Can someone please explain to me why the new Game Pack is $30 CAD?! I swear everytime they release a new pack it gets more and more expensive! Did the price go up for U.S. based customers or any other countries? Is anyone else fed up with this?
The Sims 4 is around $800 CAD!!! EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS and now the price of packs has gone up yet again.
I can already say that based off reviews there is no way in heck I'm paying $30 for this pack... From what I've heard, it's not even worth the usual Game Pack price of $26 CAD.
I just purchased it on the day of release and it cost me $21, plus change, including the tax.
Can someone please explain to me why the new Game Pack is $30 CAD?! I swear everytime they release a new pack it gets more and more expensive! Did the price go up for U.S. based customers or any other countries? Is anyone else fed up with this?
The Sims 4 is around $800 CAD!!! EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS and now the price of packs has gone up yet again.
I can already say that based off reviews there is no way in heck I'm paying $30 for this pack... From what I've heard, it's not even worth the usual Game Pack price of $26 CAD.
I just purchased it on the day of release and it cost me $21, plus change, including the tax.
It was proposed, these things don’t go into action overnight. And the 3% would be $0.78 on the old gp price, or $0.90 on the new one, not $5! And the way tariffs work would mean that the 25% tariff would be paid by Americans buying Canadian digital content, not the other way around.
I think AnswersHQ is also a place more EA employees will be. Not necessarily Gurus but I see a lot of EA people there.
I didn't expect people to ask the Guru's, they just make the game so I wouldn't expect them to have information on pricing haha But I'll have to check out the AnswersHQ!
I'm not seeing anything that says its implemented yet? . They can't add on a tariff before its passed? If they are doing it before then they have just lost a customer of long standing. Do you have anything current shows it has already been implemented? And not lumber but actual digital products?
Lumber has become so expensive here people (bad) are actually stealing households fence planks. 😒 @Pamtastic72
There are tariffs already in place as a result of the trade wars sparked by the previous presidential administration in the US starting in 2017/18. Those combined with the fact that the game which costs $19.99 = $24.00+ dollars Canadian means the list price of the game in Canada is $29.99 CAD before they are charged any regional or sales tax at checkout it the exact same reason the game costs more in many other countries too.
Tariffs are paid upfront by EA or any other company exporting goods into other countries then in order to recoup that money EA and other companies add the amount they pay in tariffs onto the initial price of their goods because they are not going to just eat that cost. That is why people were saying when this all started that governments don’t pay tariffs consumers pay tariffs.
So again $19.99 USD = $24.19 CAD then apparently EA is adding another $5.80 to likely recover the cost of tariffs they pay to export the game to Canada for an upfront purchase price in Canada of $29.99, then at checkout there are other regional and sales taxes applied.
Nobody in the US pays just $19.99 either. We either pay sales tax at the time of purchase as @GalacticGal pointed out. So for example my total purchase price is $21.77, or in some states you pay the extra tax later in the form of state income taxes at the end of the year.
As for Canada adding an additional 3% on digital content next year, I assume that means depending on the exchange rate and whether or not the tariffs get reduced or removed you can plan on your digital content exported out of America to be 3% more expensive.
Oh, also the reason previous game packs are different prices than DHD or JTB is likely because those prices are frozen at whatever the exchange rate, and import/export tariff rate that applied at the time of their release. I won’t pretend to understand all the laws around this stuff and I am not going to pretend EA or any other mega corporation is angelic or very philanthropic. But, I don’t see an upside to them gouging international customers. Because as I said before any given game only garners so much of an audience in the US, they need their international customers to maintain their profit margins and it behooves them to keep markups with reason so that as many people as possible can afford the games while still managing to make a profit.
I've bought packs previous and not that long ago. where this was not the case re: a tariff. Not until JTB and the Designer GP.
I paid my regular prov/fed taxes and of course the US exchange. This is not the same.
Why would they add on the "extra" now if this has been going on previously. That is what I don't get. All my other pack purchases have only been higher due to the exchange rate.
Not really arguing if there is a tariff just the timing of charging it.
If the tariffs have been there since 2017/2018 why charge more now?
And of course every country/province/state have their own tax structure. Not disputing that. :-)
"Every child matters. If we fail our children, we are bound to fail our present, our future, faith, cultures, and civilizations as well."
I've bought packs previous and not that long ago. where this was not the case re: a tariff. Not until JTB and the Designer GP.
I paid my regular prov/fed taxes and of course the US exchange. This is not the same.
Why would they add on the "extra" now if this has been going on previously. That is what I don't get. All my other pack purchases have only been higher due to the exchange rate.
Not really arguing if there is a tariff just the timing of charging it.
If the tariffs have been there since 2017/2018 why charge more now?
And of course every country/province/state have their own tax structure. Not disputing that. :-)
There may have been more added prior to JTB and DHD, because there was still a lot of back and forth on them in 2019 & 2020 prior to the election.
All GPs etc before JTB & DHD are still cheaper. No extra cost/price increase. Just have to accept they raised the price. At least we do have the choice to buy or not at full price.
