Buying software: can I download from another country?

[unifex]

Not sure where this question belongs, so I would not mind if it gets moved to a proper place ...

I just noticed that Nero has come up with the new version of their burning software. Now, there is already some discussion of whether it's actually worth it to upgrade given that the main part, Nero Burning Rom has not been changed for years. But, there is another issue that got me curious.

Check out the price of Nero Burning Rom. If you go to the Nero website you can choose different countries and languages.

If your choice is US English, then the price is $49.99.

Now, I am currently in Germany, so if I go to the Nero website it automatically chooses Germany English. The price is suddenly Euro 49.99, which is about 30% more (even after recent exchange rate developments).

Choose UK English and you find the price to be £39.99 - about 60 bucks.

I got curious and changed the setting to Russia, English. The price became Euro 59.99.

Now, my question - is there any legal argument that would prevent me from choosing the country setting that corresponds to the lowest price - in case of Nero that would be the US or, another good example, New Zealand. The price is for the download, so no actual shipping is involved. Therefore there is no additional cost related to shipping expenses (which would actually depend on the destination address). The product is exactly the same.

With real purchases - such as from Amazon.com with shipping to Germany - the situation is different, since local customs office will charge a duty and the price difference will almost always disappear (unless you are lucky to find some mega sale event). But with downloads, customs seem to be left out of the deal.

Any suggestions?

 

[manhunter2826]

Good Q and I'm unsure as to the legalities I must be honest.

Free alternatives to Nero (perhaps not as multi-functional) are the excellent The Official ImgBurn Website and CDBurnerXP: Introduction and News.

Like i say, good Q though.

 

[Barman58]

The way I understand things the customs duty is still payable in the case of a download as with a physical shipment.

How this would be achieved I am not aware, and may be the reason for the price difference, of course it may be that there are actual differences in the software also.
you may find that the purchase of the US version is not actually possible but you would need to check the website terms

 

[manhunter2826]

Good Q and I'm unsure as to the legalities I must be honest.

Free alternatives to Nero (perhaps not as multi-functional) are the excellent The Official ImgBurn Website and CDBurnerXP: Introduction and News.

Like i say, good Q though.

In addition I wonder whether country-wide url detection is invoked at the point of purchase (not in this instance I realize) -- in other words, the transaction is refused - if it detects a payment from a different country - much like trying to view USA TV programs in the UK and vice-versa. Unsure but ...

 

[madmansam]

Good Q and I'm unsure as to the legalities I must be honest.

Free alternatives to Nero (perhaps not as multi-functional) are the excellent The Official ImgBurn Website and CDBurnerXP: Introduction and News.

Like i say, good Q though.

In addition I wonder whether country-wide url detection is invoked at the point of purchase (not in this instance I realize) -- in other words, the transaction is refused - if it detects a payment from a different country - much like trying to view USA TV programs in the UK and vice-versa. Unsure but ...

100% right.. they will refuse it and sometimes they will apply your country price .. I had that before .. I thought I was clever to go to Egyptian website where the price was 40% cheaper ...HaHaHa.

 

[Kari]

I use this service when buying something online from USA, when the vendor accepts only an American address. Might not be a solution for you, especially if all you need is the new Nero; the service is not free.

 

[patio]

I like the FREE alternatives mentioned in Post #2...

Kudos.

 

[unifex]

Thanks everyone!

Well, I used Nero just as example. I just wanted to understand the legality as a matter of principle.

Technically, I can easily buy from American as well as European sites - not sure about Egyptian, never tried that. With physical shipments sometimes I get a customs notice and sometimes I do not - I guess they are not 100% effective. With downloads it's even easier.

But there must be some reason they charge different prices in different countries. I do understand this in the case of actual brick-and-mortar shops, there one needs to satisfy local laws and procedures, pay taxes, duties and what not. But with selling downloads of presumably the same product - or can it be that a "German" version of Nero (or an anti-virus or a text editor) is really different from a "US" or "UK" version?

I really doubt anyone would ever check my computer for where have I bought my software, but it would be good to understand the situation and hopefully act accordingly. At least, if I'm paying a higher price I should know what am I paying for, right?

 

[patrickt]

I live in Mexico and most of the software I buy online downloads without a problem. With Adobe, there's a problem. They will not let me download to a Mexican ISP. I download to a friends server in the U.S. and get it from there.

Another problem is that many companies in the U.S. will not accept a credit card with a billing address outside the U.S. even if it's a U.S. Bank. So, I have a card with my sister's address.