Swedish steam store views prices in EURO. We use SEK

[Terror nisse]

It's very annoying to have to calculate the currency when purchasing something. We don't use EURO, we use SEK (Swedish Kroner). This needs to be fixed. You should also be able to view from any country what it costs in the most common currency, like pound, euro and dollar.

Thanks

[Cathulhu]

Do you really believe the publishers would not increase the price to reflect inflation if Steam used SEK?

Just ask Steam users from Turkey or Argentina how well it turned out for them.

[Zifferony]

Origineel geplaatst door Skuggvarg:

Origineel geplaatst door wuddih:

swedish currency was never supported on Steam.

and there were already quite a few topics on this matter, please use the search before.

Sweden is a gaming house as well as Poland is. both countries are obliged to join the Euro but that is up for the people of their countries to decide.

Poland is quite csgo heavy and Valve is more involved with that over there. that is probably why Poland has its own pricing now and Sweden doesn't.

TI 2020 is in Stockholm, maybe that will change things.

but if i were you, i would be happy to pay in Euro.
Poland just receives slightly less reduced euro pricing per Valves pricing recommendation.

because of your local VAT of 25%, the higher PPP and general higher living standard, i believe that Valves price recommendations for your currency on Steam will raise the price beyond Euro.

Why would we be happy to pay in euro, when the euro has increased in price for us, from 9.3 SEK for each euro, to now 11.3 for each euro? That's just in ONE year. That's a price raise with 21,5% for us and that's just ridiculous!

A 10 euro game would have cost us 93 SEK a year ago. Now it costs 113 SEK instead. Had the prices been locked in SEK for us, we would still have paid 93 SEK for that game now.

So of course we're hugely annoyed by this!

Also, it clearly says in the Steam currency rules that you're obligated to use the currency your country uses. Well, we use SEK and we don't use euro. We're not even a part of the EU currency agreement. We COULD move to euro if we wanted to, but there's no majority opinion to do so.

Even if steam were to add SEK as a currency I believe the prices would still be tied to the Euro prices. So we would likely get prices like 94.67 SEK or something like that. But still it would be preferable to see what we will actually be charged without having to look up the exchange rates for the day manually before we hit that buy-button.

[EvoNZ]

I wanted to buy Hell Let Loose. $39.99 US $56.99 NZ The exchange rate "today" is 1 US dollar = 1.5936 NZ, so that means if the game is $39.99 US then it should be $23.99 NZ. steam is charging almost double the US currency exchange rate for the game. Customers are not getting the value of the currency for online purchases.

[The End]

Origineel geplaatst door EvoNZ:

I wanted to buy Hell Let Loose. $39.99 US $56.99 NZ The exchange rate "today" is 1 US dollar = 1.5936 NZ, so that means if the game is $39.99 US then it should be $23.99 NZ.

1USD cost 1.5NZD. You need 6NZD to buy 4USD.
Do you see the problem in your calculation?

[Symatrix Hill]

Origineel geplaatst door Skuggvarg:

Origineel geplaatst door wuddih:

swedish currency was never supported on Steam.

and there were already quite a few topics on this matter, please use the search before.

Sweden is a gaming house as well as Poland is. both countries are obliged to join the Euro but that is up for the people of their countries to decide.

Poland is quite csgo heavy and Valve is more involved with that over there. that is probably why Poland has its own pricing now and Sweden doesn't.

TI 2020 is in Stockholm, maybe that will change things.

but if i were you, i would be happy to pay in Euro.
Poland just receives slightly less reduced euro pricing per Valves pricing recommendation.

because of your local VAT of 25%, the higher PPP and general higher living standard, i believe that Valves price recommendations for your currency on Steam will raise the price beyond Euro.

Why would we be happy to pay in euro, when the euro has increased in price for us, from 9.3 SEK for each euro, to now 11.3 for each euro? That's just in ONE year. That's a price raise with 21,5% for us and that's just ridiculous!

A 10 euro game would have cost us 93 SEK a year ago. Now it costs 113 SEK instead. Had the prices been locked in SEK for us, we would still have paid 93 SEK for that game now.

So of course we're hugely annoyed by this!

