Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[Harry_HH]

Sorry that we follow the law and charge the appropriate tax (again required by law so it is great that you didn't name the vendor that allows you to evade that) and you find JamPoints (which are not useless to the many many people who use them daily) useless due to your government requiring that we collect taxes.

Well, most European countries charge VAT. And the uselessnes of the jampoints are not only due to the VAT.
There are two other parameters: the vendor charges the same amount in USD as the IK store in euros (+ VAT). In addition to that the vendors that I use have a bonus system, which may reduce the price about 10 % (as in this case).

The vendor I used here is one of the most well known in the music software area.
No secret, as you hinted.

When IK knows the above situation - the VAT is common in Europe - I wonder why IK keep running this widely useless loyal customer system (jampoints)?

There should be a real incentive for the customers, if the IK really will reward the loyal customers. Now the european loyal customer pays MORE that the first time customer outside Europe, who buys from the IK store.
IK is s European company - if you wanted, you could create a loyalty program which reward you European customers, as well.
Will you?

I own most of the IK plugins, this BM as well, therefore I have vote, but I the amount of these useless jampoints just increases in my IK account.

[Tomgu]

IK could include the VAT in their web site prices for EU customers to have a competitive pricing?

My jampoints are always useless - in the end IK loses the deal.

Also, I have a lot of gear credits, that I’d like to use for upgrading my Total Studio at some point.

[toffo]

There have been one or two times when my jampoints have given me a lower price than a dealer. But usually not. I think I've used them twice in like 5-6 years.

If a dealer is cheaper, I buy from the dealer. If IK is cheaper, I buy from IK. No biggie. IK don't owe me anything (but I'll take any bonus I can get)!

[Calenberger]

All the hassle with IK is not worth it, their plugins are not extraordinary.
Enough competing stuff on the market, often cheaper, most of the time easier to deal with.
Just my conclusion or let's say 2 cent.

[Ploki]

All the hassle with IK is not worth it, their plugins are not extraordinary.
Enough competing stuff on the market, often cheaper, most of the time easier to deal with.
Just my conclusion or let's say 2 cent.

agreed, i avoid them

[WatchTheGuitar]

Easiest way to make Jampoints useful and get people in Europe actually using them more would be to remove the clause that says

A maximum of 30% of the product value can be paid by JamPoints

but only on the software, makes sense to keep it on the hardware.

[Insanelysane]

Does Soundtheory Gullfoss ever go on sale and If so, for how much?
I'm still kicking myself for not buying it at the intro price for 80 euros, but now, 180 is just too much.

The intro price was cheapest and for 1 month between May and June they had a 30% discount code, you can likely expect that kind of discount if and when they go on sale. Second hand licenses are rare and they only allow resale if the purchase was full price at the time, if you buy it on sale its NFR! At the very least Black Friday will be the time to buy, but there may be another promotion beforehand, as was proof with the SANJAY1 code (expired June 15 from memory)

[wannabe]

ZAMPLER VST (which is freeware) plus 8 Soundbanks (Brute Factor, Ethnic Pads, Mantra Pads, Prophet-12, Robo Txtr, Supreme, Toraiz AS-1, Ultimate Synths) for the price of an emailadress at

https://sharewareonsale.com/s/free-beat ... 0-discount

[telecode]

Sorry that we follow the law and charge the appropriate tax (again required by law so it is great that you didn't name the vendor that allows you to evade that) and you find JamPoints (which are not useless to the many many people who use them daily) useless due to your government requiring that we collect taxes.

Hi Peter, IKM customer and fan here. The Jam Points are a bit of a marketing gimmick. We should be able to just use them up on a product if we need to. The way it's structured is you only use a tiny portion of them and you always have a balance so you keep coming back to store.

[cprompt]

BTW, once again the jampoints showed useless:
with the full - 30 % jammies off the offer price in the IK store, after the currency and VAT, the price, the vendor net price was about 10 % lower (vendor: price in dollars, no VAT, plus earned bucks).

The reason you can buy it cheaper from that particular deluxe vendor is that you have earned some of their bucks. Without the bucks, it's more expensive. Let's do some maths:

IK: €50 - 30% = €35 + VAT = €42
Vendor: $50 = €43.70

But, in the older days when the euro was a bit weaker, it was a no-brainer to buy from a vendor. Whether or not it's legal to not charge VAT isn't my concern - it's my money and I'll spend it where I want to.

