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UK vs US Pricing

shavermcspud
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Headrush69
Headrush69
Posted
Posted
im looking to buy a new imac prices in the USD start at $1199 thats £595

where as here in the uk the price is £799 in USD thats $1610.. why so much difference? thats for the same spec machine.

how come we always get shafted in the uk? what gives?

Maybe the corporate taxing structure is different in different countries? Not all things are equal.

(Not talking about sales tax)

sarahbau
sarahbau
Posted
Posted
Maybe the corporate taxing structure is different in different countries? Not all things are equal.

(Not talking about sales tax)

That is one reason. Another reason is sales tax. UK prices include VAT. US prices don't because different states have different tax rates. I believe VAT is 17.5% or so, that means if sales tax in the US were to be that high, the price over here would be £700 instead of £600. So when you figure in that Apple is taxed quite heavily for importing products, and then the consumer is taxed on top of that, they really have no choice.

Headrush69
Headrush69
Posted
Posted
That is one reason. Another reason is sales tax. UK prices include VAT. US prices don't because different states have different tax rates. I believe VAT is 17.5% or so, that means if sales tax in the US were to be that high, the price over here would be £700 instead of £600.

Good call. I knew the VAT was high @ 17.5% but never thought it was included in the listed price.

 

Here in Ontario, Canada with our 14% tax price is £700 also, so its not a UK bias. ;)

HackBook
HackBook
Posted
Posted

To be honest you won't save much money getting one imported from the US. Once it is imported you have to pay VAT at 17.5%, then import tax of 10%. Once you take these into account, then you are better off buying one in the UK. We pay the high prices in the UK because we have no other choice.

Paranoid Marvin
Paranoid Marvin
Posted
Posted
Thats what hacks me off, Anyway regardless of price i still fancy one of those new Imacs, My misses said she wouldnt mine a 24 incher i hope shes means the Imac though :D

 

;)

 

 

I got my Powerbook and iPod when my Dad went State side.

 

Powerbook in UK = £1500

I paid: £1200 ($2000)

 

I also got my 80gb iPod for £175, even cheaper than the UK 30gb version!

nekton
nekton
Posted
Posted

I carried an almost fully loaded 8-core 3-GHz Mac Pro (28 kg) with 8 GB of extra RAM, 2.5 TB of HDD and dual X1900XT cards into the UK a few weeks ago (specially packed in a hard-shell suitcase) and saved the eqivalent of over £1000. The saving is easily worth the air fare between NY and London.

Mebster
Mebster
Posted
Posted
The price differences have to be because of the language barriers between the Americans and the Britts

Yeah, the Americans are just angry that they took the English languish in all its glory and savaged it. And now they're stuck with what they currenctly use.

:dev:

I got my Powerbook and iPod when my Dad went State side.

 

Powerbook in UK = £1500

I paid: £1200 ($2000)

 

I also got my 80gb iPod for £175, even cheaper than the UK 30gb version!

Did you or your dad throw away the boxes and stuff before you came back and just held onto the receipt so not to raise suspicions?

That's all I can think of.

nekton
nekton
Posted
Posted

Yes, unpack it and just keep the receipt--mail that home--don't carry it in your wallet!

Take some applications like Office and an archive of old documents from 1 year ago and emails on CD from your current machine. Install those applications, documents, emails, etc. The idea is to make the machine seem as if it has been yours for some time and not brand new.

sarahbau
sarahbau
Posted
Posted
Yeah, the Americans are just angry that they took the English languish in all its glory and savaged it. And now they're stuck with what they currenctly use.

Even the Queen's English doesn't have that many spelling mistakes :)

 

Actually, one of the things that characterizes the American English language is archaisms - words that changed meaning in Britain but stayed the same in America, so Americans can't take all of the credit for "savaging" the language. Of some things like "color" are Webster's fault. He thought Americans needed their own identity, and apparently though that removing a letter form a couple words was enough. lol

Headrush69
Headrush69
Posted
Posted
I live very close to the Canada/USA border so whenever I need to do some "shopping" for tech stuff, I just take a trip to Michigan, get it and bring it back. Dont declare it at the border and dont pay the duty...

There is no duty, you are just paying the GST & PST. (which pays for other things you use anyways :D )

 

After the exchange rate factor, the new iMac was $40 difference between the US Apple store and the Canada Apple Store.

For that and the tax difference, I'll pay the extra $$$ to avoid that god awful times crossing the border lately. :D (2-3 hours)

 

For smaller priced items its hardly worth it anymore. (like it use to be). Generally it's just as cheap to order from tigerdirect.ca or ncix.com these days.

