage too. So even after gst the majority of us here have it pretty good.
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True. while many states have seen fairly dramatic minimum wage hikes in recent years, 20 states still go by the federal minimum wage requirement of 7.25/hr.(hasn't increased since July 2009).

Some surprising states I wasn't expecting are in the list of 20.(Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire)
 
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Australia is really fucking rich. Dont worry about us/them. All those minerals they keep digging up the bush for are seeing us right for centuries.

Hell, the UK fucking sucks right now, and it's still one of the most comfortable countries to live in.

I'd much rather pay a few dollars/quid more for stuff like video games, and have free/cheap healthcare and a high standard of living.
 
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FunkMiller said:
Australia is really fucking rich. Dont worry about us/them. All those minerals they keep digging up the bush for are seeing us right for centuries.

Hell, the UK fucking sucks right now, and it's still one of the most comfortable countries to live in.

I'd much rather pay a few dollars/quid more for stuff like video games, and have free/cheap healthcare and a high standard of living.
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I unironically don't understand how this country is still going. I get London (as much as it sucks), but the rest of the country? No idea.
 
On a side note, I don't know how EB Games can sell physical copies to people at full price with a straight face. It's a terrible practice. If you don't ask for a price match, or if your membership isn't a certain level, they don't ask you if you want to pricie match. They take advanage of so many people who hace no idea. $120 game, meanwhile down at Big W or JB the same game is $79 or $89. I despise them.

This is why all digital sucks, prices are insane without competion and discounts. Australians still pay too much on average compared to America and Canada at least.
 
Silver Wattle said:
Nah, we tend to pay slightly more but if you are able to buy physical you can get some insane discounts, overall the pricing has improved massively from a decade ago.

The fact that you actually made a thread about this shows how little you know about about regional pricing.
Cringe Reaction GIF
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Games were around $70 AUD a decade ago.

Edit: First party that is, third party were around $90-$100
 
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Yoboman said:
Don't blame your shit on us. Foster's is barely more Australian than outback steakhouse. We don't drink that piss

DO8nCtI.jpg
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Don't blame your shit on us. Americans no longer own that beer.

And the Fosters beer being sold in the 1800s sure as hell isn't what's sold now.
 
bitbydeath said:
The Helldivers example is how the conversion should go, it also includes GST.
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Note that US side doesn't include Taxes. We don't have a unified VAT or anything and sales taxes are up to the State and even county/city sometimes.

So effective sales tax can go from 0% to 12% depending on the state. If AU price includes VAT like Europe, you would need to take that into consideration. If AU pricing doesn't include taxes, this is plain crazy.

That said, prices are damn high anyways and it's not like salaries grew like crazy in comparison to cost of living increases during the past 4 years.
 
These are the prices that South America has to deal with since ever :messenger_loudly_crying:

I had to sell my Switch because it's impossible to pay nearly $100 in Switch Games with the income i have.
 
Carmen Winstead said:
Also education.
Student loans are big problem in America whereas if you study at a state university in Germany you just have to pay 300-350€ each semester and that's it.
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Wow, that's insane compared to here in US. Even cheaper Public Universities are like $6-8K a semester if you are in-State student. Goes up to $15-30K a Semester for Private schools. That does NOT include Books, Room and Board so throw in another $25-30K a year.
 
Draugoth said:
These are the prices that South America has to deal with since ever :messenger_loudly_crying:

I had to sell my Switch because it's impossible to pay nearly $100 in Switch Games with the income i have.
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Is there a decent local used market? Also non Nintendo games do often go on sale for pretty good prices on eShop, but not sure about your particular taxes/conversion.
 
Draugoth said:
Yes, i started to buy used games before moving to PC
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That makes sense. I often buy used Physical games if I can't find reasonable price for new ones. And yeah, mostly Pc, but still collect some games (mainly for the Switch).

It does show though without proper competition in digital markets (aka PC), digital prices are shit till years later and even then only on sale.
 
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Thinking of escaping the UK to Australia, however New Zealand is becoming more appealing is that a wiser choice?
 
Nigel said:
Thinking of escaping the UK to Australia, however New Zealand is becoming more appealing is that a wiser choice?
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The grass isn't necessarily greener. I know a lot of people in the UK, especially young people think the UK is a hellhole and everywhere else in the world is great but the whole developed world has similar problems.

www.bbc.co.uk

The year the Australian Dream died

The land of a "fair go" has become one of the least affordable places on Earth to find a home.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
Create a US account with some address in Alaska.
You won't be able to use your credit card but you can find US PSN store credit cards all over the internet (sometimes for $1-2 less than they are worth)

TYRiAX said:
We do have sales tax in AUS (10% and its called GST) but it's included in the sticker price.

Stellar Blade is 124.95 AUD, without GST it's 113.59 AUD which converts to 74.18 USD.

So really, only $4.18 USD more expensive?

How much is sales tax generally (I understand it varies by state) in the US on a 70 product? I'm guessing more than $4
Click to expand...

Does the tax appear on the price in the PSN store?
My country has 19% sales tax (yay!) but for some reason prices on PSN still show up without tax until you add them to your cart
 
I've just commented about consoles ecosystem overall is more expensive than pcs, just stick with pcs, it's not bad actually when you want more of that platform.
 
It's always been that way for Australia

Their minimum wage for unskilled teenage drive thru McDonald's workers is $24 per hour

Everything is expensive in Australia

People think higher minimum wages equals lower cost of living are delusional and don't understand economics
 
Can't you just create a US account and pay with US PSN Cards?

Everyone (included me) had to do that in my country since we didn't had official PS support until only a couple of years ago. Never had any issues. I still use my US account with no problems today as a secondary.
 
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Shake Your Rump said:
Roll back wages to $4.25 and watch the prices drop!
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There's a happy medium. Obviously $4.25 isn't the answer either. One extreme doesn't mean the other one will suffice.

Also the market determines wages typically (in America anyhow)

Minimum wage is $7.25 here. But I've never heard of or seen anyone actually hiring at that wage. It's typically going to be $10-$12 for entry level unskilled workers (teenagers)

Exceptions as always. But generally speaking

However, forcing these small mom and pop shops to pay $25 for a cashier is asinine and the prices of their products will absolutely reflect those wages
 
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This is old news. Aus always gets screwed on pricing. Not saying that it is right or fair. It is just how it has been for as long as I can remember.
 
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