I live in Britain. And much like the rest of Europe, we're always the ones who get crapped on by
Big American Co.™
But why are we treated so poorly? I've done some maths to see just how bad we get it.
PlayStation 3 - The 60Gb PS3 originally sold for $599 in America. I'm discounting the 20Gb version for this because it wasn't available at all anywhere else. In the UK, the RRP was £425. At today's exchange rates, this equals $859, $260 more than in the US.
We have to pay 43% more for the PS3 in Europe than in the US. And this doesn't even take into account the Sony's recent US-Only price drops.
Xbox 360 - I've got a 360. I wouldn't have if I could afford a PS3, because I had only ever used PlayStations in the past. The Premium Xbox 360 originally sold for $399 in America. In the UK, it sold for £280, or $566.
We have to pay 42% more for the Xbox 360 Premium in the UK than in the US. Once again, this doesn't include the US-Only price drops.
The problem is that it's the same problem with games and accessories as well. This really bugs me, because there's no real reason why companies should charge more. Sure, you could talk about minimum wages and things, but at the end of the day, companies such as Microsoft and Sony would still get profit from charging fairly in all regions. It's just a shame that foreign PS3s and Xboxs won't work over here.
12 August 2007
Rip-Off Britain
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13 comments:
This is due to the over taxing anti american taxes and tariffs your government places on American companies, or all foreign companies for that matter, things are cheaper in the US because it is a business friendly nation that encourages imports. You socialists crack me up cry to your government not forein owned companies.
yes i also know it's because of our high taxes, i live in Britain and agree with the last comment, i also hate the government.
Quite simply - rubbish; Britain is not a socialist state and is pretty generous with corporate taxation.
The real problem here is that our association with the EU brings hidden costs - language translations, multiple pack designs, compliance with EU safety laws, etc.
This is not to say that there is not a cynical attempt to overcharge - consider iTunes which charges 79p per track in the UK, but 69 Euro cents in the rest of the EU. That's 70% more which for an electronic distribution system is pretty inexplicable - and probably why they're being investigated by the European Commission.
But I guess we can take some consolation in the EU that Americans subsidise all of our pharmaceuticals by at least 70%!
lol. c'mon join the Euro and you'll get the european prices.
If we'd pay US prices we'd only spend the left over money on burgers!
So that everything is clear and brings back the truth on this post:
In every european country meaning all countries that are part of the EU
(so Great britain is in it as well as other 26 countries) The import tax is at 4% and then you have to add depending on countries the VAT that varies from 15 to 25%.
This is the exact truth. I dont think this is kind of socialist country. For example if you want to import a pair of shoes in france you will pay as import taxes 4%, whereas if you live in China and you want to import a pair of shoes then you will have to pay for 68% of import taxes.
AH lalala, The first guy who commented about socialism should have gone to School before talking.
I agree, PS3Man!
In 'a business friendly nation' taxes could be lower because there is no public school.
US consoles WILL work in the UK, they just won't play UK games without a mod chip. If you import US games and run them on a US console in the UK you won't have any problems and it'll work out cheaper.
[QUOTE="Vojkan80001"]
I live in Britain. And much like the rest of Europe, we're always the ones who get crapped on by Big American Co. But why are we treated so poorly? I've done some maths to see just how bad we get it.
Read Full Article >>
[/QUOTE]
O shush. I live in UK and its the price we pay for having the strongest currency in the world. The Euro is second.
Now think about it. If we had a ps3 offered for 250 (the 500$ usa pay). It would be crazy!! It would be sooo cheap. Thats like having a ps3 in USA for 250$. Like wtf world gone mad?
The fact our currency is larger, it means they can make more money without it looking to us like they are charging us more. Its the same with everything and all currency's. Its to do with business and pricing stratagies.
I fully support it from a busines perspective. If you convert the money like that, yes it is more expensive but to us with our currency is does not seem like it.
600$ to an american person, does not seen the same as 300 to an english person. 300 is pretty easish to get in uk. Where as 600 in usa, is not as easy to get as 300. 400 though is probally just as hard to get as 600 is in the usa...see what i mean?
The price depends on the country and its the price we pay for having the strongest currency. USA also are a bigger gaming nation then the UK so they are going to have better deals etc.
Canada is bigger gaming nation then USA, so i think they get further deals. The same with Japan.
UK and EU get their own deals. For example we import goods exceptionally cheaply. Not all good of course, but for example foods. We pay 1 in a country and we may get 2-3 bucks worth of food.
Theres advantages and disadvantages of our currency but the prices of the ps3 also depend on the demand for gaming. There was a 100$ price drop in the usa and a 100 price drop in the UK would not by far have the same effect.
I like having our currency and prices the way it is. It means you get get good deals on USA ebay lol, or web hosting, and lots of other things, its great!!! Especially since USA is the super power atm, most things on the net are priced in $$. So we get it doubly cheap lol.
So yet, we kind of get screwed in the sense the ps3 COULD be cheaper in the UK. But who would make it cheaper and make less money. Its a business/international thing. We get screwed here, get get mad advantages elsewhere.
Cant have everything lol.
yeah you know you could buy a bowl of soup in a 3rd world country for 5 cents but then pay 4 $ in the U.S. thats like a uh large percent difference. Thats just how exchange works.
Stop complaining I live in a 3rd world country (Mexico) and I had to pay 920 USD for my PS3.
You didn't have to pay for anything.
You write very well.
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