UK pricing of Adobe Software a rip off compared to US... Why?

I'm an existing Adobe customer and own Lightroom 2 which I upgraded to Version 3 and Photoshop CS4 Extended which I want to update to CS5 Extended.
I was on Adobe.com (via the help button in Photoshop) and noticed on the right of the page upgrade to CS5 Extended from $199. So, I went through and selected from CS4 Extended to CS5 Extended and with the current offers go a final price + shipping of $285.15 which is £183.02.
I tried but, I couldn't complete the order, so I logged onto Adobe.com/uk and created the same order but the price is almost Double the US price (was £183.02) at £333.60. Why is the same product almost double the price in the UK vs US?
I totally understand that there maybe a slight currency translation adjustment and additional shipping cost (although the product is very light anyway).
I spoke to someone ad Adobe via the live chat and was told (text taken from the actual chat).
Although Adobe Europe and Adobe US are different parts of the same global company, European Marketing strategies and pricing are not directly related to those used for the US.
I truly understand your concern regarding the price being more in UK as compared to US conversion, however, there are many factors that decide pricing like 'the cost of doing business in each country' and the 'difference in the perceived value of the product'.
We want to make sure that we are giving our Customers the best products and at the right price.
We're sure that the Adobe products add value by helping you get the desired output at ease, efficiency and speed.
Come on, the US and UK product is 100% identical and why would charging almost double the price be 'the right price' for the consumer?
I'm very unhappy about this, and believe it's yet another classic case of overcharging the UK customer.

Marian Driscoll wrote:
these types of discussions only demonstrate the desire for Adobe software. It only strengthens Adobe to realize that people passionately want Adobe software.
You may be right, but I don't think so
A much stronger message can be sent by ignoring Adobe. If we do not like the price. Do not pay it. The "classic case" is that a vendor will drop prices when it finds that nobody wants to pay so much.
This can (and might) happen simultaneously along with all the griping. Many people may just decide to keep using their old versions, especially since they can't upgrade from versions older than CS5. At least the griping will tell Adobe WHY they aren't buying.
To add to the reasons explained in post #3...
3. There may be a greater cost to market in different countries
4. There may be a greater cost legally defend software licenses/patents in different countries
As pointed out by many other people, not all software companies make such a large difference in what they charge their customers, though the challenges are the same. I personally tend to believe the explanations given by the customer support representative regarding perceived value of the product (translation: charge the most that people are willing to pay) and the separate marketing strategies for the US and international.

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Turn Notifications off in Safari (required for updating Adobe software), Turn Notifications off in Safari (required for updating Adobe software)

need to turn Notifications off in Safari to update Adobe Software

From your Safari menu bar click Safari > Preferences then select the Notifications tab.
Deselect: Allow website to ask for permission to send push notifications (at the bottom of that pane).

Who thinks the International pricing of Adobe Products is Fair?

IMHO the pricing policy of Adobe sucks big time.
I can understand charging a small preium for trnaslations into other languages (extra work)
But why does it cost more for English language software in one region than another?
The price for master suites in the US is sssooo much lower than in Europe, even for an English language version.
We don't all have to have German language software.
In fact I know a lot of people who prefer to work with English language software who work internationally.
There's no excuse for this. It's the same product in the US and the UK!
(USD 2499 versus GBP 2489)
Exchange rate is 0.6279 = 1569 GBP + VAT @ 15% = fair price of 1800GBP
And then why does it cost even more for a download than a hard copy shipment?
(2630 GBP versus 2489 GBP)
What a joke. The internet should make things cheaper not more expensive!
Europe is a single market. People in Germany are even worse off!
Yes we all know about currency fluctuations, import duties and tax differences (15% VAT in the UK * 19% MWSt in Germany), but Adobe are just ripping off people in mainland Europe.
No way do these differences justify the MASSIVE difference in price. (EUR 3245 versus GBP 2489)
Fair price for English language software in Germany should be 2499 * 0.6875 *1.19 = 2044 EUR
But Adobe want to charge you 3245 EUR! That's 60% too much even after taking into account tax differences!
Roll on transparency and the single market!

I second that.
I just checked for After Effects. The US price for a full version is USD 999 (which would be CHF 909 at the current rate) but Adobe charges CHF 1'529.26 (!!!) - and I'm talking about the English version. In Switzerland we have a very moderate VAT of 8%, so that's no excuse either.
Come on Adobe, 50% more because we're not american??
I find this behaviour extremely customer unfriendly to be honest...It's a rip-off.
Adobe, you're killing very good products with your attitude...

