Dolphin Partmaster - what's stopping me from buying a license abroad?

I noticed on the Mach yahoo group this morning, that the new australian Dolphin dealer is having a 15% discount sale, and it got me looking at prices.

I could get a Commercial lathe license for 433.50AUD (discounted from 510AUD), which works out at £274, or under a third of the UK price of £795.
Even the US price of 599USD, or £382, is under half of the UK price.


Only thing stopping me from buying it now, is I'm wondering why I should even bother buying software from a company which is blatantly charging it's home market far more than any of it's overseas distributors are charging.

thats a very good theory, i like Partmaster but i feel its quite complex in some parts. i would get it, at the end of the day your still paying a hell of a lot less than it would be on the uk market

It is highly unlikely that the license you purchase that way would be valid. Your software would still technically be unlicensed if you are concerned about staying legal and above board. Some companies care more about this than others, but just because they don't jump on you it doesn't make it legal.

Is it morally acceptable? Entirely down to the individual to make that call.

Practically, you may find that you cannot obtain support, patches or upgrades, etc. I am not familiar with how that software works but some companies require you to register an account with them (providing license details as part of the process) before you can get support.

If there are any purchasing problems, you have less (or less easily obtained) legal recourse if the seller doesn't want to play nice.

The seller also may not sell it to you, as doing so would undoubtedly be in breach of their distribution contract with the original company.

These are a few of the possible pitfalls. It's not advice either way as to what you should do :)

Just had a look on their UK site and it's been updated.
Make sure you are not comparing apples to oranges here, Dolphin do a two tier pricing, commercial and hobby.
Are you comparing a OZ or US hobby price against full UK ?
Also remember that UK prices are plus VAT. Probably all that will happen is that the OZ or UK dealer will refer you back to the UK.

Unless you can get someone to buy this for you who lives in the country concerned AND the usb dongle which doesn't link to your ISP chances are it's not going to happen.

Still think it's worth giving Mike Milligan a call at the UK office and see what they can do on a hobby version. AFAIK the hobby version only comes with one post processor, don't hold me to this but just check.

I've not got any great need to buy Dolphin just now, it was just that seeing the prices it's getting sold for abroad got me thinking about it.

All the prices I quoted were for the full version. The overseas sites also list the hobby versions, which is something that isn't shown on the UK site.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by m_c

I've not got any great need to buy Dolphin just now, it was just that seeing the prices it's getting sold for abroad got me thinking about it.

All the prices I quoted were for the full version. The overseas sites also list the hobby versions, which is something that isn't shown on the UK site.

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Thought it worth clearing up a few points. Yes at Dolphin our UK prices are greater than dealers in US and Australian markets, there are two reasons for this. Themain reason is that in the UK Clients expect and get a high level of support and this has to be paid for. Secondly, some Resellers sell to a mix of Hobbyist and Commercial users and have arrived at a price to suit both.

For the UK market our approach is different, we believe we have set a fair price for Partmaster in use in a Commercial environment. We also accept the Hobby users who do not employ the software in a full time commercial operation in most cases cannot afford to pay these prices. It is for this reason that we have an alternative web site www.hobbycadcam.com , this web site offers Partmaster
at Hobbyist prices. This product is sold to hobbyists in good faith, we only ask for confirmation that the use is intended to be non commercial. We accept that this is open to abuse whereas a Professional could purchase at Hobbyist prices but we have 30 years experience in the Mechanical Cam market and this is so rare that it's not worth losing sleep over.

Thanks for the interest in our products.

Pricing that is not equal after you have applied the exchange rate = RIP OFF Britain, but don't worry stand proud.