"Every child matters. If we fail our children, we are bound to fail our present, our future, faith, cultures, and civilizations as well."
I've bought packs previous and not that long ago. where this was not the case re: a tariff. Not until JTB and the Designer GP.
I paid my regular prov/fed taxes and of course the US exchange. This is not the same.
Why would they add on the "extra" now if this has been going on previously. That is what I don't get. All my other pack purchases have only been higher due to the exchange rate.
Not really arguing if there is a tariff just the timing of charging it.
If the tariffs have been there since 2017/2018 why charge more now?
And of course every country/province/state have their own tax structure. Not disputing that. :-)
There may have been more added prior to JTB and DHD, because there was still a lot of back and forth on them in 2019 & 2020 prior to the election.
There is currently no tariff on digital goods anywhere as far as I can find. Even the retaliatory ones mentioned earlier against a DTS were going to be against physical goods like cosmetics and clothing, not digital purchases. And those are currently suspended pending further negotiations. There is absolutely no proof anywhere that the price increases on this pack has anything to do with tariffs, and I don’t know why you’re so insistent otherwise.
Also I’m not entirely certain you know how tariffs work. If the USA had implemented that 25% tariff American people would have been paying a 25% tariff on those imports, not the other way around.
I've just read an article in the New York Times (June 2, 2021)
The US Government started proceedings (under the previous administration) to impose a 25% tariff on "certain goods" on six countries, in retaliation to taxes imposed by those six countries on digital services. The article does not mention Canada, but its does mention the UK. I don't know if the tariff applies to the gaming industry, but it's possible.
The law in the UK the Digital Service Tax was created to impose taxes on large multinationals and it was enacted in April 2020, but there is usually a grace period before the law is fully implemented.
If Canada is proposing to impose a similar digital tax of its own, as the previously posted article suggests, then Canada feasibly could face the same tariff. However, the current administration has currently suspended the proposed tariff (temporarily) as they engage in trade talks.
Is it possible that EA and other US companies are raising their prices in response to these countries digital taxes and the tariffs are the backlash?
I've bought packs previous and not that long ago. where this was not the case re: a tariff. Not until JTB and the Designer GP.
I paid my regular prov/fed taxes and of course the US exchange. This is not the same.
Why would they add on the "extra" now if this has been going on previously. That is what I don't get. All my other pack purchases have only been higher due to the exchange rate.
Not really arguing if there is a tariff just the timing of charging it.
If the tariffs have been there since 2017/2018 why charge more now?
And of course every country/province/state have their own tax structure. Not disputing that. :-)
There may have been more added prior to JTB and DHD, because there was still a lot of back and forth on them in 2019 & 2020 prior to the election.
There is currently no tariff on digital goods anywhere as far as I can find. Even the retaliatory ones mentioned earlier against a DTS were going to be against physical goods like cosmetics and clothing, not digital purchases. And those are currently suspended pending further negotiations. There is absolutely no proof anywhere that the price increases on this pack has anything to do with tariffs, and I don’t know why you’re so insistent otherwise.
Also I’m not entirely certain you know how tariffs work. If the USA had implemented that 25% tariff American people would have been paying a 25% tariff on those imports, not the other way around.
Hm~ I thought JTB is the only special case with higher price due to collaboration with Disney till Now! So far This, DHD, is the 2nd GP that marks same price as JTB, even not collab with Any brand. Funfact: Other old GP, Magic Realm, Jungle Adventure...etc, still marks Cad$ 25.99 as regular price even Now.
If the TARRIFF is the factor then the price of old GP should be changed too, not limited to the new launched game.
If the $4.00 price increase for GPs is due to tariffs, then the price for EPs and SPs should have increased by $8.00 and $2.00 respectively, but they didn’t. Snowy Escape is still only $51.99 and Paranormal is still only $12.99 so that can’t be it.
I live in the US and the price is still $20 USD. Is it possible for you to switch your country on EA to the United States and purchase it for cheaper? It sucks that they're charging more, I hope for your sake that it's just a glitch.
Not allowed and could result in the buyer getting banned.
Can someone please explain to me why the new Game Pack is $30 CAD?! I swear everytime they release a new pack it gets more and more expensive! Did the price go up for U.S. based customers or any other countries? Is anyone else fed up with this?
The Sims 4 is around $800 CAD!!! EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS and now the price of packs has gone up yet again.
I can already say that based off reviews there is no way in heck I'm paying $30 for this pack... From what I've heard, it's not even worth the usual Game Pack price of $26 CAD.
I just purchased it on the day of release and it cost me $21, plus change, including the tax.
What Country are you in?
USA I thought that was evident by the dollar symbol.
Can we do like a game/$$ exchange? US simmer buys a game and a Canadian simmer sends $20 USD through PayPal to them or something?
I don't actually know if this is possible or not lol
Never mind, not possible. Bummer.
I've actually purchased from Best Buy U.S. for past packs and the codes have worked. I'll probably give that a try when they have a sale. The only time it doesn't work is with the Xbox website specifically at least to my knowledge.