Creative Cloud Desktop Installer - Why does it Hate Adobe Software?

It takes some real incompetence to write an installer that can't install if you already have that company's software.
So I own CS6 for Design and Web and Lightroom 4.x and have been pretty happy with it.
But in August there was a deal to try Creative Cloud for $19.99 a month. I bit on the deal and installed it.
But realize.. I don't need all the DEV Tools Nor do I need all the Video tools so $50 a month will be a deal breaking in a year. You need to create sub suites of Creative Cloud that match some of the suites you used to sell or I will abandon the cloud and I suspect like many others CS6 will become the defacto standard for years.
HOWEVER,
I may cancel my CC this month is you don't put some REAL DEVELOPERS on the install software.
It took me 2 hours, BING, GOOGLE, and uninstalling CS6, Adobe reader, Adobe Player etc to get my first Creative Cloud installed.
Today I got the message there was an update to the Creative Cloud desktop. I made the mistake of trying to update.
I now have had the CC desktop uninstalled and the installer again is gives me the fail message with no useful info it did at first install.
So I guess I have spend several hours uninstalling, cleaning, and reinstalling Adobe Software.
What IDIOT writes an installer that fails if the person actually has other software from that company installed.
What IDIOT fails to test a machine with lots of your own software installed to see if it breaks your installer
What IDIOT releases software that demands users uninstall your products every time it needs an update.
This is an Adobe failure but the entire Product Team for the CC Desktop manager application. Time to clean house and bring in the A team to fix this.
Know this.. The Third time I am put in a position to Uninstall, Clean and Reinstall CC.. IT will be Uninstall, Clean Reinstall CS6 and Cancel my CC account and block CC payments to Adobe from my Amex.
This is not new.. I can read for months and months people having this problem. Find the problem Adobe software has with Adobe software and FIX IT.
This is why the Government should have blocked the Macromedia sale. If Adobe had one decent competitor.. this is the kind of thing that would cause people to change.
Lack of competition clearly has made Adobe not care about fixing installer bugs that should he SHOW STOPPER ! CANCEL VACATIONS AND FIX. because hey where else will they go?.
Where will I go, CS6 already paid for and we are done with Adobe and down comes the giant subscription cash cow.. because the installer developers kept us from using the tools you created which are pretty good, if I don't have to keep removing them to update a utility that manages them.

got it installed.
Didn't have to uninstall all the software this time..
And I got a clue to where Adobe may be having problems. I think they have an old library that has broken code for accessing profiles in Windows.
Ran the cleaner for CS6 & Creative cloud.
it then lists all the CS6 and CC Apps including CC Desktop.. I chose that but got a :
"Was cleaned with errors" message
GREAT.. even the cleaner is broke!!!
but unlike other tools tells me where the LOG file is... EXCEPT.
Instead of c:\Users\Tim.Domain\... rest of path where it was
The error lists c:\Users\Tim~1~DOM\.. rest of path.
Well \Tim~1~DOM is a left over folder from a previous profile... that is actually nearly empty. Yet Adobe's error used it not the correct profile in the Error.
So imagine that certain other calls are also using busted Profile calls. that grab simular profies vs the correct one.. BUSTED INSTALLER!!
after the Cleaner was run for only CC Desktop.. I was then able to download and install the current version from Adobe.
Code that grabs the wrong profile path is going to cause problems....

Acrobat Pricing Structure Rip Off

I logged on to Adobe's website to purchase a single downloaded version of Acrobat X Standard, after already purchasing multi license version of Pro, I logged onto the USA site and saw the price of $299us, but when I tried to purchase online, the site would only accept a US address and I was redirected to the Australian Adobe Site, where the same software, from the same download, was $475au. With the Australian Dollar being above parity with the US dollar at the rate of 1.06, and no freight or shipping involved for the product, this is a blatant rip off and adobe should be ashamed of themselves. I managed to fool the US site into accepting a fake address and using my credit card successfully, but shouldn't have had to. PICK YOUR GAME UP ADOBE, LEVEL THE PRICES.

