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Comment on Why are Steam games priced unfairly in Euros indifferent to where one resides?

I think the law doesn’t say that prices have to be the same, it’s just that you can’t block people from other countries from buying stuff at the cheaper price.

With physical goods you either have to actually go to the country or get it shipped to you, which can make this not as easy or “profitable”. However, with digital goods you just go to a website and there’s not really anything to ship, except maybe an email, so those same hurdles don’t exist, which is why those lower income countries usually get the short end of the stick with prices for games and stuff.

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ms_lane@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
*Unless you’re a german webshop, then it’s fine to restrict sales to Germany only apparently.

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ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Does Steam not require a billing address or Tax ID? Yeah, it’d be fairly easy to fake it to access the cheaper market, but if you’re gonna do that you might as well pretend you live in Argentina.

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- Poopfeast420@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Directly in Steam it’s not that easy, you need a billing address and Steam checks the payment method to verify the country (although I don’t know if certain prepaid cards work for this as well).
  
  You still have Steam keys, that can be sold anywhere though, and not everyone will care that this cheap key, intended for the Polish market is bought by someone in Germany.
  
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  - Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Prepaid cards have to be loaded with a specific currency and usually are part of a pre-existing payment processor (VISA/Matercard in the US).
    
    Valve’s steam gift cards are sold in the same currency as well, and are usually usable for accounts in the same country of origin (read the back fine print)
    
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    Poopfeast420@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I was thinking more along the line of PaysafeCard or things like that, although that might have similar currency restrictions. Or of course you can just buy foreign prepaid cards from third-party resellers. You’ll pay more than the card is actually worth, but if you would then be able to buy games for half price or even less, it would be worth it.
    
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- PapstJL4U@lemmy.world [bot] ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Companies are not allowed to not sell to other EU members. A polish company is allowed to sell in Germany, and a German buyer is allowed to buy from polish Companies without being unfair treated.
  
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