Comments
I asked on twitter but didn't tag the gurus but did tag the Sims with hashtag gurus - maybe we all need to do the asking on social media
Canada’s new GST/HST regime will take effect on 1 July 2021.
https://www.vistra.com/insights/canadas-new-digital-services-tax-what-multinational-businesses-need-know
I just purchased it on the day of release and it cost me $21, plus change, including the tax.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
What Country are you in?
It was proposed, these things don’t go into action overnight. And the 3% would be $0.78 on the old gp price, or $0.90 on the new one, not $5! And the way tariffs work would mean that the 25% tariff would be paid by Americans buying Canadian digital content, not the other way around.
I didn't expect people to ask the Guru's, they just make the game so I wouldn't expect them to have information on pricing haha But I'll have to check out the AnswersHQ!
There are tariffs already in place as a result of the trade wars sparked by the previous presidential administration in the US starting in 2017/18. Those combined with the fact that the game which costs $19.99 = $24.00+ dollars Canadian means the list price of the game in Canada is $29.99 CAD before they are charged any regional or sales tax at checkout it the exact same reason the game costs more in many other countries too.
Tariffs are paid upfront by EA or any other company exporting goods into other countries then in order to recoup that money EA and other companies add the amount they pay in tariffs onto the initial price of their goods because they are not going to just eat that cost. That is why people were saying when this all started that governments don’t pay tariffs consumers pay tariffs.
So again $19.99 USD = $24.19 CAD then apparently EA is adding another $5.80 to likely recover the cost of tariffs they pay to export the game to Canada for an upfront purchase price in Canada of $29.99, then at checkout there are other regional and sales taxes applied.
Nobody in the US pays just $19.99 either. We either pay sales tax at the time of purchase as @GalacticGal pointed out. So for example my total purchase price is $21.77, or in some states you pay the extra tax later in the form of state income taxes at the end of the year.
As for Canada adding an additional 3% on digital content next year, I assume that means depending on the exchange rate and whether or not the tariffs get reduced or removed you can plan on your digital content exported out of America to be 3% more expensive.
Oh, also the reason previous game packs are different prices than DHD or JTB is likely because those prices are frozen at whatever the exchange rate, and import/export tariff rate that applied at the time of their release. I won’t pretend to understand all the laws around this stuff and I am not going to pretend EA or any other mega corporation is angelic or very philanthropic. But, I don’t see an upside to them gouging international customers. Because as I said before any given game only garners so much of an audience in the US, they need their international customers to maintain their profit margins and it behooves them to keep markups with reason so that as many people as possible can afford the games while still managing to make a profit.
I paid my regular prov/fed taxes and of course the US exchange. This is not the same.
Why would they add on the "extra" now if this has been going on previously. That is what I don't get. All my other pack purchases have only been higher due to the exchange rate.
Not really arguing if there is a tariff just the timing of charging it.
If the tariffs have been there since 2017/2018 why charge more now?
And of course every country/province/state have their own tax structure. Not disputing that. :-)
AHQ Champion
There may have been more added prior to JTB and DHD, because there was still a lot of back and forth on them in 2019 & 2020 prior to the election.
AHQ Champion
There is currently no tariff on digital goods anywhere as far as I can find. Even the retaliatory ones mentioned earlier against a DTS were going to be against physical goods like cosmetics and clothing, not digital purchases. And those are currently suspended pending further negotiations. There is absolutely no proof anywhere that the price increases on this pack has anything to do with tariffs, and I don’t know why you’re so insistent otherwise.
Also I’m not entirely certain you know how tariffs work. If the USA had implemented that 25% tariff American people would have been paying a 25% tariff on those imports, not the other way around.
The US Government started proceedings (under the previous administration) to impose a 25% tariff on "certain goods" on six countries, in retaliation to taxes imposed by those six countries on digital services. The article does not mention Canada, but its does mention the UK. I don't know if the tariff applies to the gaming industry, but it's possible.
The law in the UK the Digital Service Tax was created to impose taxes on large multinationals and it was enacted in April 2020, but there is usually a grace period before the law is fully implemented.
If Canada is proposing to impose a similar digital tax of its own, as the previously posted article suggests, then Canada feasibly could face the same tariff. However, the current administration has currently suspended the proposed tariff (temporarily) as they engage in trade talks.
Is it possible that EA and other US companies are raising their prices in response to these countries digital taxes and the tariffs are the backlash?
Anyways, just wanted to say I'm from Singapore and the price for this new pack is S$2 more than usual. (But it's the same price as Journey to Baatu.)
K, 🙄 ✌️
If the TARRIFF is the factor then the price of old GP should be changed too, not limited to the new launched game.
I literally play this music above when playing Sims 4! Cozy and Fuzzy
Not allowed and could result in the buyer getting banned.
USA I thought that was evident by the dollar symbol.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
I've actually purchased from Best Buy U.S. for past packs and the codes have worked. I'll probably give that a try when they have a sale. The only time it doesn't work is with the Xbox website specifically at least to my knowledge.