Why Are Prices Higher In Europe Than In The U.S. and Canada?

[joelthezombie15]

Arent British taxes something crazy like 100% or 99%?

 

Government taxes i mean.

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

You can try importing it and avoid the taxes, but if you get caught you have to pay so much more (shipping + VAT tax + courier cost)... :x

You already pay for the shipping, and courier cost. VAT effects the supplier, not the consumer.

 

If the item is over a set value you pay import duty which varies depending on the value of the item, and what it is.

[arodrake]

You already pay for the shipping, and courier cost. VAT effects the supplier, not the consumer.

 

If the item is over a set value you pay import duty which varies depending on the value of the item, and what it is.

Woops that's what i meant.

There's also courier handling charge fee.

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

Arent British taxes something crazy like 100% or 99%?

 

Government taxes i mean.

no

[chirag.rh]

Hey guys,

 

It's the same here in India, costs a lot more due to customs, tax and other stuff. Also high-end components come quite late here. Sometimes you get it in India only after several months... No water-cooling available here for systems as well, no one really buys it, because it costs so much and people don't really give a crap in buying high end rigs unless you are slightly rich. 

[alpenwasser]

For Gods sake we can't even get JMBG's for our children (a special number of each and every citizen in the country). Without it you can't make a passport.

Is that some sort of social security number? Wow, that really sucks man, sorry to hear

(about people not getting their number, not about having the number, we have something

similar).

You already pay for the shipping, and courier cost. VAT effects the supplier, not the consumer.

 

If the item is over a set value you pay import duty which varies depending on the value of the item, and what it is.

Actually where I live VAT is always paid for by the end consumer. The supplier sets

a price, and then they add 8% of that as VAT, which gets paid by the consumer to the

seller. The seller then has to pay those 8% back to the government at the end of the

tax year. If you import something and the seller is not taxed in Switzerland, it is

the end consumer who pays VAT directly to the government.

Import duty is indeed not equal to VAT. I buy lots of stuff internationally over

eBay, and I very rarely have to pay import duties. If a purchase (including shipping

costs) is less than a certain amount you need to pay neither VAT nor duties. If

the purchase goes above a certain amount, you start paying VAT (and processing fees).

Import duties (again, where I live) are specific to the goods. For some stuff you have

to pay import duties (protection of the domestic economy), for others not, and import

duties are always in addition to VAT.

Most of the things I import I only have to pay VAT. My dad runs an import business,

and he never has to pay import duties, only VAT, because the things he imports and

sells are not burdened by import duties.

This is why I don't like socialism in general. That's what I blame the high taxes on honestly.

I can only speak for Switzerland, but as I said above, VAT only makes up 8% of the

prices here (for most goods, anyway, there are some which have less VAT IIRC). It's

really not that bad tbh, the greater part of higher prices here are simply due to

retailers and manufacturers demanding more money and getting away with it (we are

known as a "Hochpreisinsel", which roughly translates to "high price island", due

to that).

However, I do feel bad for those who have to pay 23% VAT or similar, that's just...

yeah. :(

[PCBudgetSolutions]

Actually inflation of the dollar. Our dollar is worth half what it used to b. So the rest of the world still prices based on what it used to b yet us Americans make less than web used to. Also our taxes are stupidly high.

[Nertballs]

taxes is the big thing, why laptops appear to be 20 to 30 per cent cheaper in the states than ireland. i know there's some sort of a way around importing it, not sure what it is though, something to do with gifts i think?

[alpenwasser]

taxes is the big thing, why laptops appear to be 20 to 30 per cent cheaper in the states than ireland. i know there's some sort of a way around importing it, not sure what it is though, something to do with gifts i think?

If the seller declares the goods as a gift you technically do not have to pay import

duties and VAT. However, if it's not a gift and you get caught (it's quite illegal,

obviously) you as well as the seller might end up paying some hefty fines (depending

on how expensive the goods are).

