The atlantic divide - electronics prices.

[UtwigMU]

It's not that EU administration will do anything, but right now you as consumer can buy anything from anywhere in EU without taxes.

Like others have said each manufacturer has distributors in every country.

Now compare that to USA:
For instance a graphic card company might have 3 distributors per 300M people and online shops such as newegg that ship to entire USA might order directly from factory.


But in Europe, you might have 3 distributors in every of the big countries and also distributors in small countries. They order less from the factory due to smaller market, so they pay more and small shops that sell only in regions of countries need even higher margins to survive.


First thing is that shipping across EU is generally not expensive. Second thing is, you can order stuff from anywhere in EU.

So as soon as people will start looking for the lowest price in Europe (for instance German retail prices are what dealers here buy hardware at) and start ordering from other countries, it will lead to consolidation and fewer bigger dealers and thus lower prices.


For instance there were stories about people going to Greece to buy cars, since they were much cheaper there.

[uberlad]

Well then - can anyone recommend a european / US webshop that sells the archos recorder FM 20 and will deliver to the UK for less than a ruinous price?


Uberlad

[Novdid]

I have good example of something non techish costing extremely less in the US...here goes:

Volvo S60 R.

Sweden: SEK 511 000
US: USD ~37000

1 USD = SEK 7.5

You do the math. Volvo is more or less Swedish BTW.

I guess the american car must be somewhat less equipped than the Swedish one but it still pisses me off!

[KvHagedorn]

Do you have a 100% tax on cars in Sweden like they do in Denmark?

[Umfriend]

And if you think the EU is ever going to do anything about it then think again, i'd place a lot of money on most of the decision-makers being paid handsome sums not to take action, and also having the threat of a fwe multinationals relocating their industries elsewhere if price regulation were threatened.

First off, the EU is actually doing a lot to bring down the distribution schemes of manufacturers, think Levi's, or automobiles. So what amount are we betting for? I'm sure you'll agree the burden of proof is on you.

Secondly, the threat you claim to be used is not a viable one. Shifting production outside of the EU will not circumvent any price regulation laws within the EU for them.

Economies of scale do play an important role. The thing is, the barriers that existed within the EU for free trade within it have only been dealt with partly and recently. It takes a while for commerce to adapt and incorporate the advantages or the new properties of the market. 5 years ago, international bank transfers were expensive and it took a long time to get your payment anywhere. Now, it is free, or close to, pretty fast and easy. Shipping was not cheap back then either, it has become far cheaper as the growth in small item/volume shipping enabled companies to actually focus on that as a prime competence. We may get closer to a one market as in the US according to law, but for the actual marketplace to get there takes time, innovation, and entrepeneurial initiatives.

Meanwhile, now that I have may DVD player (ordered in Liechtenstein ), I am looking for the Dr. Quinn DVD's..... 114.25 euro's here, 83.96 US$ over there :grrr: wondering how much I would pay in duty and tarrifs......

[Novdid]

Nope, the danes pay considerably more than we do.

And I should ad that Volvo generally costs slightly less here than the rest of Europe.

[dZeus]

Umfriend.... DVDs? like this one?

http://www.playusa.com/playusa.asp?page=title&r=R1&title=114222

http://www.playusa.com/playusa.asp?page=title&r=R1&title=131077

http://www.playusa.com/playusa.asp?page=title&r=R1&title=154716

you can order from there without much trouble from my experience. Customs never charged anything I ordered from there.

[Umfriend]

Hehe, thx dude, you always seem to point me to the lowest prices!

[VJ]

I remembered when looking out for CompactFlash cards. I could actually order them in Australia for 1/8 of the price here.

I recently saw an add (in an American PC magazine), a Nikon D1x costs as much as the D100 does over here...

Some difference seems acceptible, but it is just ridiculous. Someone mentioned the plasma TVs, you'll have a hard time finding models below 5000-6000 Euros over here...

And the list goes on and on...
(luckily, Belgian beer and Belgian chocolate is cheapest here )


Jörg

[Umfriend]

It will change, but it will take quite a while before it bottoms out

[The PIT]

Sadly quite a few companies are adding VAT to their prices now. This reduces the savings somewhat sadly.

European companies are also getting in to the rip act. Mandrake I noticed were doing a one too one conversion with euro and dollars.

[GT98]

Originally posted by Novdid
I have good example of something non techish costing extremely less in the US...here goes:

Volvo S60 R.

Sweden: SEK 511 000
US: USD ~37000

1 USD = SEK 7.5

You do the math. Volvo is more or less Swedish BTW.

I guess the american car must be somewhat less equipped than the Swedish one but it still pisses me off!

Does the price of the S60R include taxes when you buy it? The price your quoting for the States is just the MSRP, not with Taxes and Tags.

The price of the S60R isnt all that bad...I was bored and optioned out a new S40 with the Tubro 5 in it and it cost nearly $32K! Too much for a puffed up Focus platform without AWD

[borat]

Firstly about the tax, im 99% certain that its illegal not to pay tax when yyou buy from a different country within europe. Although you dont have to pay the taxes in the country in which you made your purchase, you are legally bound to pay the VAT in the country which youtake it back to, so if i buy something n germany, i dont pay german taxes on it, but i must pay 17.5% to the UK government when i bring it back in to the UK. Otherwise its tax evasion and thats illegal. Also dont forget that most things imported into the EU are subject to 10% standard import tariff wherever they come in. For example cars imported from japan.
The tax isnt really the issue to grumble over though, its the pre tax prices.

As far as buying power and economies of scale are concerened, this does not really hold true. Although i accept it may cost a bit more to operate in Europe because of fragmented ditstribution, How do you justify the fact that even the smallest one man band retailers in the USA undercut the biggest european retailers by quite a margin? just go to pricegrabber.com and compare a small companies prices to the likes of dabs.com or ebuyer.co.uk.

[borat]

"Secondly, the threat you claim to be used is not a viable one. Shifting production outside of the EU will not circumvent any price regulation laws within the EU for them. "

No thats not the point of the threat, the point is, Multi nationals that are set up in europe employ a lot of people here, in the UK take people like toyota, nissan, honda etc. The threat is, if you make us reduce the RRP on our products, then we will locate our factories in other countries leading to large pockets of unemployment - its better for a politician to have a problem which most people seem to be willing to put up with(high prices) than something people most definately will not put up with(unemployment).

Its all down to the manufacturers, when they set their prices in Europe many of them set high RRP's and dont sell to retailers who undercut these RRP's (apple with ipod for example). A few years ago when the UK car pricing scandal was at its height they sent journalists to european dealers and a huge number of them would make excuses up like "its going to take 12 months to get your car" all because the manufacturers were putting pressure on the dealers not to sell UK cars at continental prices.

Most products these days are sold with multi nationality instructions and Universal AC adapters anyway meaning your UK product and Italian product came from excatly the same production run. Untill the governments get strong handed with them though we wil just have to put up with it.

[borat]

Originally posted by uberlad
Well then - can anyone recommend a european / US webshop that sells the archos recorder FM 20 and will deliver to the UK for less than a ruinous price?


Uberlad

search for it here:

https://www.pricegrabber.com

and email all of the results and ask if they ship internationally. even if it states they do not on their site, some of them often will.