Australia & EU Region Subscription Costs

The prices you pay are in line with the current exchange rate. The AUD to Euro conversion or British pound has never been good. Its the same when you travel overseas. Just be thankful were not paying in Yen.

In this respect I am ever so glad that Square Enix screwed my EU account over because I had had a previous NA account for FFXI, and forced me to get an NA gamecode to play. This means I get to pay in USD for months subs.
My son though is stuck with Euro as his copy was registered EU. That I will be paying two completely different prices monthly so we can both play is just stupid.

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Originally Posted by Stargazer1

The prices you pay are in line with the current exchange rate. The AUD to Euro conversion or British pound has never been good. Its the same when you travel overseas. Just be thankful were not paying in Yen.

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I just don't quite understand the logic behind forcing players to use the most expensive currency (EUR) to convert to, when there are other currencies (GBP, USD) available to players that don't cost nearly as much. I mean I'll admit I'm no student of economics so maybe I'm missing something here? As long as SE is receiving one of their set subscription costs, why is there any need to lock players without a native currency subscription to choose from into using the one that costs more to convert to?

We euros ALWAYS pay more than anyone else on subs, i don't see a problem here.

If you look at the conversion rates from the available subscription costs into the yen (JPY) it is as follows:

1480 JPY is the standard 30 day subscription fee for Japan.
(taken from here: http://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/product/)

8.99 GBP = 1417.97 JPY
12.99 EUR = 1731.90 JPY
14.99 USD = 1502.60 JPY

(taken from current conversion rates, I'm aware it will fluctuate)

It becomes quite apparent why they would go out of their way to make as many people to pay in Euros as possible. While GBP and USD are reasonably close to the monthly JPY subscription cost, everyone else using the Euro is paying more to play a month.

So not only on top of the higher conversion cost from currencies like the AUD, NZD and SGD to the EUR, you are also being charged more per month to play the game than other people fortunate enough to be using an account that can pay in GBP or USD.

Is it ethical? I'm not sure it really depends on the reasoning behind the increased costs. Maybe it has to do with local taxes? But even so, it does seem like they've gone out of their way to try and get the subscription costs as close as possible for currencies other than the EUR.

Ultimately, I personally agree. If you're going to be made to pay in a currency that isn't your own, then you should be able to pick from those available so you can at least pick the cheapest to convert to.

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Originally Posted by HumsterMKX

I don't really understand why can't all be flat USD... Need 3 different currencies

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umm if you knew about politics you would know that the american dollor is tanking and proberly going to lose world currency status soon too..
so just useing the USD could just tank the company ...

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Originally Posted by Intrinsic

If you look at the conversion rates from the available subscription costs into the yen (JPY) it is as follows:

1480 JPY is the standard 30 day subscription fee for Japan.
(taken from here: http://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/product/)

8.99 GBP = 1417.97 JPY
12.99 EUR = 1731.90 JPY
14.99 USD = 1502.60 JPY

(taken from current conversion rates, I'm aware it will fluctuate)

It becomes quite apparent why they would go out of their way to make as many people to pay in Euros as possible. While GBP and USD are reasonably close to the monthly JPY subscription cost, everyone else using the Euro is paying more to play a month.

So not only on top of the higher conversion cost from currencies like the AUD, NZD and SGD to the EUR, you are also being charged more per month to play the game than other people fortunate enough to be using an account that can pay in GBP or USD.

Is it ethical? I'm not sure it really depends on the reasoning behind the increased costs. Maybe it has to do with local taxes? But even so, it does seem like they've gone out of their way to try and get the subscription costs as close as possible for currencies other than the EUR.

Ultimately, I personally agree. If you're going to be made to pay in a currency that isn't your own, then you should be able to pick from those available so you can at least pick the cheapest to convert to.

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I stole this and added it to the first post I hope you don't mind, please let me know if you do and I'll remove it.

This sucks. There is nothing right about this. If they listed two currencies in one region you should be able to pick what currency you want to pay with.

What I'm confused is it seems like this affects all EU account's no matter if we are in AU or not.

So here's a question who can pay GBP and how???

