Sony taking 22% cut from charity Overwatch skin (Developing, Read OP)
- Thread starter Axisofweevils
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This. What exactly do they stand to gain from this? Good thing it came to light though.
Blizzard store page (PC) mentions VAT.
How does it work ? Is it really 100% or 100% minus VAT ?
That's really confusing.
edit: or maybe Blizzard give everything whatever VAT is collected or not, adding the remaining from their own pocket.
How does it work ? Is it really 100% or 100% minus VAT ?
https://eu.shop.battle.net/en-gb/product/overwatch-mercy-charity
That's really confusing.
edit: or maybe Blizzard give everything whatever VAT is collected or not, adding the remaining from their own pocket.
VAT in EU member states will follow the EU Directive as a framework, the big difference between member states is the rates that country sets for goods and services but they still have to follow the same rules.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...1-charities#implications-of-vat-for-charities
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/23/schedule/9
group 12 is in relation to charities in which the first link the public notice is derived from
and VATA94 links to the relevant articles to the EU VAT Directive
As far as I can see is that only charitable organisations can treat a supply of services as exempt from VAT.
Sony is not a charity and is supplying the service therefore can not exempt the supply of the service.
It's likely that MS and Blizzard are going to donate the gross price and donate the VAT difference out of their own pocket to the charity and Sony is opting not to.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...1-charities#implications-of-vat-for-charities
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/23/schedule/9
group 12 is in relation to charities in which the first link the public notice is derived from
and VATA94 links to the relevant articles to the EU VAT Directive
As far as I can see is that only charitable organisations can treat a supply of services as exempt from VAT.
Sony is not a charity and is supplying the service therefore can not exempt the supply of the service.
It's likely that MS and Blizzard are going to donate the gross price and donate the VAT difference out of their own pocket to the charity and Sony is opting not to.
It could also mean "100% of the net purchase price".
Like "proceeds of sales go to charity XYZ" also means profits, not the full purchase price.
Or Microsoft is matching the VAT on this, which would be really noble.
No the wording in EU regions states they donate less than you pay.
The US does not have that wording at all.
It says 100%
Perhaps there is actually a way to submit your DLC application with the option of waiving tax (charity checkbox) on the Microsoft Store, and no such thing on the PlayStation Store. In which case the submitter potentially didn't explicitly send a request to Sony to somehow bypass the tax and just submitted it as-in?
It could but you wouldn't mention the purchase price then at all then. You'd just mention what sony did or all proceeds etc. It serves no purpose to include the wording as is. It's redunant and misleading if the net is not written there.
When a consumer sees the word purchase price they're going to think the purchase price, not purchase price after tax.
theres no such thing as a "net purchase price".
There is a purchase price, there is net revenue and there is gross revenue.
Says the following on the danish Xbox site, where it's also more expensive than the PS one:
"From May 8 to 21, Blizzard Entertainment donates 100% of revenue"
User Banned (1 Week): Inflammatory Derail + Promoting conspiratorial medical advice
To be honest, I personally do not donate to cancer research even though my own father passed away from cancer. Through my research, I have found that a vast, vast majority of charitable donations to cancer research goes towards salaries, and (most importantly) diagnosis methods and equipment, rather than cure or prevention.
This is not a health forum, (obviously), but there is very strong links between Breast Cancer and iodine deficiency. One needs the correct type of iodine (Lugol's Solution is often cited as being the best). There are many reports of women painting the iodine on their breasts and the cancer reducing or going away completely. Obviously, do your own research.
There are many, many, many positive health benefits to iodine.
People raising pitch-forks against Sony: I personally find it distasteful using 'Charitable Donation' to promote goods and products.
With the amount of money these corporations are making, they could help propagate the idea of real health and not this culture of mass-medication.
I sometimes find people make donations to charities to ease their own conscience, to make them feel like they're contributing something or helping the cause in some way. I, myself was like this in the past. But the best way is to educate yourself and then educate people close to you.
This is not a health forum, (obviously), but there is very strong links between Breast Cancer and iodine deficiency. One needs the correct type of iodine (Lugol's Solution is often cited as being the best). There are many reports of women painting the iodine on their breasts and the cancer reducing or going away completely. Obviously, do your own research.
There are many, many, many positive health benefits to iodine.
People raising pitch-forks against Sony: I personally find it distasteful using 'Charitable Donation' to promote goods and products.
With the amount of money these corporations are making, they could help propagate the idea of real health and not this culture of mass-medication.
I sometimes find people make donations to charities to ease their own conscience, to make them feel like they're contributing something or helping the cause in some way. I, myself was like this in the past. But the best way is to educate yourself and then educate people close to you.
Read around the 100% on the US store for PSN and Xbox and spot the difference.
(This is all in the OP, btw.)
same here in Saudi Arabia
20% VAT? Why am I paying a UK/EU tax in Australia? And why just for Sony?
it says $18.99, and
so i guess SA and EU and NZ stores are priced originally in pound then converted to $ of the country of the store.
Wow, all these people jumping to conclusions with absolutely no knowledge of what is really going on behind the scenes. It's just fucked up that pitchforks and torches can come or so fast before there is even evidence of wrongdoing. People should be ashamed ... You can't even wait 24 hours before jumping on a bandwagon because of a forum thread title without even reading the OP? This outrage culture is getting out of hand ... And it does dilutes the power of legitimate outrage.
It seems you may have misread the wording on either or both of the store disclaimers.
so don't criticize Sony because you can put iodine on your boobs, got it
what?
hmmmmm - i stand corrected. There very much is in the German language - but it'd be worded 'net revenue' in English, you're right.
Only page 5 and we're already on some next-level shit in this thread.
