Australians Ripped Off

[PervySage79]

I've been thinking about getting a MR headset for a while now, especially because all the recent review videos I've seen have been saying how cheap some of the Windows MR headsets are, especially the Dell Visor. So I started to do a bit of searching around and I couldn't find anything remotely close to the "cheap prices" being stated, even accounting for the difference between the USD and AUD. I decided to compare the Dell's actual pricing for each country and I was completely shocked.

 

I'm used to being stung "Your Australian so we are going to charge you more tax" of around an extra 25-50% on the price (already accounting for the exchange rate difference).... but Dell Visors have taken it to an all time new record. Seriously WTF?!?!?! how can tech companies keep getting away with this type exploitation??

 

US Dell Visor with controllers Price: $329.99 USD (or 437.60 AUD)

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/accessories/apd/536-bbbw

 

AU Dell Visor with controllers Price: $799.99 AUD (or 603.27 USD)

http://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/accessories/apd/545-bbbh

 

That's a 183% price increase for Australia... 

I can't see any difference between the specifications of either device, except the fact that the model number is slightly different. There wouldn't need to be any Australia specific customisation to the product as:

• The controllers use batteries which have standard sizes and voltages pretty much everywhere in the world. (not even rechargeable battery's included so there isn't even a custom AUD plug)
• The controllers are bluetooth. Once again standard across the world.
• The visor itself just plugs into the standard USB 3.0 & HDMI ports. Once again standard across the world.

Sure people could argue, the increase in price could be due to:

• Australia's GST of 10% is included in our price, but in the US you need to add that on.... sure thing, that's an extra 6%-8%
• The product has to get shipped all the way to Australia... No problems add an extra $5-$10
• Australia's rents are much higher and needs to be factored in... Buying the product online would mean the warehouse where the stock is located wouldn't be in a "high rent area" but yeah sure... add an extra 5% to the price to cover it off.

That doesn't add up to anywhere near the 183% price difference.

 

Surely the prices are just higher because it's easier for these companies to collude and price fix...

 

Is it this bad for other non-us countries?

Is there actually a valid reason why the price should be so much cheaper in the US?

Am I just being a crybaby and just accept the price rape?

[Lemtea]

Yuo pricing of electronics is just crazy in Australia compared to the rest of the world. I was recently looking at getting a galaxy S9 and it was cheaper to buy the US variant S9 on amazon and pay shipping including the bad AUD to USD conversion. Than to walk into a local JB Hi-Fi and buy an equivalent Australian variant S9, the price difference was more than 200 AUD.

[veli2501]

yup sux2bus

[Andreas Lilja]

Isn't Australian purchasing power higher? As in higher minimum wage and the such. 

[PervySage79]

Just because you earn more shouldn't mean you get charged more.

[Plank]

7 minutes ago, PervySage79 said:

Just because you earn more shouldn't mean you get charged more.

Well it‘s the same with games, food, clothes etc. Countries with a small(er) average income tend to be cheaper in all ways than other ones

[Spotty]

2 hours ago, Raskolnikov said:

Isn't Australian purchasing power higher? As in higher minimum wage and the such. 

Probably. Cost of living will be higher in Aus. Adult minimum wage in Australia is about $17.50 per hour, or around $13 USD. No idea what it is in America since I believe it varies from state to state?

Most of the people who are working minimum wage in Australia are going to be younger people in the fast food and retail jobs, so it's worth noting that under 21s get paid a percentage of the adult minimum wage figure. IIRC it goes 21 or over = 100%, 20 = 100%, 19 = 80%, 18 = 70%, 17 = 60%, 16 = 50%, 15 or younger = 40%. (They have changed it recently so 20 year olds get 100% now, was previously 90%, and there's pushes by unions going on to get 100% at 18.)
So this means a 14 or 15 year old working minimum wage will only be earning around $7AUD or just over $5 USD per hour. No idea if America has a similar system in place with its youth work force. If they don't it's possible that a portion of the people in Australia earning minimum wage (mostly youths in fast food type jobs), could actually be earning less than the Americans earning minimum wage.

But, I doubt most people earning minimum wage are going to be buying MR headsets anyway.

[Christophe Corazza]

Things ain’t better here in Europe either :-(

In terms of prices, we are also ripped off most of the time compared to the US

[Centurius]

Simple, supply and demand. Companies can charge the higher amounts in Australia so they will.

[Princess Luna]

7 hours ago, PervySage79 said:

Just because you earn more shouldn't mean you get charged more.

Try living in Brazil then where you do not earn well at all but get taxed even harder, just for quick illustration the iPhone prices:

 

Trust me Australia has it easy compared to Brazil, don't complain much.

[TetraSky]

When you're not in the US, you get screwed over.

Even in Canada we get fucked in the ass when it comes to US products, just not as often(or at such a high %) as Australia. 

[kelvinhall05]

But then again, you guys have an excellent used market (I'm assuming from Tech Yes City's videos lol).

[Christophe Corazza]

30 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Try living in Brazil then where you do not earn well at all but get taxed even harder, just for quick illustration the iPhone prices:

 

Trust me Australia has it easy compared to Brazil, don't complain much.

 

Although this table only gives the price of one specific product... I'll say it again, we get constantly screwed in Europe (West-Europe)

[Monkey Dust]

Part of it could be the cost of getting regulatory approval for a niche item in a small market. But still mostly getting screwed by Dell.

[Zodiark1593]

14 hours ago, Lemtea said:

Yuo pricing of electronics is just crazy in Australia compared to the rest of the world. I was recently looking at getting a galaxy S9 and it was cheaper to buy the US variant S9 on amazon and pay shipping including the bad AUD to USD conversion. Than to walk into a local JB Hi-Fi and buy an equivalent Australian variant S9, the price difference was more than 200 AUD.