Price variation across territories is common practice in the softwre industry - even though there are no shipping costs, there are geographical factors involved in the price calculations (operating costs for product and support localization, business taxes, etc.). Global corporations do not operate as a single entity, spreading overheads and profits equally across every CD or download they sell - their business units are regional and the price models reflect that.
Of course Adobe are out to make a profit, they're a business after all, but unless you have evidence to support your claim of a deliberate "rip-off", please be mindful of the accusations you make in public.
I managed to fool the US site into accepting a fake address and using my credit card successfully..
Not the most sensible thing to admit on Adobe's forum, as you've just breached the terms of sale.

I am feeling so ripped off right now. I have wanted a Mac for years and believed the hype about it's stability and I have had more trouble with this Imac 2011 than I have ever had with a pc. It locks up with several software products from APP store.

I am feeling so ripped off right now. I have wanted a Mac for years and believed the hype about it's stability and I have had more trouble with this Imac 2011 than I have ever had with a pc. It locks up with several software products from APP store. I have already had to have a technician to look at it and really couldn't figure out what the deal was. I was told that the APP store software should give me no problems but the truth is that it locks up on the software. This machine is only 4 weeks old and I am using 37 g on a 1 T hard drive. There is no reason for it to be locking up. Also, when I try to use the help program, it always tells me that I am not connected to the internet even though I have used both the mail program and the browser with no problem just before that. I successfully used the help program on my pc lots of times. I did not need a $2000. plus machine to just get email. I just wanted to unload on somebody that might understand my pain and after checking out this site...I think there is a few of you out there.

I was told that the APP store software should give me no problems but the truth is that it locks up on the software.
The apps downloaded from the Mac App Store are written by third party developers, not Apple. If you have problems with those apps you need to visit the support area for their websites. Launch the App Store, locate the app name. You should see a support link.
when I try to use the help program, it always tells me that I am not connected to the internet even though I have used both the mail program and the browser with no problem just before that
Go to ~/Library/Preferences. Move the com.apple.helpviewer.plist file from the Preferences folder to the Trash. Restart your Mac, try the Help menu.
If you need help finding that file, hold down the Finder icon in the Dock then click: New Finder Window. From the menu bar top of your screen click: Go > Go to Folder. Type this in exactly as you see it here: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.helpviewer.plist That will take you right to that file.
(.plist) files stores information about a particular app or in this case, the Help viewer. Often times deleting the .plist file resolves the issue.
It's fine to "unload"... we understand that you expect your iMac to be stable but there are times when things go awry. That's why we have these forums so that you can you get help.
You may want to read up on how to repair the disk if necessary or reintsall Lion > OS X Lion: About Lion Recovery
Apple - Find Out How - Mac Basics
How to "switch" from PC to Mac > Apple - Support - Switch 101
I'm sorry you feel, "ripped off", but you are using the world's most advanced operating system and it may take some time to adjust to a new OS. http://developer.apple.com/technologies/mac/

Adobe software update won't update - Turn off DynamicLinkManager?

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Hi Kevin,
Im having a hard time getting a good answer but, Im upgraded from 5.5 to 6.0 and need to quickly add my custom mapkey setting from one to the other.
It was very frustrating to find out that from 5.0 to 5.5 that I had to recreate them all as a power editor and in Final Cut Pro we were able to export or find them very easily.
My biggest pet pee is that I have been told that I need to look for a .kys but, on my MacPro searching on SPOTLIGHT is doesnt exist anywhere.
I urgently need ADOBE to make this more evident because its is really a key root feature that needs to have some attention too.
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When I updated my software version on my ipod touch it wiped out everything, software I had payed for, pictures, music, video. What a rip off. I would just go back to my last version, but I'm sure it wouldn't help. What a ripoff. Does anyone have any idea

When I updated my ipods touch os version it wiped out all my software I had paid for, my pictures, music, videos, contacts everything. What a rip off. I would just go back to my last version, but I'm sure that wouldn't help. What a racket, make people buy software then put out a new version and wipe there system so they have to buy the software again. Anyone have any idea's?

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The iPod backup that iTunes makes during every sync and and as the a early step of an USB update does not contain synced media like apps and music. It has aloways been that way. If rhe synced media is not in your iTunes library when you do the restore it can't be synced to the iPod during a latter part of the update. See:
iTunes: About iOS backups
iOS 5: Updating your device to iOS 5