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Originally Posted by ToraFomalhaut

I stole this and added it to the first post I hope you don't mind, please let me know if you do and I'll remove it.

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No worries that's fine. If you dig a bit further and look at the AUD to JPY conversions it's even more intresting.

8.99 GBP as you said is roughly 15.55 AUD which in turn is equal to roughly 1448.37 JPY. So it's a closer translation of the AUD to the base JPY cost of 1480 per month. Instead of being forced to pay the 19.96 AUD for converting to 12.99 EUR, which then equals 1793.93 JPY. In a prettier and easier to understand format (I hope):

8.99 GBP : 15.55 AUD : 1448.37 JPY
while
12.99 EUR : 19.96 AUD : 1793:93 JPY

For your Singaporean and New Zealand friends:

8.99 GBP : 17.95 SGD : 1418.79 JPY
12.99 GBP : 22.22 SGD : 1756.30 JPY

8.99 GBP : 17.96 NZD : 1448.89 JPY
12.99 GBP : 22.23 NZD : 1798.60 JPY

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Originally Posted by Intrinsic

No worries that's fine. If you dig a bit further and look at the AUD to JPY conversions it's even more intresting.

8.99 GBP as you said is roughly 15.55 AUD which in turn is equal to roughly 1448.37 JPY. So it's a closer translation of the AUD to the base JPY cost of 1480 per month. Instead of being forced to pay the 19.96 AUD for converting to 12.99 EUR, which then equals 1793.93 JPY. In a prettier and easier to understand format (I hope):

8.99 GBP : 15.55 AUD : 1448.37 JPY
while
12.99 EUR : 19.96 AUD : 1793:93 JPY

For your Singaporean and New Zealand friends:

8.99 GBP : 17.95 SGD : 1418.79 JPY
12.99 GBP : 22.22 SGD : 1756.30 JPY

8.99 GBP : 17.96 NZD : 1448.89 JPY
12.99 GBP : 22.23 NZD : 1798.60 JPY

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Nabbed and updated the first post again, thanks for taking the time to look all this up.

After all that I'm now, even more than before, hoping for at least some form of explanation or comment for both the pricing mismatch, as well as the reasoning behind the needlessly wasted money most of us are having to pay when converting to a higher costing currency.

FFXI has a 1:1 conversion rate and SE even forced all EU accounts to EUR after transferring all the POL accounts to SE accounts, even after I paid in dollars for years.
I would be glad that at least they reduced the EU fee compared to the US one for XIV.

The prices differences may also depend on the conversion fees that they don't intend to pay theirselves.

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Originally Posted by NZ_Player

has to be cheaper buying a game card from a US online store than it would be subscribing directly
this makes no sense at all

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If they give you the code without delivering it, ya, maybe.

has to be cheaper buying a game card from a US online store than it would be subscribing directly
this makes no sense at all

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Originally Posted by NZ_Player

has to be cheaper buying a game card from a US online store than it would be subscribing directly
this makes no sense at all

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US doesn't have the Game Time Card mate. I see MightyApe has 60 Days for $50.. and seems to be the standard for WoW game time too. I'm going to use Game Time Card, easier to manage the time.

FishPond is selling game time cards for $30AUD

Hi SE! We need a good explanation on this issue!

Bumpity bump!

We shouldn't have to buy game cards -_- most retail stores bump those up so they can make money on them, then you have to pay for shipping.. it's not worth it.

We should be paying USD, not Euro -_-

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Originally Posted by Rekujen

We shouldn't have to buy game cards -_- most retail stores bump those up so they can make money on them, then you have to pay for shipping.. it's not worth it.

We should be paying USD, not Euro -_-

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Don't know what store bump up the price but in NZ when it is RRPed at NZ$49.95 (including GST) everywhere, retailers can't price it more than that.

That's still too much, 50 bucks for 60 days....

If i paid with USD using my credit card, 60 days would be roughly 35 dollars.

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Originally Posted by Rekujen

That's still too much, 50 bucks for 60 days....

If i paid with USD using my credit card, 60 days would be roughly 35 dollars.

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That's what's standard for 60 Days game time in NZ, WoW is like that too... There are people prefer to get game time card, than paying using credit card. Fact.

