Why are prices so high outside of the US?

[Nineshadow]

I've had this question for a long time in my head and I still can't get a good answer for it.

Why do I have to sometimes pay 20-50% more on something,just because I live in Central Europe?

Shipping costs don't explain it.20% VAT is something,but come on.

I remember seeing this summer,on the largest online store in my country,an alienware m18x(highest config.) for $6000.I was totally shocked.

(I should also mention Crapple rMBP 15" old gen for 3000$ cheapest configuration)

Note 3 for around $1000.

An i5 costs as much as an i7 in the US.

I remember when I got my 560 I paid 350$ for it,and that was after the 600 series had launched(one month later).

WHY?

 

 

[miyabwah]

It's America paying us back for living in a horrible country. That I live in.

[clementk]

import tax.. and local people don't have that big of a competition as US has big online sellers like Amazon.

[Sarcasm]

Just suck it up already. Bitching about it won't change jack.

[Joshyy]

US doesn't have taxes on online shipping, we have a 20% tax in the UK and I imagine it's more in europe. Plus theres an import fee, and shipping and our wages are higher than the US.

[eshbop]

Cost of living, wages, taxes and buying power pretty much sum it up. Also the fact they've done it for so long already that people are used to paying more helps.

 

I just spec'd out a system on both NCIX and a local computer store and turned out about 30% more expensive locally, I know, it's not fair, nothing you can do.

[Osmium]

It's America paying us back for living in a horrible country. That I live in.

How very patriotic of you.

 

But the US just makes it very easy to sell stuff to, no online shipping tax, and low import tax in general.

[defunkt]

it's cheaper in the uk than the us.

[Altecice]

^

 

PLUS the uk has a 20% VAT Tax on everything.

[coen113]

It's America paying us back for living in a horrible country. That I live in.

you wanna trade gouvernments?

[SSOB]

Mainly TAX , EU likes to make taxes extremely high on everything...

[gardening]

import tax.. and local people don't have that big of a competition as US has big online sellers like Amazon.

 

true - wrong and some other details.

 

One of the biggest onlinestores here in Germany is e.g. Amazon.de. But we have also some pretty big others too.

[ManOfDisguise]

Because MUUURI *ehm* EUUUUUROOOOOPAAAAA!

 

 

 

"Heeeeaven heeelp uuus in aaaall ooour baaaatlles.Heeeeaveeen seee looove. Heeeeaven help us!" -some lyrics from the song

[Stonep11]

You can factor out tax and see those differences, it is really two things.  Supply and competition.  The US is a much larger country (300+ million [the UK is less than 70]) with very high consumer spending (less of our income is used taken through taxes, given us more spending money [yes also more to spend it on with healthcare and the like]).  Companies are willing to dump huge inventories in the US at lower cost because it is more likely to sell.  The larger numbers being pushed in the US allow economies to scale and result in a sum total of much lower costs.  The aspect of competition is also a large factor.  Many large companies are centered in the US in some way and that means they are fighting much more for dominance in this region.  There is a myriad of confusing political and economic differences between the United States and Central Europe, but as a summary, and I know it is unfortunate, but the US can give a company more sales revenue for less money than you can in Central Europe.

[LOST TALE]

It's America paying us back for living in a horrible country. That I live in.

meanwhile you can read these 25 depressing reasons.

http://www.whynotharper.ca/

[mc141]

Welcome to american greedy government. Im your tour guid mister greedy, and thats my assistant miss unnessasarly high taxes. Our first stop on our tour is the poor and middle class taxation dept. Here we figure out how to steal i mean squeeze damn it i mean fund our .......damn it screw this. This is the dept in charge of making sure we can take every last penny people make. Lol j.k i think.

[chaozbandit]

Law of one price, purchasing power parities, jurisdictional restrictions / requirements, exchange rates and taxes, etc. etc. Welcome to the wonderful world that is global business economics.