Time to start an electronics smuggling ring then.

 

[OverC1ockeD]

23 hours ago, PervySage79 said:

Just because you earn more shouldn't mean you get charged more.

I feel the exact same way. Over here in USA  when you make  more you are taxed even more, but that's just the way it is. We portray the American dream that if you work harder you'll get more but in reality you get more taken from you. Sorry to hear that parts and the sort are more expensive there.

[Arika]

Australia has a higher average wage than the US by a large margin. That more than offsets the higher prices we pay

[porina]

We've had similar in UK too for a long time. It was a continuously running joke that 1 USD = 1 GBP regardless of what the actual exchange rate was. Having said that, it seems to have slightly broken in the last year or two, and effective pricing is closer (but still not same) if you look only at exchange rate and tax differences.

 

One argument in increased costs for some countries is the support cost around the product. Now, some things will be the same for all products, like the firmware. But software, manuals and similar may require localisation. They may set up geographic support offices in region, and these may run at a different cost structure. High cost of living region, means higher costs for providing support from that region.

 

Another one might be approval costs. Countries/regions have their own regulations that need to be met before you can legally sell the product at all. It will be up to the manufacturer how they handle this, but generally they know which countries it will be sold in and all this work is done up front and the cost is hidden in development. But if they had to add another country later, they may then go through extra costs and may try to recoup it from that region.

[PineyCreek]

Don't forget import duties and taxes as well.

[mr moose]

On 5/13/2018 at 12:57 PM, Raskolnikov said:

Isn't Australian purchasing power higher? As in higher minimum wage and the such. 

 

2 hours ago, Sierra Fox said:

Australia has a higher average wage than the US by a large margin. That more than offsets the higher prices we pay

Yes, and not only that our countries wealth per adult is higher too.  Our average actual wealth per person is better than the US too, with the US's bottom 35% comparing to only our bottom 10%.  Keeping in mind that 80% of Australians have a personal wealth of over $100,000 (how much they'd have in the bank if they sold everything and paid of their debts).  The average wealth across the board is just under $1M per person. 

 

On 5/13/2018 at 3:30 PM, PervySage79 said:

Just because you earn more shouldn't mean you get charged more.

If only it worked like that,   Higher average wages and costs of living means everything costs more  Logistics, warehousing, importing, taxes, wages, you name, they all cost more.  Which means for any business to stay in business they have to charge more.  If the local Dell dealer was paying walmart wages you might get a cheaper deal, but they aren't..

[Nocte]

On 13/05/2018 at 6:30 AM, PervySage79 said:

Just because you earn more shouldn't mean you get charged more.

Instead, yes. When pricing a product in a high-income country would you charge them more or less than in a low-income country? More, obviously.

Furthermore, there are several other variables that influence the price (such as the one you cited about import and tax).

Also, the comment of @mr moose is very true.

 

To give you an idea on how pricing can be different just based on purchasing power:

This is how Big Macs are priced all around the world. It is definitely a long shot from electronics to burgers, but you can see how different the prices are depending on the country. Employee wages, purchasing power of the population, etc. play an important role in the pricing of products.

 

5 hours ago, OverC1ockeD said:

Over here in USA  when you make  more you are taxed even more, but that's just the way it is. We portray the American dream that if you work harder you'll get more but in reality you get more taken from you.

Progressive taxation is used pretty much everywhere in the world.

[Neutrideo]

On 13/05/2018 at 12:48 PM, Lemtea said:

Yuo pricing of electronics is just crazy in Australia compared to the rest of the world. I was recently looking at getting a galaxy S9 and it was cheaper to buy the US variant S9 on amazon and pay shipping including the bad AUD to USD conversion. Than to walk into a local JB Hi-Fi and buy an equivalent Australian variant S9, the price difference was more than 200 AUD.

omfg exactly, I just bought a new speaker and it is $100 in us and on amazon, But is $200 in JB.

[asus killer]

1. this is just one product, it can't be representative 

 

2. the US price is on sale.  You have to compare it to the 450US vs the 799AUS

 

3. the USD is valued at 1.324 AUS (this is also not an exact science it could be estimated to be worst by Dell when the product was launched). So you have to compare 450USD to 600USD

 

4. the Australian price includes taxes and delivery. The US i guess taxes are never included and it doesn't mention delivery. I think taxes are 10% (i googled it, is it? bastards we pay a LOT more in Europe) and delivery in Australia for the all country shouldn't be cheap with such a huge and unpopulated country. Lets say 80USD. So the price is now 450USD to 520USD

 

5. Like already said if wages are so much better people will earn more the products will cost more, Logistics, warehousing,...

 

6. Correct me if i'm wrong but the US have very low import taxes for most products (this most be imported from china or something). If import taxes for AUS are bigger add more to the price. Worst yet if it's actually made in the US.

 

7. i actually have no idea but there can differences in other taxes, like recycling taxes or batteries taxes or whatever. Things that the US mostly don't care about. It happens a lot in Europe. It all ads up.

 

So in the end the different is not really that relevant.

 

 

 

disclaimer: assuming my math is correct

[Soppro]

3 hours ago, Pangea2017 said:

so the products cost 2.83 (100%+183%) times more in australia?

us pays: $329.

the math says: $931

reality: $600.

This is only a 82% increase (.823... is rounded to .82). Now you can say 82% is still to much but you forget about local regulations and other cost.

 

I think he meant the Australian price is 183% of the US price.

[Arika]

On 5/13/2018 at 3:30 PM, PervySage79 said:

Just because you earn more shouldn't mean you get charged more.

Spoken like a person who doesn't understand economics.