Mega SD

[Domino]

As much as I love their products (I really do), TO makes it so hard to love them as a company. With their recent move to Andorra (so, to a location outside the EU) they're just pissing at their European customers. Of course it's in their right to choose any location for their company they wish for, but with it they basically turned all the prices on their website from "vat included" to "vat excluded" over night - not only actually rising prices by about 17% on their end (before taxes), but only requiring all European customers to pay their local VAT upon arrival.

Might be OK for new customers, but especially for their core customer base who ordered from them before, this were really bad news. And by not communicating anything of this, it's really nothing but a slap in the faces of their customers. Piss poor move.

According to Todd (broken) on their forums they did stated multiple times that they moved to Andorra before the MegaSD was released.

As an American I understand why Terraonion moved to Andorra (tax reasons for business/personal income). I think it's funny that people are complaining about paying for VAT when the countries in Europe have big social programs that they pay into. Universal Healthcare/College isn't free, and VAT is a good way to pay for those programs. Then again, I think I should stay on my own lane here....

StoneAge Gamer is going to be carrying the MegaSD in their stores later in the year if you are in the US. If people are willing to wait, it might be better to get it from them and save a few bucks (without the long shipping time to have the package clear Andorra customs, then have DHL accept it in Spain).

[Fudoh]

There are some holes in the EU map.....

And I really don't even mind paying our local VAT. I just mind that they're now selling at the same nominal prices but excluding tax, while the same nominal prices did include VAT before. And their lack of communicating any of this.

[Domino]

There are some holes in the EU map.....

And I really don't even mind paying our local VAT. I just mind that they're now selling at the same nominal prices but excluding tax, while the same nominal prices did include VAT before. And their lack of communicating any of this.

I'm curious Fudoh, what's your take with Todd (broken) comment here at the top: https://forums.terraonion.com/viewtopic ... 6&start=30

I am sorry you guys felt you weren't properly informed of the company moving from Spain to Andorra.

But in our defense we had mentioned it on this forum several times, on Twitter, in Discord and even the press release for MegaSD specifically stated Andorra.

[Fudoh]

According to Todd (broken) on their forums they did stated multiple times that they moved to Andorra before the MegaSD was released.

where? At the Mega SD's release certainly nowhere on their website. And it's not like the European customers did have to re-register. Same website, same store, same checkout process as with ordering their earlier products.

I think it's funny that people are complaining about paying for VAT when the countries in Europe

you didn't get the point. If you're a consumer (here in the EU) and you're buying from another EU country, then the prices do include full VAT. Now their prices don't, but they're nominally still the same. Nobody's complaining about paying VAT.

It's nothing but a hidden 17% price increase.

[Fudoh]

I'm curious Fudoh, what's your take with Todd (broken) comment here at the top

do you feel that it's a customer's obligation to follow Twitter, Discord, a hostile forum or read a PRESS release ? You gotta be kiddin' me.

And to re-iterate: I don't care where they're moving to, but moving from the EU to a non-EU country without adjusting the prices it nothing but a hefty price increase.

[Domino]

where? At the Mega SD's release certainly nowhere on their website. And it's not like the European customers did have to re-register. Same website, same store, same checkout process as with ordering their earlier products.

https://forums.terraonion.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=991 Press release said Andorra la Vella, Andorra. It said when ordering the MegaSD that said ships from Andorra. Now, if at the time of pre-orders it didn't said ships from Andorra, then Terraonion screwed up on that piece. Most people don't go to their forums, but Todd (broken) did say multiple times that the company moved to Andorra, and they recently got their Andorra DHL account active as of last month.

you didn't get the point. If you're a consumer (here in the EU) and you're buying from another EU country, then the prices do include full VAT. Now their prices don't, but they're nominally still the same. Nobody's complaining about paying VAT.

It's nothing but a hidden 17% price increase.