If you take a second and think critically about the situation while looking at all the evidence available you will clearly see that there is some kind of discrepancy here that seems intentional. So before you go on your rant about the people blindly seeking "outrage" why don't you take the blinders off yourself and read the damn thread.
Either these stores are managed (and thus taxed) from the UK, or... Blizzard just wrote one english language version of the store page and dind't bother changing it for different locations.
Criticise all you want. It's fair game as far as I'm concerned. Just criticise with facts.
Just to clarify the VAT thing in the UK, it appears that if the sale is to generate 100% charitable funds then Sony will have to pay VAT to HMRC...BUT they can then reclaim that by a reduction in their VAT payments for things that they themselves pay VAT on (utilities etc.)
I doubt Sony are making a penny of this. They are taking probably server maintenance costs. So Sony is recovering the cost of running this promotion.
It's actually pretty common practice. Ever buy those canvas bags in the supermarket saying the proceeds go to charity for €2? Well only about €1.50 goes to the charity the other 50¢ goes to the production of those bags. The company doesn't make money from them it's just enough to cover the costs. I have worked in a few businesses and this happens all the time. Ask a manager about how much goes to the charity and they would be reluctant to say.
It's actually pretty common practice. Ever buy those canvas bags in the supermarket saying the proceeds go to charity for €2? Well only about €1.50 goes to the charity the other 50¢ goes to the production of those bags. The company doesn't make money from them it's just enough to cover the costs. I have worked in a few businesses and this happens all the time. Ask a manager about how much goes to the charity and they would be reluctant to say.
why you're promoting junk science and crackpot theories as a replacement for charitable donations
e:
Any product claiming that 100% of the sale price goes to charity, and then does not pass on 100% of that sale price is literally committing fraud.
Which is why they often say "100% profits go to charity" or similar where costs are deducted first.
Wow, Sony must be really strapped for cash trying to skim off some money from this limited time event. Or it's an oversight.
Yeah! I imagine there was a meeting where some high level managers deliberately schemed to make a few dollars off of each of these Mercy skins. They must be cursing the genius detective ERA right at this moment.
/s
maybe this is just how blizzards handles donations from different platforms... this price is 14.99 and says it includes VAT. On psn its priced 12.99 and says its donating 10-ish.
Well of course the majority of it goes to salaries. It’s largely research - who else is going to do it?
This seems like a VAT/taxing issue for the EU/UK. Here's the pages for the Canadian PSN and Xbox stores for the skins:
Sony: Blizzard Entertainment will donate 100% of the proceeds that it receives from Sony PlayStation for your purchase of the Pink Mercy skin to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Microsoft: Blizzard Entertainment will donate 100% of the purchase price for your purchase of the Pink Mercy skin on Xbox to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Sony: Blizzard Entertainment will donate 100% of the proceeds that it receives from Sony PlayStation for your purchase of the Pink Mercy skin to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Microsoft: Blizzard Entertainment will donate 100% of the purchase price for your purchase of the Pink Mercy skin on Xbox to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
When companies does this they need to fully state these matters, all companies involved.
Both Blizzard and Sony are doing a piss poor job in this regard.
Both Blizzard and Sony are doing a piss poor job in this regard.
I feel like this has less to do with Sony doing this intentional, but more with their incompetence when it comes to their OS software solutions, especially the store in combination with the fixed publisher conversion rate. It probably needed some manual work and they didn’t bother. Now that it gains traction they hopefully will work on it though.
That's not quite right.
If a business makes taxable supplies ( in this case the Mercy skins ) then the business can offset the VAT they collected (output tax) against the VAT the business has paid to make taxable supplies (input tax) provided the purchases meet the normal input tax rules: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-guide-notice-700#section10
the fact that the proceeds from the skin is going to charity makes no difference.
Because the charity is not making the supply of services itself ( selling the Mercy skin) this supply of services can not be treated as exempt from VAT and therefore the standard rate of VAT must be charged by the supplier. Thus the supply of this skin made by Sony is a taxable supply.
If it costs Sony £2.87 for server maintenance costs on the back of the download of a small add-on then they've got problems.
Sony had to have seen how this would look bad.
This thread too a really weird turn at iodine. :/
This thread too a really weird turn at iodine. :/
I'm not sure you understand what critical thinking is ... Critical thinking is realizing the discrepancy in the thread title that Sony is taking a 22% cut is really the government is taking a cut. The fact is, I've read the whole thread while you seem to be selectively disregarding information that challenges your preconceived notions.
On the one hand, this is an appalling display of 2006-era Sony hubris. On the other hand, I learned I can cure cancer by painting my breasts with iodine. I'm calling this thread a tie.
And Microsofts wording in EU: "Blizzard Entertainment donates 100% of the revenue when you buy a Pink Mercy skin for Xbox to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation."
Just to play devil’s advocate – Blizz releasing the skin and donating all of THEIR profits to charity is a great gesture. If Sony is subject to fees/taxes THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING in order to complete the transaction, and Blizzard did this without asking Sony to partner/“pitch in” I really can’t see anything greedy on Sony’s end – it’s business. Most if not all, major corporations have charities they raise money for and whether this Breast Cancer is a Sony one or not this is Blizzard’s contribution. Even if Sony does donate, they probably have their own ways to raise money.
This falls along those blurry lines for charities that donate “all profits” to the charity but what you have to realize they take out expenses to run the charity before donating the leftover or “profits”. Since the Blizzard is basically an intangible there are no costs other than transaction fees.
Tl/dr – Sony shouldn’t be forced to donate to a charity just because Blizzard wants to…
This falls along those blurry lines for charities that donate “all profits” to the charity but what you have to realize they take out expenses to run the charity before donating the leftover or “profits”. Since the Blizzard is basically an intangible there are no costs other than transaction fees.
Tl/dr – Sony shouldn’t be forced to donate to a charity just because Blizzard wants to…
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