On the basis that the dollar/euro rate is close enough at the moment, it's slightly more advantageous to use our JamPoints and buy direct from IK, even with the VAT.

[imrae]

Hmm, for ages Waves had that 40% off sale with a free plugin at $50 spend. It would have cost me just under $50 to upgrade my Gold + stuff to Gold + RennMaxx (lifting one of my remaining v9 licenses to v11), and impossible to put anything else in the cart at the same time. (This isn't advertised, you have to play around with the cart system to find out.) Therefore no way to combine that upgrade (which is itself mostly just a cheaper way to WUP) with the freebie.

I notice that the freebie plugin threshold has dropped to $40! That seems promising, head back to the site and... now my upgrade would cost $63. Meh, too much for what I'd get out of it. (i.e. the option to install the Berserk freebie with a reduced risk of breaking things.)

I'm tired of this stupid mini-game.

[Vleker]

Hmm, for ages Waves had that 40% off sale with a free plugin at $50 spend. It would have cost me just under $50 to upgrade my Gold + stuff to Gold + RennMaxx (lifting one of my remaining v9 licenses to v11), and impossible to put anything else in the cart at the same time. (This isn't advertised, you have to play around with the cart system to find out.) Therefore no way to combine that upgrade (which is itself mostly just a cheaper way to WUP) with the freebie.

I notice that the freebie plugin threshold has dropped to $40! That seems promising, head back to the site and... now my upgrade would cost $63. Meh, too much for what I'd get out of it. (i.e. the option to install the Berserk freebie with a reduced risk of breaking things.)

I'm tired of this stupid mini-game.

This has been the worst year for Waves sales ever. It has been a simar deal all year but it is impossible to keep track of when the price is the lowest...

[monomox]

Hmm, for ages Waves had that 40% off sale with a free plugin at $50 spend. It would have cost me just under $50 to upgrade my Gold + stuff to Gold + RennMaxx (lifting one of my remaining v9 licenses to v11), and impossible to put anything else in the cart at the same time. (This isn't advertised, you have to play around with the cart system to find out.) Therefore no way to combine that upgrade (which is itself mostly just a cheaper way to WUP) with the freebie.

I notice that the freebie plugin threshold has dropped to $40! That seems promising, head back to the site and... now my upgrade would cost $63. Meh, too much for what I'd get out of it. (i.e. the option to install the Berserk freebie with a reduced risk of breaking things.)

I'm tired of this stupid mini-game.

me too
WUP and the jump from v10 to v11 for no significant reason has had a chilling effect on me... I have a ton of their plugins and some of them have been my go-to for certain applications, but now I think twice before inserting them since they have all the power to make v10 obsolete at any moment. It's clear that their business model is not about the initial sale, but subsequent WUP renewals and I'm not up for that game

[Harry_HH]

BTW, once again the jampoints showed useless:
with the full - 30 % jammies off the offer price in the IK store, after the currency and VAT, the price, the vendor net price was about 10 % lower (vendor: price in dollars, no VAT, plus earned bucks).

The reason you can buy it cheaper from that particular deluxe vendor is that you have earned some of their bucks. Without the bucks, it's more expensive. Let's do some maths:

IK: €50 - 30% = €35 + VAT = €42
Vendor: $50 = €43.70

But, in the older days when the euro was a bit weaker, it was a no-brainer to buy from a vendor. Whether or not it's legal to not charge VAT isn't my concern - it's my money and I'll spend it where I want to.

On the basis that the dollar/euro rate is close enough at the moment, it's slightly more advantageous to use our JamPoints and buy direct from IK, even with the VAT.

I’ve followed now 10+ years IK offers, newer over that period the IK store price including the full -30 % ”loyal customer” jampoints, has been lower than the venders ”newcomer” price.
This is the bottom line - explain whatever you will.
Now the vendor price for me was 10 % lower.
The lotal customer price should, of course, be lower, not e.g. the same, as you explicate- not to mention higher.
And the euro ”in old times” used to be much stronger than today. It was a bit weaker just a short period of time.

[trager]

Granted IK have to charge VAT, but the fact that they price a $99 product at €99 and then add VAT on top of that is IMO genuinely peculiar. In my limited experience a $1=€1 pricing system from a European developer is usually indicative of VAT having already been factored into the EUR price.