In Euros it's about 230, normally wasn't something like this be 250? Also, going on their main shipping tread there's tons of people complaining about paying VAT, including those who want refunds: https://forums.terraonion.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1066

The Terraonion man himself said the following:

I agree with you, its terrible that my country charges me 21% import taxes, on anything that is not under 25 euros. I had to pay this while ordering/importing my megasg from usa, and been paying this my entire life when importing my arcade games from Yahoo Japan,

I never blamed Yahoo Japan, or anyone else cause i know that it was my country who were rapping me when i purchased antyhing from outside european union, and was declared more than 25 euros.

hen we were in Spain, we were charging 250 euros to a cutomer in EU and 250 euros to a customer in Japan/usa/ everyhere.
We should have charged 250 euros + vat to european customers,

This was not a fair situation for USA and JAPAN customers that payed 21% more for the same product, but we decided to sell our products cheaper to Europeans, when we were in Spain.

We moved to Andorra and stopped this anomaly cause the system here wont permit this, aka there are not VAT on exports

Why a customer in Japan had to pay 250 euros for a super sd system 3 when a customer in UK was paying 206.61 for the same product ?

We have been colecting 43.39 euros in taxes for every European country gov for 2 years and a half, while we should have been charging 250 euros + vat on all our orders to EU, so everyone would have the same price.

I am sorry about the import taxes, i personally hate those but this is up to your country to tax you on imports or no, USA wont charge ppl, Spain does (to name one)

do you feel that it's a customer's obligation to follow Twitter, Discord, a hostile forum or read a PRESS release ? You gotta be kiddin' me.

And to re-iterate: I don't care where they're moving to, but moving from the EU to a non-EU country without adjusting the prices it nothing but a hefty price increase.

Yes I do. With Terraonion previous history, people should review everything before spending over 230 Euros on it. That isn't cheap.

[Fudoh]

It said when ordering the MegaSD that said ships from Andorra. Now, if at the time of pre-orders it didn't said ships from Andorra,then Terraonion screwed up on that piece.

yep, at some point it started to say so, but it didn't for hundreds of initial orders.

Comparison screenshots: https://www.elotrolado.net/hilo_terraon ... 38016_s400

but Todd (broken) did say multiple times that the company moved to Andorra

I don't know the guy, I don't follow the guy, I don't read what he writes. Why would I be supposed to ?

Also, going on their main shipping tread there's tons of people complaining about paying VAT, including those who want refunds:

I don't need a refund. I need TO to get a grip on how to not piss off their customers.

I agree with you, its terrible that my country charges me 21% import taxes, on anything that is not under 25 euros. I had to pay this while ordering/importing my megasg from usa, and been paying this my entire life when importing my arcade games from Yahoo Japan,

what a **********. That's such a bullshit and he knows it. SSDS3 for example: 240 EUR last year, INCLUDING 21% tax. Now 232 EUR excluding tax.

[Domino]

It said when ordering the MegaSD that said ships from Andorra. Now, if at the time of pre-orders it didn't said ships from Andorra,then Terraonion screwed up on that piece.
yep, at some point it started to say so, but it didn't for hundreds of initial orders.

Comparison screenshots: https://www.elotrolado.net/hilo_terraon ... 38016_s400

Terraonion lost the battle. They should had done it when pre-ordered opened up.

but Todd (broken) did say multiple times that the company moved to Andorra
I don't know the guy, I don't follow the guy, I don't read what he writes. Why would I be supposed to?

He's the PR guy for Terraonion. Always wise to follow a companies PR guy.

Also, going on their main shipping tread there's tons of people complaining about paying VAT, including those who want refunds:
I don't need a refund. I need TO to get a grip on how to not piss off their customers.

I wish more people were like you. Still pissed, but not making silly comments on their forums.

I agree with you, its terrible that my country charges me 21% import taxes, on anything that is not under 25 euros. I had to pay this while ordering/importing my megasg from usa, and been paying this my entire life when importing my arcade games from Yahoo Japan,
what a **********. That's such a bullshit and he knows it. SSDS3 for example: 240 EUR last year, INCLUDING 21% tax. Now 232 EUR excluding tax.

Good to know. I guess as being an American, we don't have VAT or duty or any of that crap. Hard to feel the pain with you Fudoh.

After seeing the screenshots, yeah they screwed up.

I still don't know if I want to get this. Like it would be cool to play some MCD titles (less than 10-15 titles that I even care about playing), but almost $300 after conversation is steep.

[Fudoh]

we don't have VAT or duty or any of that crap. Hard to feel the pain with you Fudoh.

you got sales tax and what I hear companies are starting to enforce the collection of sales tax for online shopping - even with sales from one state into another. The US is generous indeed when it comes to personal imports from abroad. These are indeed widely tax or duty free.

