One of the reasons stuff costs more in Australia is that there’s significantly more consumer protection. Steam originally didn’t allow refunds at all, and were fined AU$3 million as a result.
Game breaking bugs or bug that significantly affects the experience but don’t completely break the game
Changes that make the game behave significantly differently to how it was originally described on the site or in the documentation
Games that initially support Linux but the company dropped Linux support later on, etc.
Steam’s policy of only refunding a purchase within 14 days of purchase and less than 2 hours of play time is also not legal in Australia. You can’t have conditions like that on a refund policy. They have a separate refund policy specifically for Australia which excludes the 14 day / 2 hour limits.
Appliances also have to last for as long as a ‘reasonable consumer’ thinks they should last. For example, even if your TV or fridge has a “1 year warranty”, the manufacturer will still have to repair, refund, or replace it if it breaks down in 3 years, as a regular person would assume that a fridge or TV should last more than 3 years. The store or manufacturer has to cover the cost of picking it up and delivering a replacement. It’s also illegal for a store to tell you that you have to contact the manufacturer - the place you bought the product from has to let you handle all warranty claims through them.
One of the reasons stuff costs more in Australia is that there’s significantly more consumer protection. Steam originally didn’t allow refunds at all, and were fined AU$3 million as a result.
In Australia, it’s illegal to say “no refunds” or only exchange or refund as store credit both for physical and digital goods, and customers are always allowed to get a repair, refund or replacement if the product has issues. In the case of a game, that would be things like:
Steam’s policy of only refunding a purchase within 14 days of purchase and less than 2 hours of play time is also not legal in Australia. You can’t have conditions like that on a refund policy. They have a separate refund policy specifically for Australia which excludes the 14 day / 2 hour limits.
Appliances also have to last for as long as a ‘reasonable consumer’ thinks they should last. For example, even if your TV or fridge has a “1 year warranty”, the manufacturer will still have to repair, refund, or replace it if it breaks down in 3 years, as a regular person would assume that a fridge or TV should last more than 3 years. The store or manufacturer has to cover the cost of picking it up and delivering a replacement. It’s also illegal for a store to tell you that you have to contact the manufacturer - the place you bought the product from has to let you handle all warranty claims through them.
huh. that actually makes it sound worth it.