Archicad pricing policy

[Anonymous]

Can please someone from GS explain the big difference in prices bettween US and Europe?

The price in Europe is almost double.

This also holds for upgrades.

Can please someone give a responsible answer?

[Anonymous]

stefan wrote:
the Dutch version could only be sold in the Netherlands and in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium. That's a very small market.

I agree, Could you choose to get the International version at the US price?
Guess the answer!

[MarinRacic]

Just to add my .02 to this thread:

- in Croatia AC costs 5000 EUR + tax (22%) = 6100 EUR ($7464,57 according to OS X's built in currency converter)...
- average salary is around 500 EUR (cca $610). Architect fresh from college can earn 500-600 EUR...
- pirated ArchiCAD costs 1 EUR...
- support for AC DOESN'T EXIST!!! Local distributor lives off selling Macromedia and Apple products, AC is just listed in the pricelist without any kind of tech support, not to mention authorized training or translated manuals. They don't exist.
I don't see any extra costs in localizing as there is no localized version and I don't see any GS involvement in this area that would justify such a high price!

Do the maths. Need I say more?

I hope GS is listening to this and that they WILL do something in the near future as Nemetschek's distributor is doing a very good job... Luckily, Revit isn't available here yet so there's one less competitor to beat. If Big A offers big discounts on upgrading from AutoCAD to Revit, don't expect a bright future for AC in these parts.

P.S. Just to illustrate local distributor's ignorance: when I was at college I asked them for the difference between student and full license. The answer I got was "Student license has save, print, cut/copy options disabled"... And the price was 270 EUR ($330)
Later on I found out what were the real differences, but I graduated in the mean time!

[David Collins]

For my part, I can't follow the logic of needing to support localization in different countries by having the locals themselves pay for it in each instance. Why can't the overall cost of internationalization be evenly distributed world wide?

I gather the idea is to keep the price in the US as low as possible in order to pull in as many users as they can in that large user base. But the potential of the foreign markets is being ignored. As k. Oreopoulos has pointed out, given the local economy and fee structures, most Greek architects can't even begin to consider switching to ArchiCAD at its current price in Greece.

[MarinRacic]

Same here in Croatia, check my earlier post...

Over here we earn 1/10 of USA architect's fee and have to pay AC license 100% more?!

[Anonymous]

And please keep in mind that we have already bought the program.
We are not discussing that because we are potential buyers.
So there is not an immediate benifit.

[Durval]

In Brazil, ArchiCAD 9 is arriving with two great news, the first is very good, the second is hard to understand.
The good news:
- AC 9 is launched simultaneously with the rest of the world. In the past we had to wait for months, sometimes years to put our hands on a new version. And we'll pay only US$ 540 for the upgrade until the end of September, practically the same price for the US (plus some shipping cost, I suppose) for the International version, but the reseller promises a free localized CD when (and if) it is released.
The hard to understand one:
- The price is exactly the same no matter you're upgrading from 8.1 or from 4.5 (the first version officially sold in Brazil)!
So, I'm happy I didn't upgrade from 7 to 8 till today. I just don't know if I'm happy for having bought all the previous upgrades from 4.5 to 7...

[Vitruvius]

Dear Mark,

Thank you for articulating the GS position.

I would very much like to put two considerations on the table for GS to mull over:

1. For most of us a "localized" version is unnecessary if the cost of that "localization" is twice the cost of the International/US version. Just sell us the International/US version at the the US price and we'll be happy.

2. If using your distribution network means that you have to sell an International/US version at twice the price of the US market - I'd suggest you rethink your distribution strategy for those markets. Most of us don't use the distributors for anything other than dropping off a box. They don't provide meaningful support or expert advice.

Looking at this from a purely GS & User commercial basis I'd suggest its far better to have a few disgruntled distributors getting pulled from marginal markets in favour of direct sales from GS and happy customers. You should be looking to expand your user base through reasonable pricing, and, to reward your loyal customers through reasonable pricing.

As things stand, commercial rewards are being accrued to inefficient or greedy distributors in marginal markets. And you are getting a loud and clear message from loyal users that we want access to International/US versions at US pricing (or reasonably thereabouts).

This is a bad policy which is hurting GS and its users. Change it.

Best regards, Cameron Hestler

[Steve Jepson]

"Vitruvius" wrote:
Hi Stefan,

The tax is not GS's responsibility, and both US and Canadian users are liable for sales tax (& GST in Canada) as well.
quote]

We are lucky here in Oregon where we still do not have any sales tax.

[Djordje]

Vitruvius wrote:
Most of us don't use the distributors for anything other than dropping off a box. They don't provide meaningful support or expert advice.

///

As things stand, commercial rewards are being accrued to inefficient or greedy distributors in marginal markets. And you are getting a loud and clear message from loyal users that we want access to International/US versions at US pricing (or reasonably thereabouts).

This is sadly true.

However this may sound incredible given the sheer volume of construction around here, the lack of real distributor's presence around here PLUS the price equal a completely wrong image of ArchiCAD and anyone who attempts to distribute it. I had quite a few occasions where, during my days with the now defunct ME distributor some years ago, we were greeted with "Oh, you are selling ArchiCAD this week?"

Lacking the support and not having the support KNOWLEDGE is something that does hurt all the aficionados - the good work of people in New Zealand, or the South Africans that sell ArchiCAD in an environment that is anything but wealthy, not to mention Kenya or the heroic efforts of the distributor of ex Yugoslavia, prove that a good distributor and dedication is all it takes. If the customers can pay.

Not everyone can sell Rolls. Everyone can sell a sack of potatoes. But it is a masterpiece to sell it, if everyone thinks that a Rolls is just a sack of potatoes that costs as much as a Rolls.

[Dwight]

But for commercial users in Canada, that GST is invisible since it becomes an input tax credit.....

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