Also, it clearly says in the Steam currency rules that you're obligated to use the currency your country uses. Well, we use SEK and we don't use euro. We're not even a part of the EU currency agreement. We COULD move to euro if we wanted to, but there's no majority opinion to do so.

I an from Norway and this sounds crazy where you can`t even use your swedish money when buying game and that you are forced to use those annoying euro which we never use in Norway.

I am very surprised that we have people in this world who pop up on steam and say that is fine the way it work where i can`t even understand why they care when they do not live in Sweden.

I should like to se what happen when rest of the world was forced to use these annoying euro here on the Steam when buying stuff.

Steam should automatically change it back to swedish currency where this should not even have been a topic of discussion.

[Kebab King]

ok

[Skuggvarg]

Origineel geplaatst door Cathulhu:

Do you really believe the publishers would not increase the price to reflect inflation if Steam used SEK?

Just ask Steam users from Turkey or Argentina how well it turned out for them.

Of course I can't know which exchange value they would use, but since Russia invaded Ukraine, the euro has increased over 20% in price for us (because of the total economic chaos in Europe). So of course it matters for us that we're forced to pay in a currency we're not even using.

That the rules say you should pay in your own currency when it's not even supported is just bullsh*t.

All I know is that I can buy Switch games and pay in SEK and it's not a problem there, so why Steam can not support SEK when Nintendo obviously can is just a mystery to me (but it really shouldn't be a problem at all for them to do it).

Paying in SEK means that our prices follow the general price fluctuations on games and sales, while paying in euro means a constant uncertainty about how much the games actually cost. And that's just plain annoying.

[Terror nisse]

Origineel geplaatst door Symatrix Hill:

Origineel geplaatst door Skuggvarg:

Why would we be happy to pay in euro, when the euro has increased in price for us, from 9.3 SEK for each euro, to now 11.3 for each euro? That's just in ONE year. That's a price raise with 21,5% for us and that's just ridiculous!

A 10 euro game would have cost us 93 SEK a year ago. Now it costs 113 SEK instead. Had the prices been locked in SEK for us, we would still have paid 93 SEK for that game now.

So of course we're hugely annoyed by this!

Also, it clearly says in the Steam currency rules that you're obligated to use the currency your country uses. Well, we use SEK and we don't use euro. We're not even a part of the EU currency agreement. We COULD move to euro if we wanted to, but there's no majority opinion to do so.

I an from Norway and this sounds crazy where you can`t even use your swedish money when buying game and that you are forced to use those annoying euro which we never use in Norway.

I am very surprised that we have people in this world who pop up on steam and say that is fine the way it work where i can`t even understand why they care when they do not live in Sweden.

I should like to se what happen when rest of the world was forced to use these annoying euro here on the Steam when buying stuff.

Steam should automatically change it back to swedish currency where this should not even have been a topic of discussion.

I am also Norwegian, but I live in Sweden now. If they can use NOK in Norway, then it shouldn't be an issue to use SEK in Sweden. It's very odd :P And very confusing if you don't ever use Euro, which we don't use in Sweden :S

[wuddih]

Origineel geplaatst door Eiswolfin:

It is even weirder knowing that Steam used to support SEK but removed it for some reason.

nope, it never did.
if you meant ECurrency ...

that was never for wallet currency and store. that was for in-game microtransactions and obviously SEK was removed because maybe the one game that actually used this caused confusion because no one ever paid in SEK, it was EUR for the longest time and USD in Steams very early years.
all striked on that page were also never supported store currencies. no store currency was ever removed.

Origineel geplaatst door Ted from human resources:

I am also Norwegian, but I live in Sweden now. If they can use NOK in Norway, then it shouldn't be an issue to use SEK in Sweden. It's very odd :P And very confusing if you don't ever use Euro, which we don't use in Sweden :S

Norway has a clear stance ... being not even in the EU. even if Norway government would consider joining, it would take a decades to get the public opinion to say yes to it, which is a requirement as enforcing it is not an option and that still would not mean they adopt the currency.

Sweden does not have a clear stance. they are in the EU and their stance on adopting the currency is floating since decades.
and depending which demographic you ask, they want the EUR or they dont want it and every referendum they do ends up i na near coinflip.

why implement SEK when it all can change and go back to EUR the very next year?