Adobe software - How I want to buy it

As a video editor I only want software that is of use to me in my activity, namely: -
Adobe Premiere
Adobe Encore
Adobe Audition
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Photoshop
+ export plug-ins (media encoder etc)
What I would like is for Adobe to bundle this software together as say,
"Adobe CS 2013 Video"
and to make them available with a perpetual license.
What I do not want is: -
non perpetual licensed software,
to pay vastly more than users in the USA for the same product, excluding local taxes
all the software on the present CC model
to buy other producers software (Edius, Hitfilm, Nuke, Vegas, Media Composer, Corel etc)
Now to help with Adobe's cash flow I do not mind paying a monthly subscription to just as long as: -
The subscription cost over a period of time equal to the historical CS suite version upgrade timescale is the same as I would pay for the update in one lump sum
The subscription cost is the same worldwide excluding local taxes
That Adobe guarantees not to remove features from any of the software products within the suite purchased
That Adobe guarantees to release reasonable product updates during a calendar year
That Adobe adopt a service level agreement with its subscribers to resolve software bugs within a three month period after having been notified of the bugs by the users
Adobe management, this is what I want, please make your sales model flexible enough to enable me to buy your software.
Also can I suggest that Adobe management listen to the customers, you have to report to your shareholders and make profit, but it is us, the customer who actually buys your products and we really do not want to take our business elsewhere.
OK, guys this is what I want what do you want?

Software (irrespective of the format it's supplied in) is subject to VAT.
So what? You forget the difference between excise duties and VAT. I was only talking about excise duties, not VAT, since it is completely irrelevant.
Is that your effort to excuse Adobe for ripping off European customers with a 40% price differential between US and Europe EXCLUDING taxes? Same product in the same language from the same download servers and using the same activation servers, while their own profit margins are around 95% higher in Europe than in the US, due to diligent use of tax treaties.
See example below:
Yearly Data all excluding sales tax or VAT
USA
Europe
% Difference
Product cost for single CC upgrade subscription*
$ 150
$ 150
nihil
Sales price one year upgrade subscription
$ 360
$ 504
40 %
Profit margin before tax
$ 210
$ 354
69 %
Corporate Taxes
35 %
25 %
NA
Profit after corporate tax
$ 136.50
$ 265.50
95 %
* This is an assumed cost price. In practice it is probably much lower.

RIM ripping off everyone outside of US (pretty much)

I am a ridiculously loyal Blackberry user. For a short while (two weeks) I defected to the iPhone, but quickly realized it was mistake and came straight back.
I did buy an iPad when they came out, but I actually prefer my Playbook so the iPad is gathering dust somewhere in the house.
So, it seriously p****s me off that RIM insist on totally ripping me off when it comes to prices in Blackberry App World.
Many of you reading this won't realize that RIM are charging everyone else exactly the same numerical value for apps, but changing the currency symbol.
So, if an app costs $10 the price in the UK will be £10 and in Europe it will be 10 euros.
This is an amazing rip-off. It is like sticking a finger up at all your loyal customers and figuring out we're all thick and will never know what is going on.
Here's the math. If an app is priced at $10 that is £6.33, which is nowhere near £10. Even if you add in VAT at 20%, it still only adds up to £7.59.
This mean RIM are charging UK customer over THIRTY PER CENT more than US users for exactly the same software. Do the publishers get paid a percentage of this rip-off rate. My guess that RIM are paying out a percent of the $10 price and NOT the £10 they are actually charging.
I was in France last week and wasn't surprised that all the prices were exactly the same, but with just a Euro symbol in front.
Is it any surprise that Apple, who lead the way as far as apps are concerned, ARE charging 69p for a $1 app. That is FAIR and is how it should be.
RIM have a lot to learn if they are going to compete in this market place. A good place for them to start would be to stop ripping of their loyal customers.
I could almost understand it if RIM were an American company, as American companies can be a little bit US-centric (understandable I suppose), but for goodness sake, they're a Canadian company and should know better.
As much as I want to love RIM I am finding it harder and harder to do so, when they behave like this.

You think it's just Blackberry that is ripping people off ? Look at car prices, gas prices, appliances, you name it, the list could go on for ever.
It's called market pricing, making the price to what the market will stand.

How do i get my purchased adobe software loaded onto a new laptop

how do i get my purchased adobe software loaded onto a new laptop

Adobe Reader is 100% free software; if you purchased it, someone ripped you off!

Ripped off - Bought Lightroom and Creative Cloud at same time.

I signed up for Creative Cloud when it came out and bought Lightroom around the same time because Creative Cloud didnt include Lightroom. Since that it does, I feel ripped off that I bought Lightroom.
I can't return the software because its about a week and half 30 days. Adobe customer support has said that there is nothing they can do.
Suggestion?

