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'Cleverbridge' should be renamed 'Not-so-Cleverbridge'

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I have owned Acronis True Image since 2011, updating every year.

Now I go to buy an upgrade to 2017, and Cleverbridge responds: "Payment not authorized"

I never had a problem in the past. I expect it is because I am now using a VPN (so my ISP can't collect and sell my personal data), even though the VPN proxy IP Address is in the same city in which I live (Sydney). I should not have to disable my VPN just to buy some software - most other online shopping sites don't block VPN purchases.

Unless, of course, Acronis are getting Cleverbridge to filter such purchasers out so that Acronis can:

1/ Engage in Geo-pricing .... Australians pay 50% more (in $US equivalent) than USA and EU customers.

2/ Collect my real IP Address and other personal information, possibly for sale\share\lease\swap with 'trusted partners'.

Australians find geo-pricing highly offensive and insulting. We are not rich, and any perceived wealth we may have had has been siphoned off by all the geo-pricing multi-nationals.

I could walk into a shop, pay cash, and not have hand over personal information - why do I have to hand over personal information online?

I have decided not to upgrade Acronis True Image. The old copy will do. Maybe I will find a free substitute in future years.

..... Para Dox

 

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That's a lot of assumptions - maybe Cleverbridge had an issue at the time or something was mistyped, can't really say.  You could always contact customer support and speak directly with them.  I've purchased with a tech's assistance in the past.

Cleverbridge is used by a lot of software vendors - it's not specific to Acronis.  In fact, i recently bought 2 differnet partitioning software products from 2 different vendors (neither were Acronis) and both were through cleverbridge as well.

Part of that price hike in Australia could be due to the fact that the Australian $ is not valued the same as US $ so you're having to pay the conversion fee as well, not really sure, but that's my guess.  When I buy something in Euros from the U.S. I have to pay the equivalent of the difference. I don't know about Acronis pricing in other countries, but this is a common example I've seen when shopping in other countries.  

Baseline = US $ currency value  

1) Customers can pay in US currency and eat the conversion rate difference if their currency is weaker.  This is world-wide based on the value of local currency.

2) If the customers country currency $ value is valued more than US currency $, charge the same amount in the other currency via the local website for that country (example $50 US baseline = 50 EURO - which really equals $75 for the business), but it's still 50 in both countries, although to the advantage of the business here.  

3) If the customers country currency $ value is valued less than US currency $, charge more to make up the difference in order to reach the basline currency value (example $50 Aussie = $37.50 US which is $12.50 US less than the baseline.  As a result, they charge $70 Aussie to equal the $50 US baseline. ) 

It is difficult to comment on relative pricing for Acronis when you use AU site rather than another. There are times when it is cheaper to use the AU site than the international site. Unless there is a delay, Cleverbridge should start charging GST for Australian users from 1 July 2017; it is uncelar if they have been doing so up to now, but I suspect not. Another thing to be careful of is that the sales are processed by Cleverbridge Ireland, and even if the transaction is in AU$ you credit card provider may treat it as a FC transaction and hit you with fee and commission. The only safe card to use at the moment is Amex (not a third party Amex).

Ian