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PLEX Offer - Dissapointment
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Danny Centauri
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#1 - 2013-04-24 20:59:57 UTC  |  Edited by: Danny Centauri
I just wanted to raise an issue I have with the PLEX offers, with multiple accounts I'd happily take advantage of PLEX offers but unfortunately they really suck for UK players.

The best offer at the moment is the 30 PLEX package, this is £389.99.

Alternatively I can go to any US GTC seller at $34.99 each which was £23.68 when I paid this month by PayPal. This price is for a 60 day ETC which can be converted to 2 PLEX.

30 PLEX from a GTC seller would be £355.20 which is £34.79 cheaper. Not only this if you purchase 15 ETCs using Somer Blink then you receive 3.6bil in credit. Lets say I spend this credit buying tickets for Drakes Ticket Cost: 8,500,000 ISK. Prize ISK value: 54,060,000 ISK buying 1 in 8 tickets and winning 1 in 8 blinks returns 2.8bil in ISK.

So not only can you get it cheaper by not going directly to CCP you can actually get atleast 5 more PLEX in prizes by using Somer Blink.

If commited to paying £389.99 you could get 30 PLEX from CCP or 38 PLEX and a small £11 saving by going external, I find this beyond bonkers that this is the case. Please CCP sort this out, if anyone is interested some time ago I wrote an article on what appear to be obvious marketing and pricing blunders here.

EVE Manufacturing Guide - Simple guides to manufacturing in EVE for both beginners and more experienced players.
Akita T
Caldari Navy Volunteer Task Force
#2 - 2013-04-24 21:05:49 UTC
Technically, it's a legal gray area fully exploited by non-E.U. sellers.
Normally, when an E.U. client is purchasing GTCs from a non-E.U. seller, that seller supposedly should collect and wire the VAT to some E.U. government, or else they could face some types of penalties whenever they might attempt to bring their business directly into the E.U., physically speaking.
Then again, since those sellers probably couldn't care less about that, and since nothing physical is actually sent across national borders, they can keep on ignoring on the alleged duty of also collecting the VAT, thus providing a service at an unmatchable price for any fully compliant E.U. company.

Oh well...

Akita T evewiki profile | | | Build your own EVE-ready PC
Danny Centauri
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#3 - 2013-04-24 21:15:07 UTC
Akita T wrote:
Technically, it's a legal gray area fully exploited by non-E.U. sellers.
Normally, when an E.U. client is purchasing GTCs from a non-E.U. seller, that seller supposedly should collect and wire the VAT to some E.U. government, or else they could face some types of penalties whenever they might attempt to bring their business directly into the E.U., physically speaking.
Then again, since those sellers probably couldn't care less about that, and since nothing physical is actually sent across national borders, they can keep on ignoring on the alleged duty of also collecting the VAT, thus providing a service at an unmatchable price for any fully compliant E.U. company.

Oh well...


Thats a really good point, perhaps CCP should make PLEX regional to prevent this and to take better control of their pricing. Even once we exclude VAT they are losing money from this due to the cut that the ETC sellers are taking.

EVE Manufacturing Guide - Simple guides to manufacturing in EVE for both beginners and more experienced players.
Haulie Berry
#4 - 2013-04-24 21:17:57 UTC
Danny Centauri wrote:


Thats a really good point, perhaps CCP should make PLEX regional to prevent this and to take better control of their pricing. Even once we exclude VAT they are losing money from this due to the cut that the ETC sellers are taking.


Yeah, that would clearly work in their favor. Roll
Danny Centauri
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#5 - 2013-04-24 21:28:09 UTC  |  Edited by: Danny Centauri
Haulie Berry wrote:
Danny Centauri wrote:


Thats a really good point, perhaps CCP should make PLEX regional to prevent this and to take better control of their pricing. Even once we exclude VAT they are losing money from this due to the cut that the ETC sellers are taking.


Yeah, that would clearly work in their favor. Roll


CCPs favor is also our favor, the more profitable CCP is the more likely they are to expand their development teams. I'd much rather buy from CCP and increase their profit than externally and know they are losing out on what could be resources that could *potentially* go back into EVE.

Unfortunately pricing simply makes this not viable at the moment.

EVE Manufacturing Guide - Simple guides to manufacturing in EVE for both beginners and more experienced players.
Akita T
Caldari Navy Volunteer Task Force
#6 - 2013-04-24 21:35:56 UTC
CCP doesn't need to pay VAT for the GTCs they send to non-EU resellers, so they're really not making nor losing more cash than doing the same through an EU reseller.
It gets a bit more complicated with VAT refunds in case of investments and such, but I have a feeling the pool of recoverable VAT is more than filled by the VAT they do collect on EU subs and EU GTC resellers, so it doesn't really make a difference that way either.

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Danny Centauri
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#7 - 2013-04-24 21:42:16 UTC
Akita T wrote:
CCP doesn't need to pay VAT for the GTCs they send to non-EU resellers, so they're really not making nor losing more cash than doing the same through an EU reseller.
It gets a bit more complicated with VAT refunds in case of investments and such, but I have a feeling the pool of recoverable VAT is more than filled by the VAT they do collect on EU subs and EU GTC resellers, so it doesn't really make a difference that way either.


Its not the VAT where they lose out but the fact that the ETC resellers are also taking a cut!

VAT is never CCPs money anyway, the main thing is that by ensuring that EU players pay VAT they can ensure that they offer the cheapest price rather than the less profitable ETC reseller sales.

EVE Manufacturing Guide - Simple guides to manufacturing in EVE for both beginners and more experienced players.
perfect company
Ocellus Technology
#8 - 2013-04-24 22:47:58 UTC
For the record you can buy a 60 day GTC through EA origin for £23 which includes VAT, or at least the receipt states VAT has been paid.