[Domino]

we don't have VAT or duty or any of that crap. Hard to feel the pain with you Fudoh.

you got sales tax and what I hear companies are starting to enforce the collection of sales tax for online shopping - even with sales from one state into another. The US is generous indeed when it comes to personal imports from abroad. These are indeed widely tax or duty free.

Sales tax is depending on the state that I live. I'm in FL where the sales tax is 6% but can go high as 8% depending on the county where you purchased the goods. Other states don't have sales tax, but they will get you in other ways (income tax, property tax).

Personally, we are taxed so much less than in Europe. Living in America is great for importing vidja, because we don't get hit with any duty and VATs in that nature.

With that being said, if you aren't careful when ordering with Terraonion, they will charge you in Euros. So for those who use their US credit cards, if your credit card charges you a foreign transaction fee, you will get hit with that fee. Something to consider. Two of my credit cards don't have a foreign transaction fee.

[Lawfer]

you got sales tax and what I hear companies are starting to enforce the collection of sales tax for online shopping

If you ordered from Amazon.com for shipping to the US you didn't have to pay sales tax from the beginning until 2014, then amazon.com was forced to add sales tax at that point, but even still video game stuff are much cheaper in the US than elsewhere and video games in the US usually get big price cuts just a few months after release.

even with sales from one state into another. The US is generous indeed when it comes to personal imports from abroad. These are indeed widely tax or duty free.

On the other hand as you mentioned buying from say Japan for shipping to the US will incure zero VAT, so if you imported electronics or video games, you never had to pay anything extra, unlike other countries which can charge insane VAT percentages: https://mr-eurodisco.com/finance/top-6- ... tes-world/

[fernan1234]

I still don't know if I want to get this. Like it would be cool to play some MCD titles (less than 10-15 titles that I even care about playing), but almost $300 after conversation is steep.

You and anyone else feeling this way probably is better off waiting to see what Krikzz will do for the next Mega Everdrive's MCD support.

[Domino]

I still don't know if I want to get this. Like it would be cool to play some MCD titles (less than 10-15 titles that I even care about playing), but almost $300 after conversation is steep.

You and anyone else feeling this way probably is better off waiting to see what Krikzz will do for the next Mega Everdrive's MCD support.

I guess we'll see. Even if Krikzz comes out with their own MCD support, 10-15 titles that I might even care to play again still may not be enough to jump for it. It may even have worst support/features than the MegaSD. Then again, if I had a RGB Setup and a PCE Coregrafx, I would get the SSD3 no problem for the price, just I need HDMI. I prefer PCE CD library leagues better than MCD.

[FBX]

I still don't know if I want to get this. Like it would be cool to play some MCD titles (less than 10-15 titles that I even care about playing), but almost $300 after conversation is steep.

You and anyone else feeling this way probably is better off waiting to see what Krikzz will do for the next Mega Everdrive's MCD support.

You'll be waiting a while. It takes a good couple years to develop an FPGA version of the Sega CD as a flash cart. If Krikzz can do it in like 6 months, I'll be very impressed depending on compatibility.

[Guspaz]

It is, at least, primarily a well understood and documented processor: the same one as the Genesis itself. I'd imagine the custom GPU would be the trickier bit.

[Gara]

As much as I love their products (I really do), TO makes it so hard to love them as a company. With their recent move to Andorra (so, to a location outside the EU) they're just pissing at their European customers. Of course it's in their right to choose any location for their company they wish for, but with it they basically turned all the prices on their website from "vat included" to "vat excluded" over night - not only actually rising prices by about 17% on their end (before taxes), but only requiring all European customers to pay their local VAT upon arrival.

Might be OK for new customers, but especially for their core customer base who ordered from them before, this were really bad news. And by not communicating anything of this, it's really nothing but a slap in the faces of their customers. Piss poor move.

I'm a little lost on this one. TO when it was based in Spain was paying out of their own pockets the VAT charges for EU costumers. Essentially giving those customers a 17-21% discount. Now that they moved to Andorra, they don't have the option of paying out of pocket for VAT, so EU customers are forced to pay those fees on arrival. Essentially eliminating that 17-21% discount and putting that money in to TO's pocket.