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Originally Posted by TheFirstKel

That's what's standard for 60 Days game time in NZ, WoW is like that too... There are people prefer to get game time card, than paying using credit card. Fact.

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Errr sure, I don't think there is a company alive that would complain about people willingly paying more for a product even though they, themselves offer it at a cheaper rate if purchased on-line.

It doesn't mean that we should be being charged more than the rest of the world, or forced to buy game cards from obscure retailers and import them from other countries just to try and get the same monthly cost being offered to people who pay in USD, JPY and GBP.

At the end of the day I would be happy settling for being given the ability to choose which currency I pay in so that I could avoid the $45-50 extra a year that is being lost in conversion, SE doesn't even see that money. But I guess since it's been raised an answer as to why the EUR subscription cost seems to convert to a higher monthly cost than everyone else would be nice too. Because it hardly seems right without knowing there is good cause for it.

I know this is a shameless bump, but I was wanting to wait until the Devs had the server crisis under control before continuing to bother them for some insight into why the region subscription currencies are set as they are (see original post) for countries that don't have the ability to pay in a native currency.

Honestly, to me, it only seems polite to allow players who live in a country you're not offering a native currency subscription for, the ability to pick from those available so they may select the currency that gives them the best conversion rate.

Locking us into paying in EUR is needlessly costing us more per month than if we were able to convert to and pay in the set GBP or USD prices. Even converting AUD to JPY ends up being a cheaper cost per month than paying to convert to the EUR.

Please consider allowing us the ability to select from the available subscription currencies so we are not needlessly losing more money than is needed in conversion costs.

This has always bugged me. I used to pay in USD for 11, and then they changed all the billing stuff and suddenly I am paying about 60% more for the same product. I always wondered why people who have to pay in Euro and GBPs never kicked up a stink over how much more per month they have to pay for the same product as everyone else.

I honestly don't think anyone at SE even realizes that Australia and NZ are not part of the EU. I mean we all use PAL.........

I was trying to subscribe today and got confused so I came here.
I did not realize that we were getting Australia taxed yet again.
The price disparity between regions is discriminatory, and I won't subscribe to a game which price gouges based on region.
Such a shame, I was going to subscribe, and now I wont.

Well, that's a shame. Gotta love the Australia tax.

Indeed,
I can deal with not having Oceanic servers.
The thing I cannot deal with is being charged more for my subscription when I am getting worse service than other countries.

If they can't offer everyone the ability to pay in their own currency they should just have all payments made in Japanese Yen.

I'm EU and I accept this, different countries, different currencies and fluctuations, different taxes, different quality of life given money, etc.

However, they should at least give the possibility to everybody to pay in whatever currency they want (said that, I would be paying in Yen or $ :p).

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Originally Posted by HumsterMKX

I don't really understand why can't all be flat USD... Need 3 different currencies

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Because of exchange rates. I'll give you an example from another game I played (in which I played as CADUSD crossed parity twice) At one point it was cheaper for me to buy the game cards at the 7-11, up until CAD got to 90 cents USD, then it became cheaper to pay with paypal and take the hit there as the cost for the game time in USD was cheaper. When CADUSD got above 1.10, yes it was a lot cheaper and then they repriced the cards.

Aussies are SOL, because of VAT (and I think the higher EU price is also a EU VAT as well) US and JP prices do not have VAT. Australian prices must include VAT as the advertised price, which is something they can't do if it's a foreign currency subject to fluctuations.

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs...how_vat_works/

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VAT on services is paid at the place where the service has been supplied. This will most often, but not always, be where the service supplier is established. The trader will in those cases account for VAT on his services in the Member State where he is established, applying the VAT rate of that country.

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Great example here:
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs...m/index_en.htm

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3. Business or consumer outside the EU
No EU VAT charged.
But if the service is effectively used & enjoyed in an EU country, that country
can decide to levy VAT.

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Greetings ToraFomalhaut,

It seems that there have not been any further posts about this concern being an ongoing issue. Because of this, we are considering it to be resolved. If this does continue to be a concern, please create another thread to further try to discuss resolutions or contact the Support Center at support.na.square-enix.com for assistance.

Good Luck!