Problems configuring Magento the Catalog Price Scope

Question

I very confused by this setting in System > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Price : Catalog Price Scope.

First, I am not sure what it means and what it is for.

Second, when I did some research on Magento's website I found this page: http://www.magentocommerce.com/knowledge-base/entry/configuration-catalog-price

But it does not make sense. Because in my Magento configuration I am getting these two options : Global, and Website. But inside of the documentation of Magento I get these options :

• Website - Prices will be shared across all stores.
• Store - Prices may differ between store views, but still be shared across store views within the same store.
• Store View - Prices are unique to the specific store view.

Here are some details about my Magento setup:

• Stores = Countries
• Views = Languages

My website is selling downloadable products so we want anyone with a PayPal account to be able to buy.

Knowing this what is the best option and why is it not listing Store, and Store view?

Answer 1

I very confused by this setting in System > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Price : Catalog Price Scope.

It simply means that you can set prices only globally or you can set them on a per website basis. For example: B2C and B2B or French store (EUR) and German store (also EUR) and show them different prices. In combination with the setting to change the base currency you can also create a US store (USD) and a UK store (GBP) and all have their own prices.

But it does not make sense. Because in my Magento configuration I am getting these two options : Global, and Website. But inside of the documentation of Magento I get these options

The settings for the Catalog Price Scope can only be configured globally, which probably is a bit confusing. You globally set that the prices of the catalog can be configured on a per website basis.

The reason it can't be configured on a store view basis is because that's not the philosophy what store views are intended for. Store views are for different languages, mobile version, b2b version, etc.

My website is selling downloadable products so we want anyone with a PayPal account to be able to buy.

Knowing this what is the best option and why is it not listing Store, and Store view?

1. Allow multiple currencies, this allows the customer to switch to different currencies. The disadvantage here is that the conversion from the base currency is dynamic and changes dayly.
2. Install a module that allows you to set prices per currency. For example (there may be a ton of others): http://innoexts.com/promotion/currency-pricing/

Answer 2

If you accept different currencies for different countries, you could use store or store_view scope to assign specific prices to certain products instead of just using the built-in currency conversion.

Say you accept Euros (base currency) and US Dollars and you want the price in Euros to be €100 and the price in USD to be $140. If you left this to just base the USD price off the base Euro price, it would convert to an undesirable odd-amount ($132.72). By setting the price scope appropriately, you could instead just use a flat $140 for the USD view.