FSAddon European sales will stop

***Francois*** · December 29th, 2014, 23:59

Dear customers, dear flightsim friends,

due to some new and incredibly stupid regulations pressed upon us by the European Commission, it is now impossible for me personally to continue digital sales in Europe. The new VAT regulations are so complex and time consuming that it is impossible for small companies with a limited budget and even more limited time to adhere to them.

I am sorry for you, for my authors, and for myself. I worked 10 years to set up a means to make some money for us all and provide you with stellar Flight Simulation products and sell them in my OWN little shop, so I could accompany the products with stellar support and the occasional ‘freebie’ ! Alas, our politicians and tax bureaucrats have decided that they will rather have people go to welfare and spend tax payers money than to work hard and make an honest buck.

I will also take the MAIN WEBSITE off-line and switch to the new one. Unfortunately I can NOT take the current forum along. I have tried, but it is technically too hard. On the new webshop I will only sell DVD’s internationally (these are exempt so far from the new VAT rules…… not for long probably) and downloads to NON-EU customers !

Our FSAddon products for DOWNLOAD can still be found on simMarket.com, Aerosoft.com and FSPilotshop.com

The new shop will be here: http://fsaddon-publishing.myshopify.com/
The new website is here: http://fssupport.com/fsaddon/

These URL’s may change yet over the next weeks……

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you and thank you for sticking with us all these years !

Francois

**PHo17** · December 30th, 2014, 00:34

Dear customers, dear flightsim friends,

due to some new and incredibly stupid regulations pressed upon us by the European Commission, it is now impossible for me personally to continue digital sales in Europe. The new VAT regulations are so complex and time consuming that it is impossible for small companies with a limited budget and even more limited time to adhere to them.
...

I am sorry for you and us - customers to hear that. I couldn't more agree with you that European Union is consistent with it's "lose - lose" politics. One actual example being these Russian sanctions. Everybody lose not least my own country Finland. It is more or less like shooting own leg.

Almost every morning when I open my morning's newspaper I can read of these stupid regulations that highly payed EU officials have invented. Today's news was that because of a in 2010 announced directive Finnish museum authorieties ware forced to reveal in public all coordinates of the known wrecks in our sees. By today many of them has been robbed. For what we need this kind of Union?

Pekka

**roger-wilco-66** · December 30th, 2014, 01:45

Hi Francois,

this is shocking, I'm really sorry to read this. These over-regulations are getting worse every year.

Maybe you should have moved to Barbados (...) and set up a global FSADDON shop there??

Cheers,
Mark

**Dumonceau** · December 30th, 2014, 02:30

François,

Wouldn't it be able for us EU citizens to buy online from you through a proxy or the Tor network?

I mean, if my IP address is one from Kuala Lumpur or Malaysia, there would be no problem, is that correct?

Cheers,

Dumonceau

***gray eagle*** · December 30th, 2014, 03:53

François,

Wouldn't it be able for us EU citizens to buy online from you through a proxy or the Tor network?

I mean, if my IP address is one from Kuala Lumpur or Malaysia, there would be no problem, is that correct?

Cheers,

Dumonceau

I dunno, have you read this article? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12...ity_pet_hates/

to quote for the article "Very naughty people use Tor" bear in mind, not my words but a quote from the article......

***Roger*** · December 30th, 2014, 04:58

Sorry to hear this Francois! yet again the Eu blunders with bureaucracy.

**roger-wilco-66** · December 30th, 2014, 05:09

Just hiding the IP-adress won't cut it. You have to fake your whole identity (and subsequently risk loosing your customer rights).
That also might put the seller in harms way if some tax MIB show up and probe the sales figures.

Cheers,
Mark

**dougal** · December 30th, 2014, 05:28

Ain't you just gotta love the bleepin Eurocrats

Sorry to hear that Francois, I know how hard you work too.

**JensOle** · December 30th, 2014, 05:33

Sorry to hear this. I'm from the "No" country Norway and this is another typical reason for not joining... The EU is killing its population with bureaucracy.. Sadly for Norway we are taking on most of the rules and regulations even if we are not a member nation to be compatible and due to the EFTA agreement..