 

** Tip for Canadians ordering from the US: If possible, chose US postal service over UPS for delivery. It may not be as fast, but UPS charges a $35 brokerage fee for everything. USPS only $5.

Mebster
Mebster
Posted
Posted
Yeah, the Americans are just angry that they took the English languish in all its glory and savaged it. And now they're stuck with what they currenctly use.
Even the Queen's English doesn't have that many spelling mistakes :D

 

Actually, one of the things that characterizes the American English language is archaisms - words that changed meaning in Britain but stayed the same in America, so Americans can't take all of the credit for "savaging" the language. Of some things like "color" are Webster's fault. He thought Americans needed their own identity, and apparently though that removing a letter form a couple words was enough. lol

Languish is a new word I'm trying to get circulating. So is currenctly. I'll come up with what they mean later.

 

But anyway interesting point.

  • 2 weeks later...
solaar
solaar
Posted
Posted

The UK prices are still 'sort of' comprehensible - apart from what was already said, don't forget that you'll be hard pushed to find somebody in the UK to work for $10 an hour plus maybe some bonus on sales. UK salaries are more like GBP 10/hour plus guaranteed bonus and 30 days paid vacation/year.

(Don't get me wrong though, I'm not judging one system over the other...)

 

The really ridiculous thing is though is that countries like Turkey or Croatia have higher prices than the US. Countries where we're rather talking 5 bucks and less an hour for the local sales and admin staff. They must have HUGE margins.

karmatose
karmatose
Posted
Posted
There is no duty, you are just paying the GST & PST. (which pays for other things you use anyways :( )

 

After the exchange rate factor, the new iMac was $40 difference between the US Apple store and the Canada Apple Store.

For that and the tax difference, I'll pay the extra $$$ to avoid that god awful times crossing the border lately. :) (2-3 hours)

 

For smaller priced items its hardly worth it anymore. (like it use to be). Generally it's just as cheap to order from tigerdirect.ca or ncix.com these days.

 

IIRC, you are allowed up to $200 (I think) worth of goods per person. Anything after that is subject to duty.

 

I look at it like this, in Michigan sales tax is 6% and in ontario as stated earlier its 14%.

 

Lets do a study, shall we? The item under the microscope is the 15" MBP.

 

USD Price: 1999.00

CAD Price: 2199.00

 

So, lets break it down for the US price.

 

1999 x 1.06 + 30 (for gas)= $2148.94 USD

 

And the Canadian price (no gas money will be included because I really dont have to go anywhere.)

 

2199 x 1.14 = $2506.86 CAD

 

Next, I go to xe.com and convert the USD to CAD to make them on par. According to xe, $1USD is worth 1.00145CAD

 

$2148.94 USD is worth $2151.82 CAD. The difference is $2.88.

 

So, I can safely knock another $2.88 off the US price which brings it down to $2146.06 CAD.

 

The difference?

 

2506.86 CAD - 2146.06 CAD = $359.08 CAD saved by driving one hour to Michigan to buy a MacBook Pro. That money would make for a HEALTHY RAM upgrade to the MBP. Or a really good night out.

 

... Draw your own conclusions

sarahbau
sarahbau
Posted
Posted
Lets do a study, shall we? The item under the microscope is the 15" MBP.

 

USD Price: 1999.00

CAD Price: 2199.00

 

Next, I go to xe.com and convert the USD to CAD to make them on par. According to xe, $1USD is worth 1.00145CAD

 

... Draw your own conclusions

My conclusion is that you happened to check the exchange rate on the day the US Dollar hit a 31 year low vs the Canadian Dollar (I'm not saying you did it intentionally). The dollar's value has been dropping like a rock all year. I'm assuming Apple set the price at least a little bit before the announcement of the MacBook Pro on June 5th. The exchange rate on May 21st, 2007 (two weeks before the announcement) was 1.00 to 1.0892, which would make the $2199 CAD worth $2018.91 USD. That's pretty close to $1999 (it would have been $2075 on the day of the announcement).

karmatose
karmatose
Posted
Posted

I do notice that I did do this on a day where the USD was absolutely terrible, and I did not do this intentionally.... However, I can even go back a year and do the pricing on old products.. Say a study circa 2005? Maybe a nice PowerBook G4? Ill get on that this afternoon using stats from A: My local Apple dealer (macoutpost.com) B: everymac.com. Both are very reputable.

 

Ive looked into this at length over the years, and my last iBook and DA PowerMac came from the USA because of this exact thing.

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