Hi jifjif06
Could you please provide me your order number or email address to check your account?

I had the free version and the advertisement said I could upgrade to the PDF-Print for $29.95 but when I went to order they charged me $39.95. Did I just get ripped off for $10.00?

I just purchased PDF-Print but did not pay the $29.95 as per the advertisement. I had to pay $39.95. Did I just get ripped off for $10?

Wrong forum (and software company). Here you have an Adobe Acrobat forum. So Acrobat is the application and Adobe is the company.
Be well...

Photoshop Elements 10 is a rip off.

First it was finding the plugins to open my raw files.Crap for software. A huge hassel as is PSE10 it really sucks.
Now for weeks the RAW/TIFF will not open to use my RAW/Tiff files PSE 10 crap software.
If this piece of crap software wasn't bad enough ...This gaud awful softwar will not even open this morning.
I have had used photoshop elements since PSE6 This software by ADOBE is a worthless rip off pice of crap.

We understand you're frustrated. We will try our best to help resolve your issue.
Try resetting your preferences - that usually fixes common errors.
Exit PSE.
Open PSE just to the Welcome Screen and press Ctrl + Alt + Shift (Mac: Cmd + Opt + Shift) and keep pressing.
Click on "Edit" from the Welcome Screen but keep pressing the keyboard keys - don't let up.
You will get a little dialog box asking if you want to delete the settings file. Click "Yes." You can let go of the keyboard keys now.
This will rebuild the file for you and often solves the issue.

Our Adobe software aquisition requirements

Originally posted in the Premiere Video Lounge, so I thought that you guys could comment on specifics and ADOBE could take note of what actual customers want
(PLEASE no rants or off topic discussions there are plenty of other Adobe bashing / supporting threads out there) .......... Many thanks.
As a video editor I only want software that is of use to me in my activity, namely an equivalent to the CS Production Premium Suite: -
Adobe Premiere
Adobe Encore (which is now dropped but customers still require media on disc)
Adobe Audition
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Photoshop
+ export plug-ins (media encoder etc)
What I would like is for Adobe to bundle this software together as say,
"Adobe CS 2013 Video"
and to make them available with a perpetual license.
What I do not want is: -
non perpetual licensed software,
to pay vastly more than users in the USA for the same product, excluding local taxes
all the software on the present CC model
to buy other producers software (Edius, Hitfilm, Nuke, Vegas, Media Composer, Corel etc)
Now to help with Adobe's cash flow I do not mind paying a monthly subscription to just as long as: -
The subscription cost over a period of time equal to the historical CS suite version upgrade timescale is the same as I would pay for the update in one lump sum
The subscription cost is the same worldwide excluding local taxes
That Adobe guarantees not to remove features from any of the software products within the suite purchased
That Adobe guarantees to release reasonable product updates during a calendar year
That Adobe adopt a service level agreement with its subscribers to resolve software bugs within a three month period after having been notified of the bugs by the users
Adobe management, this is what I want, please make your sales model flexible enough to enable me to buy your software.
Also can I suggest that Adobe management listen to the customers, you have to report to your shareholders and make profit, but it is us, the customer who actually buys your products and we really do not want to take our business elsewhere.
As a typical CS upgrade cost would be $600 every two years then I would be willing to commit to say four years for a monthly subscription cost of no more than $25 provided that any cost increase was limited to inflation costs with a maximum increase of 3% and of course as long as all the t&c's I listed above are also included
OK, guys this is what I want what do you want?
Col

Software (irrespective of the format it's supplied in) is subject to VAT.
So what? You forget the difference between excise duties and VAT. I was only talking about excise duties, not VAT, since it is completely irrelevant.
Is that your effort to excuse Adobe for ripping off European customers with a 40% price differential between US and Europe EXCLUDING taxes? Same product in the same language from the same download servers and using the same activation servers, while their own profit margins are around 95% higher in Europe than in the US, due to diligent use of tax treaties.
See example below:
Yearly Data all excluding sales tax or VAT
USA
Europe
% Difference
Product cost for single CC upgrade subscription*
$ 150
$ 150
nihil
Sales price one year upgrade subscription
$ 360
$ 504
40 %
Profit margin before tax
$ 210
$ 354
69 %
Corporate Taxes
35 %
25 %
NA
Profit after corporate tax
$ 136.50
$ 265.50
95 %
* This is an assumed cost price. In practice it is probably much lower.

UK pricing of Adobe Software a rip off compared to US... Why?

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