**Bunker_Buster** · January 3rd, 2015, 15:03

our politicians and tax bureaucrats have decided that they will rather have people go to welfare and spend tax payers money than to work hard and make an honest buck.

Welcome to the beginnings of the new world order, one world government.How many here in the states are finding the "affordable health care act" isn't so affordable.Its a shame we as citizens have lost sight of what the USA was so strongly fought for when we first broke away from the British controls. Now we all have been reeled back in, and everyone is just letting it happen. One day that Constitution of our is going to be all but a memory; a piece of paper in a glass cabinet in some Museum we can go view and think of what once was.You probably think I'm full of it, crazy talk: We all need to wake up!!

**trucker17** · January 3rd, 2015, 16:37

Sorry to hear that Francois......
That really sucks.....Hope you an find away for them to keep getting your products....

**IanHenry** · January 4th, 2015, 02:32

From what I can understand, the British Government are trying to "fix it" so that this doesn't apply to small retailers. It's the big boy's like Amazon and Apple that their gunning for.

Ian

***Francois*** · January 4th, 2015, 03:11

Yes...... Amazon only pays 3-7% in Luxembourg..... But the 'fixing' does not apply to every shop owner and certainly NOT for those outside of the UK. Also, if you have other activities as well, you will not 'fit in' :-(

**ejoiner** · January 5th, 2015, 14:15

why dont you just join with an American partner and host everything on a US or 3rd country web site then sell online?

**bazzar** · January 5th, 2015, 18:16

Because...

Quote from Taxamo site:

The rules have actually been longstanding, since 2003. If you are, for example, an American digital service supplier to the EU, then you should be already registered for the non-Union MOSS scheme. In the UK, currently, this is called the VAT on eServices (VOES) scheme. This scheme becomes the non-Union scheme on January 1, 2015.
There is already an obligation to level the playing field. The fact that you are in America or China, the obligation and requirement is the same.
What we [HMRC] and other EU tax authorities are doing is if we found that one of these businesses is non-compliant then through treaties arrangements that we have with the jurisdictions, through information exchange or debt recovery, we would then approach the authorities in those other states to take action to help us to get the debt paid.
Those arrangements are going to be reinforced, and strengthened, effectively in the coming months and years to make sure that there aren’t jurisdictions out there where someone could effectively hide and make those supplies without properly declaring.

***Francois*** · January 6th, 2015, 00:07

Originally Posted by ejoiner

why dont you just join with an American partner and host everything on a US or 3rd country web site then sell online?

Actually e-shops in the US ALSO have to collect and distribute the VAT of the country in Europe they are selling to ! In fact it is mandatory to do so since 2003 already ! But most chose to ignore that ruling ;-)
It is believed that the EU is having talks with the US to help them enforce that rule from now on !!

**hairyspin** · January 6th, 2015, 11:00

Originally Posted by Francois

Actually e-shops in the US ALSO have to collect and distribute the VAT of the country in Europe they are selling to ! In fact it is mandatory to do so since 2003 already ! But most chose to ignore that ruling ;-)
It is believed that the EU is having talks with the US to help them enforce that rule from now on !!

Time for a Boston e-party then? LOL

**vl82m** · January 6th, 2015, 11:15

At least in the EU you can sue people like PMDG for accidentally (or intentionally) deactivating your product and then not answering to their mails regarding the matter, and generally breaking the EU consumer law regarding software refunds and reselling. Friend of mine from Finland claims to have sued them for this. EU at least has some consumer rights that doesn't allow companies to rip off or inflate their pricing or mistreat their customers, this is a good thing.

No fan of the EU myself though, despite these good things there is way too much bureocracy and many policies that just end up hurting themselves. There is too many for me to go on about, and too political. If certain companies decide to stop selling to EU, they can do so. But I am warning you, not only to EU. To Belarus you also can't sell legally to it's citizens unless you applied for a permission to do so and pay VAT to their government. Even worse