Educate yourself on country specific policies.

Opprinnelig skrevet av Saintinel:

How can a multi-billion dollar company...
Still not adjust prices taking into account people trying to gift others around the world?

Lawyers.

Opprinnelig skrevet av Nova Prospektor:

Educate yourself on country specific policies.

Ah yes, the typical "educate yourself" argument with nothing to back it up. Love it.

If you took 2 seconds to do research, you'd learn it has nothing to do with country specific policies, but rather Steam not adjusting prices to match and saying it's to "avoid scams". It won't let you gift if the price difference is over 10%, if it's under 10% they will let you. My post is pointing out how a multi billion dollar company does have the resources to make their app adjust for that, even if it's only when gifting, they just don't do it.

The ONLY time country specific policies come into play, is when a game can't be sold in said country, which isn't the case with the ones I'm trying to send.

Opprinnelig skrevet av Chika Ogiue:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Saintinel:

How can a multi-billion dollar company...
Still not adjust prices taking into account people trying to gift others around the world?

Lawyers.

What do lawyers have to do with it? please refer to my above reply.

Edit: And I mean the second paragraph onward, the first sentence is specific to the first person replying.

If prices differ more than 10% between regions, then that game can't be gifted.

Each game is priced differently and it's not about high to low or vice versa. It's just 10% difference.

Until there's a stricter way to prevent malicious users from taking advantage of regional pricing to get games at their cheapest, this is it. It's because of these restrictions that make regional pricing possible for those in less favorable markets. Otherwise, publishers would just set games to one price worldwide.

So while it makes gifting a frustrating process sometimes, it's for the betterment of others. Send a digital gift card or get keys like you're already doing.

Opprinnelig skrevet av rawWwRrr:

If prices differ more than 10% between regions, then that game can't be gifted.

Each game is priced differently and it's not about high to low or vice versa. It's just 10% difference.

Until there's a stricter way to prevent malicious users from taking advantage of regional pricing to get games at their cheapest, this is it. It's because of these restrictions that make regional pricing possible for those in less favorable markets. Otherwise, publishers would just set games to one price worldwide.

So while it makes gifting a frustrating process sometimes, it's for the betterment of others. Send a digital gift card or get keys like you're already doing.

I get what you're saying, but if this is the case, why can I send him a digital steam gift card with no issue? It says the currency will be converted to theirs. Why can't they do that with game prices as well? Hell, they could even add a 5-10% premium when purchasing in a different currency to discourage scams if that's truly what they are worried about.

Opprinnelig skrevet av Saintinel:

Opprinnelig skrevet av rawWwRrr:

If prices differ more than 10% between regions, then that game can't be gifted.

Each game is priced differently and it's not about high to low or vice versa. It's just 10% difference.

Until there's a stricter way to prevent malicious users from taking advantage of regional pricing to get games at their cheapest, this is it. It's because of these restrictions that make regional pricing possible for those in less favorable markets. Otherwise, publishers would just set games to one price worldwide.

So while it makes gifting a frustrating process sometimes, it's for the betterment of others. Send a digital gift card or get keys like you're already doing.

I get what you're saying, but if this is the case, why can I send him a digital steam gift card with no issue?

BEcause Valve gets the same money either way.. And those gift card prices are constant.\

Opprinnelig skrevet av Saintinel:

What do lawyers have to do with it?

Valve don't own the games they sell, unless they are the game's publisher. Surely you can figure the rest out as to why lawyers then come into it.

Opprinnelig skrevet av Saintinel:

Opprinnelig skrevet av rawWwRrr:

If prices differ more than 10% between regions, then that game can't be gifted.

Each game is priced differently and it's not about high to low or vice versa. It's just 10% difference.

Until there's a stricter way to prevent malicious users from taking advantage of regional pricing to get games at their cheapest, this is it. It's because of these restrictions that make regional pricing possible for those in less favorable markets. Otherwise, publishers would just set games to one price worldwide.

So while it makes gifting a frustrating process sometimes, it's for the betterment of others. Send a digital gift card or get keys like you're already doing.

I get what you're saying, but if this is the case, why can I send him a digital steam gift card with no issue? It says the currency will be converted to theirs. Why can't they do that with game prices as well? Hell, they could even add a 5-10% premium when purchasing in a different currency to discourage scams if that's truly what they are worried about.

You can send a digital gift card because the money for a digital gift card doesn't have a set currency like the physical cards.

Valve in the end still gets all the money for the gift card, but with games Valve gets 30% and the dev gets the other 70%.
And not all devs want certain currencies or even sell in certain countries.

Opprinnelig skrevet av Saintinel:

I get what you're saying, but if this is the case, why can I send him a digital steam gift card with no issue? It says the currency will be converted to theirs. Why can't they do that with game prices as well? Hell, they could even add a 5-10% premium when purchasing in a different currency to discourage scams if that's truly what they are worried about.