[Zifferony]

Origineel geplaatst door wuddih:

Origineel geplaatst door Eiswolfin:

It is even weirder knowing that Steam used to support SEK but removed it for some reason.

nope, it never did.
if you meant ECurrency ...

that was never for wallet currency and store. that was for in-game microtransactions and obviously SEK was removed because maybe the one game that actually used this caused confusion because no one ever paid in SEK, it was EUR for the longest time and USD in Steams very early years.
all striked on that page were also never supported store currencies. no store currency was ever removed.

Origineel geplaatst door Ted from human resources:

I am also Norwegian, but I live in Sweden now. If they can use NOK in Norway, then it shouldn't be an issue to use SEK in Sweden. It's very odd :P And very confusing if you don't ever use Euro, which we don't use in Sweden :S

Norway has a clear stance ... being not even in the EU. even if Norway government would consider joining, it would take a decades to get the public opinion to say yes to it, which is a requirement as enforcing it is not an option and that still would not mean they adopt the currency.

Sweden does not have a clear stance. they are in the EU and their stance on adopting the currency is floating since decades.
and depending which demographic you ask, they want the EUR or they dont want it and every referendum they do ends up i na near coinflip.

why implement SEK when it all can change and go back to EUR the very next year?

Alas it is the policy makers and not the people who decide if Sweden join the EU financial group and adopt the Euro. There was a referendum held on the matter back in the late 90's which resulted in Swedish MPs later voting that the country should not adopt the Euro, but along with Denmark and the UK keep their own currency. Since then there has never been any serious debate regarding the matter, nor is it likely the debate will be brought out of cryosleep for a foreseeable future. There are other political issues in Swedish society that people are debating.

I am sure there are certain people who still want Sweden to adopt the Euro - I sense you are one of them. But looking at the opinion polls today it is more likely there would be a Swexit-referendum before we see another Euro-referendum.

If you are defending Steam's decision not to put up their prices in SEK because you personally think Sweden ought to adopt the Euro anyway,.. That may be a valid point, but it doesn't belong in this thread.

If you are defending Steam's decision not to put up their prices in SEK because you are the sort of person who thinks all steam decides are the right choices and that there is nothing they can do to improve... then you're not a constructive addition to the conversation.

Arguments like 'Steam has never presented prices in SEK before, and so they shouldn't do it in the future" are not valid arguments when most other big online marketplaces present prices in SEK. That includes Xbox, Playstation and Switch game stores.

The fact of the matter is that it's a bit tonedeaf of any company not to make their marketplace as easily navigated as they can for their consumers. With the generous warranty conditions Steam has - by that I mean they have the same rules as Microsoft, Sony and Epic to name a few - it's curious that they haven't already implemented more regionally displayed currencies.

Ultimately it is Steam's decision to make. But from a business model aspect it would be the obvious road to take.

[Symatrix Hill]

Origineel geplaatst door Ted from human resources:

Origineel geplaatst door Symatrix Hill:

I an from Norway and this sounds crazy where you can`t even use your swedish money when buying game and that you are forced to use those annoying euro which we never use in Norway.

I am very surprised that we have people in this world who pop up on steam and say that is fine the way it work where i can`t even understand why they care when they do not live in Sweden.

I should like to se what happen when rest of the world was forced to use these annoying euro here on the Steam when buying stuff.

Steam should automatically change it back to swedish currency where this should not even have been a topic of discussion.

I am also Norwegian, but I live in Sweden now. If they can use NOK in Norway, then it shouldn't be an issue to use SEK in Sweden. It's very odd :P And very confusing if you don't ever use Euro, which we don't use in Sweden :S

Why is this a topic and why it is necessary to take up this annoying issue here and why discuss this with people who don`t even live in sweden and why do not Steam let them use their swedish money is something Steam should answer themself.

[Veridian]

All my other gaming clients have SEK without problems even though Steam is the biggest player on the market.

So it is just laziness on Valves part and probably cheaper.
Harder to compare prices to competitors as well, but that is why I buy from the competitors, if I can choose and the price is similar.
Conversion always gives extra costs as well.