Do I have this right?

[Fudoh]

almost. Key difference is that prices in the EU - both online and in real life are always listed including VAT (which is required by law).

[Gara]

almost. Key difference is that prices in the EU - both online and in real life are always listed including VAT (which is required by law).

Ah, I see. I'm surprised they set a precedent of charging everyone the same price, making it so they made less money off EU customers. They had to have known all their EU customers wouldn't be thrilled to be paying 20% more than before. They seem to have a real fear of sending out email updates to customers but this seems like the kind of info they would put in big red text not only on the order page but in emails to every EU customer.

I was confused because they have a few apologists saying it's no big deal. They are essentially making more money while unaware customers are getting stuck with surprise VAT. They can't honestly assume their buyers watch their Twitter page to make sure they haven't moved to a different country. It's self created drama.

Bottom line is TO is now making more money off EU customers. Good for them?

[Lawfer]

Bottom line is TO is now making more money off EU customers. Good for them?

Bad for everybody else.

[FBX]

I'd say you need to blame EU VAT system istelf. Y'all over there have fucked yourself up with those silly tax systems.

[neorichieb1971]

A bit late to the party. Can I buy a SG VAT free now then?

I just went to the website, no options I can see for EU buying.

[Fudoh]

Can I buy a SG VAT free now then?

prices listed now don't longer include VAT. If you're VAT registered and you pay tax on the import, you get your money back anyway.

[spmbx]

It’s amazing how these guys seemingly manage to create a shitstorm with every release. I can’t wait for their next project it’s reqlly amazing they are missing the ability to see how their actions are perceived by a lot of their customers

[werk91]

Wait so if I'm based in UK and I order anything from their website it would be as if the item arrives from Japan/USA? I would have to pay the customs fees ( since Andorra isn't a member of the EU ) as well as the item's VAT tax?

[Fudoh]

indeed.

[werk91]

Hehe.... My plans for the next few months were to get hold of MegaSD + NeoSD PRO MVS whenever it was released but suddenly I don't really need to play MegaCD games or need access to the full Neo Geo rom set on my MVS anymore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[CMcK]

My Mega SD is due to arrive in Scotland on Thursday. I’ll post once I see what the various charges come to.

Yikes! £55 comprising import tax and £11 advance payments. Which is a deferred risk ie they paid customs and you might not end up paying them. What a load of bull. They aren’t for budging on it either.

[LDigital]

I ordered within the first 2hours of announcement and had my shipping confirmation 11 days ago. I still can’t get a tracking update via dhl as my tracking info isn’t found. What a mess

[werk91]

My Mega SD is due to arrive in Scotland on Thursday. I’ll post once I see what the various charges come to.

Yikes! £55 comprising import tax and £11 advance payments. Which is a deferred risk ie they paid customs and you might not end up paying them. What a load of bull. They aren’t for budging on it either.

That's roughly what I expected you'll say, I used some online VAT + customs duty calculator and got about £60 as a result for the MegaSD. Its a substantial jump in the total price for sure...

[Elrinth]

My experience of shopping from Terranonion and shipping via DHL:
~ wed 17 juli 16:09 ~ Terranonion sends me two emails - one that the paypal money has been accepted and one that my order has been confirmed @ €250.
~ sun 11 aug. 13:02 ~ Terraonion sends me an email with shipping information
~ mon 12 aug. 21:55 ~ Terraonion sends me an email that package has been shipped



This previous information was a totally different parcel, I'm sorry to confuse anyone! It was my retrotink2x i bought from a guy on facebook.
I was totally expecting it to be the same parcel... *facepalm

SEVILLA - SPAIN - 16:22 - monday - August, 12 2019 ~ Shipment fetched *
~ mon 12 aug. 16:27 ~ sms recieved from DHL ~ They want me to go to their website to decide where shipment should arrive (at my home or at my local postage office) - I select local postage office as I'm working during delivery hours usually.
LEIPZIG - GERMANY - 02:07 - tuesday - Augusti, 13 2019 ~ Shipment arrived at DHL sort station *
ARLANDA - SWEDEN - 13:22 - wednesday - Augusti, 14 2019 ~ Out for delivery *
~ wed 14th 14:21 ~ sms recieved from DHL ~ Package ready to be fetched.