It's to avoid scams as it would be abused, they could allow to buy only for more expensive but not the other way around.
Some prices differences go over 50%

Yeah... remember when a few years back everyone was buying games in Argentina using a VPN because they were very, very cheap?
Regional pricing has a reason. And really, steam and game developers have absolutely no obligation to have regional pricing. They can pretty much just set prices in USD (or any other strong currency) and let the exchange rates do the talking. That would lead to many, many people in countries with much weaker currencies find the game's prices prohibitive. Hence, some markets have regional currency to help shift the gap. But more sales don't really mean more money if they are selling it cheaper.

Opprinnelig skrevet av Saintinel:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Chika Ogiue:

Lawyers.

What do lawyers have to do with it? please refer to my above reply.

Edit: And I mean the second paragraph onward, the first sentence is specific to the first person replying.

The issue is steam cannot change the prices of the games based on the persons region you are gifting it to because that would break the "bait and switch" law in place as they can only advertise and charge you the same price.

Opprinnelig skrevet av Saintinel:

Opprinnelig skrevet av rawWwRrr:

If prices differ more than 10% between regions, then that game can't be gifted.

Each game is priced differently and it's not about high to low or vice versa. It's just 10% difference.

Until there's a stricter way to prevent malicious users from taking advantage of regional pricing to get games at their cheapest, this is it. It's because of these restrictions that make regional pricing possible for those in less favorable markets. Otherwise, publishers would just set games to one price worldwide.

So while it makes gifting a frustrating process sometimes, it's for the betterment of others. Send a digital gift card or get keys like you're already doing.

I get what you're saying, but if this is the case, why can I send him a digital steam gift card with no issue? It says the currency will be converted to theirs. Why can't they do that with game prices as well? Hell, they could even add a 5-10% premium when purchasing in a different currency to discourage scams if that's truly what they are worried about.

Buying a giftcard is a direct transaction within no 3rd parties involved. You're buying a $20 giftcard in one region and direct currency conversion gets you X amount in a foreign currency. It's simple.

Game prices are trickier, because one, Valve doesn't control them. Two, game prices in other regions are necessarily directly converted from USD to X, so extra layer of complexity because it's not just conversions of currency, it's differences in prices too. It may not seem significant, but it can be.

Probably the biggest hurdles are bait and switch laws, or other pricing laws. And user confusion about when a price changes unfavorably when gifting across regions. Not to mention, users won't understand why prices change when selecting a gift recipient, or won't agree with the price change and want to haggle about it.

A lot of times when you think you have a simple and obvious solution to a complex problem, you need to ask yourself if it's so simple and obvious, why isn't the multi-billion dollar company with decades of experience doing it? Sometimes there might be a good reason that you wouldn't be aware of if you're solely relying on your imagination and ignoring the details in reality.

This is what Google's Geminmi spat about:

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+Zimbabwean+money+would+I+get+for+100USD%3F&aep=22&udm=50&mstk=AUtExfDRdAH34Q8ULApyqrE0uCzrS1jLRFLjMeeomEaUi1zJMz1_MJhJW7H3-nwYiDNPkvV-soE5awqetRJtoEPylWYP-qjn46hkdwuvp7Q15BdxgiTBlzhqWPK4WSOky8l8PVLloxuc-0UsfvjHaoaboZsdGZWwZ8q0K5rjlXqgC9cfiuF8dTwzCDeKH7ZSJ14WJbFJB2tUGRVtwq0-9Tdc7EyaULmqylJhuHtO0LyTniO0bqTHkNC59eulTg&csuir=1&mtid=gntJaZbPKMLJwPAP29D7sAE

In other words, you'd be rich if you were living in Zimbabwe...

This why there's regional pricing...

They want to avoid money laundering...

Opprinnelig skrevet av Thiesen:

This is what Google's Geminmi spat about:

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+Zimbabwean+money+would+I+get+for+100USD%3F&aep=22&udm=50&mstk=AUtExfDRdAH34Q8ULApyqrE0uCzrS1jLRFLjMeeomEaUi1zJMz1_MJhJW7H3-nwYiDNPkvV-soE5awqetRJtoEPylWYP-qjn46hkdwuvp7Q15BdxgiTBlzhqWPK4WSOky8l8PVLloxuc-0UsfvjHaoaboZsdGZWwZ8q0K5rjlXqgC9cfiuF8dTwzCDeKH7ZSJ14WJbFJB2tUGRVtwq0-9Tdc7EyaULmqylJhuHtO0LyTniO0bqTHkNC59eulTg&csuir=1&mtid=gntJaZbPKMLJwPAP29D7sAE

In other words, you'd be rich if you were living in Zimbabwe...

Just because it has a lot of zeros, doesn't make it a lot of money. You would still need 50k to 100k USD to get a half decent 1 bedroom apartment. A "good" house would set you back 200k/300k at the very least.

https://www.property.co.zw/

But that is not a very extreme case. Before they joined the euro, Italians were used to millions and millions of "Lira". The euro was established at just under 2.000 Liras. Brasil changed currencies a few time because of devaluation and hyperinflation. And those are just the ones I have on top of my head, surely there are many, many more.
Right now I think the biggest "loser" is the Lebanese currency at about 90k Lebanese Pounds for 1 USD.