What I've seen quite often on ebay is not that they'll declare something as a gift but

that they'll underdeclare the value (so they'll declare a 60 USD item with a value of

30 USD, which saves you some money, usually). This can be especially useful if the lower

declared value is below the threshold at which you have to start paying VAT, duties and

processing fees. This is of course also not legal. ;)

[Nertballs]

If the seller declares the goods as a gift you technically do not have to pay import

duties and VAT. However, if it's not a gift and you get caught (it's quite illegal,

obviously) you as well as the seller might end up paying some hefty fines (depending

on how expensive the goods are).

What I've seen quite often on ebay is not that they'll declare something as a gift but

that they'll underdeclare the value (so they'll declare a 60 USD item with a value of

30 USD, which saves you some money, usually). This can be especially useful if the lower

declared value is below the threshold at which you have to start paying VAT, duties and

processing fees. This is of course also not legal. ;)

or if you have some relatives over there, you could always just get them to wrap it up in some nice boirthday paper! :P

[alpenwasser]

or if you have some relatives over there, you could always just get them to wrap it up in some nice boirthday paper! :P

That is indeed probably as close as you can come to an ideal solution. :D

As long as the authorities don't start tracking your financial transactions

to see whether or not you've reimbursed your relatives (and I think that

would be slight overkill unless you're importing stuff in bulk) you'll be ok.

[Snickerzz]

$2000 in US will be $4500 in Finland.

^

[Snickerzz]

VAT

[Snickerzz]

That's different, lets look at cars, a Bentley Continental GT, £100k car in UK will cost £500k in Finland (also 5 years older than the UK one).

 

I find it funny how Australians complain that their prices are high, but I've yet to see anything that's more expensive than in Finland. Anyone wanna do the whole "challenge accepted" thing?

you also don't have any poverty, you finns be rich  B)

[sonarctica]

you also don't have any poverty, you finns be rich  B)

Not really... that's Norway. In Finland, if we make a lot of money, it all gets taken away with all the progressive taxing. The reason why I'm leaving as soon as possible from here, I want to make all dat moneys but Finland is like "lolno, gimme yer money which we can use to buy bed sheets for our parliament"

[nicholaswillems]

It's funny how people in America complain about their games being 60 bucks. Well here they usually are 60 euros and at launch it's not exceptional to price at 70, which is somewhere in the 90-ish dollars. >_<

[Snickerzz]

Not really... that's Norway. In Finland, if we make a lot of money, it all gets taken away with all the progressive taxing. The reason why I'm leaving as soon as possible from here, I want to make all dat moneys but Finland is like "lolno, gimme yer money which we can use to buy bed sheets for our parliament"

well if your gov spent less money on training police moose XD

[sonarctica]

It's funny how people in America complain about their games being 60 bucks. Well here they usually are 60 euros and at launch it's not exceptional to price at 70, which is somewhere in the 90-ish dollars. >_<

It's even more funnier when they complain about gas prices haha

 

well if your gov spent less money on training police moose XD

I don't know where you are getting this information from but I'm pretty sure we don't have those lol

[JupiteL]

$2000 in US will be $4500 in Finland.

man, leave your country now.. That's not healthy for your pocket

[sonarctica]

man, leave your country now.. That's not healthy for your pocket

These days I buy all my stuff from Germany without taxes, only way I've managed so far

[Snickerzz]

It's even more funnier when they complain about gas prices haha

 

I don't know where you are getting this information from but I'm pretty sure we don't have those lol

my knowledge is completely based off this >>

 

 

reindeer! moose.. close enough

 

also 

[KaareKanin]

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/14520-international-price-comparison-help-needed/?p=161488

[Snickerzz]

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/14520-international-price-comparison-help-needed/?p=161488

whats wrong with argentina O.o

[sonarctica]

my knowledge is completely based off this >>973_204328473047558_660032637_n.png

.... I am speechless, I thought this is what they used,

 

[Snickerzz]

.... I am speechless, I thought this is what they used,

 

ha!