[Seregosa]

I don’t mind the euro thing on its own if that meant the cost ended up being the price the game should be. But due to euro somehow increasing in ”value” compared to sek, games end up increasingly more expensive, we don’t necessarily get paid more yet the baseline euro price of the games might increase while euro on its own increases in value compared to sek, so it’s a double hit.

Then we have to deal with conversion costs on top of that. Trying to pay with trustly took a few percent extra money, even banks often take a bit extra above regular exchange rate but usually best to just pay with a debit/credit card.

You can kind of guess around how much it will cost but never know until the purchase is finished and logged in your bank account.

[Symatrix Hill]

Origineel geplaatst door Seregosa:

I don’t mind the euro thing on its own if that meant the cost ended up being the price the game should be. But due to euro somehow increasing in ”value” compared to sek, games end up increasingly more expensive, we don’t necessarily get paid more yet the baseline euro price of the games might increase while euro on its own increases in value compared to sek, so it’s a double hit.

Then we have to deal with conversion costs on top of that. Trying to pay with trustly took a few percent extra money, even banks often take a bit extra above regular exchange rate but usually best to just pay with a debit/credit card.

You can kind of guess around how much it will cost but never know until the purchase is finished and logged in your bank account.

I guess you live in sweden since you don't care so much about the valvet forcing them to use euro ?

[RiO]

Origineel geplaatst door wuddih:

1. displaying you the other prices would be illegal in the EU

Afaik the only EU-wide legislative text governing price indication is the Price Indication Directive 98/6/EC and it does not require sales prices to be listed in any particular currency. The only thing it requires is for those prices to be listed including applicable VAT.

Origineel geplaatst door wuddih:

2. displaying you currency converted prices would cause confusion because that 50€ game would not cost $50 like it does on Steam where USD price is applicable.

Displaying a 50 USD game as costing 524,80 SEK by its going rate, the actual amount deducted from their accounts when proceeding to check-out and commencing to pay, would be confusing how exactly to Swedish users?
Showing them a price in EUR that has nothing to do with their actual currency and expecting them to do the math in their heads; now that's confusing.

Origineel geplaatst door wuddih:

sweden is unstable. not the currency, but the future of swedens role in the EU

Sweden has been a member of the EU since '95. The EU itself, as the EU, didn't exist until '93 when it was formed with the Maastricht Treaty. Before that, there were several precursors based on treaties that reinforced predominately economic cooperation like the European Economic Community (EEC), but not full political and governmental ones. Sweden is practically a founding member.

Origineel geplaatst door Zifferony:

I doubt very much any of this is actually true.

It isn't. Ibid.

Origineel geplaatst door Cathulhu:

Do you really believe the publishers would not increase the price to reflect inflation if Steam used SEK?

Just ask Steam users from Turkey or Argentina how well it turned out for them.

Inflation of EUR and SEK is pretty much equal.
2021-2022 numbers were 4~5% and ~9% for the EUR, projected 2023 at 2~3%.
For SEK it's ~4%, 9~10%, projected 2023 for a ~4% average.

It's nowhere near the doom numbers of Turkey or Argentina and the longer term prognosis for SEK is actually that its inflation will trend down to hit ~1.9% in 2028.

They're both following quite equal trends in that respect, SEK is just taking longer to recover from the Corona-period and energy-crisis inflation-hike. Which is logical, because it's a smaller isolated economy and coin.



The real reason Valve won't offer prices in SEK is much more simple:
It requires that they actually hold a bank account to receive payment in SEK.
Or they run the financial risk of eating transaction costs with additional currency conversion fees on top.

And where the projected earnings aren't big enough and the project fees are, that's obviously not worth it.

The escape hatch for that is for them to show prices both in USD (or EUR; whichever they're collecting in) and clearly illustrating that the price shown in SEK is only a reference price that may not be totally representative of going conversion rates, and that you'll actually be paying to them in USD (or EUR) and you will be eating the conversion fees.

But that requires they retools their entire UI to fit that purpose and display all that information with every price.
(Because that actually is an EU-wide requirement via the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, which disallows hidden costs.)

Which, if you caught wind of the recent stink with how they're handling sales reduction percentages and original prices wrt price presentation in several EU member states, is not something that will be happening. That much is almost guaranteed.