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Why is it that companies think they can do a direct translation of dollars into pounds? A card costing $200 in USA is sold in Britain for £200. Now us Brits may be dumb, but with the exchange rate being $1.6=£1 we are being ripped off!
Even the bloody playstation has done it!$299 in USA £299 in britain, now thats an extra £178 we have to fork out!
Right now thats my rant for the day over!sorry, but they need a right rogering for doing that!
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If it aint broke ..... KICK IT!
you are still lucky ,here in italy we pay cards more then double the usa price.
I guess you never had to spend 900 $ on a geforce card eh? yea canada sux
Send me some money (cash or cheque) and I shall buy a video and ship it to the UK!Quote:
Originally posted by t@xman:
Why is it that companies think they can do a direct translation of dollars into pounds? A card costing $200 in USA is sold in Britain for £200. Now us Brits may be dumb, but with the exchange rate being $1.6=£1 we are being ripped off!
Even the bloody playstation has done it!$299 in USA £299 in britain, now thats an extra £178 we have to fork out!
Right now thats my rant for the day over!sorry, but they need a right rogering for doing that!
I live in Canada so the prices arent sky-high but are still alot more expensive, especially for a 12-year old like myslef!
CHOW
I don't think anybody is trying to say the US dollar and the UK pound are straight translations. From what I have seen of other posters from the UK, everything, not just vid cards, are more expensive there.Quote:
Originally posted by t@xman:
Why is it that companies think they can do a direct translation of dollars into pounds? A card costing $200 in USA is sold in Britain for £200. Now us Brits may be dumb, but with the exchange rate being $1.6=£1 we are being ripped off!
Even the bloody playstation has done it!$299 in USA £299 in britain, now thats an extra £178 we have to fork out!
Right now thats my rant for the day over!sorry, but they need a right rogering for doing that!
Just one word fellas: Mailorder
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Think I need an upgrade? HA! I still kick *** at Counter-Strike, TFC, and Unreal Tourny!! If you got Kali, look for the one and only AssNasty...
Do you know of any decent companies shipping international at a reasonable price?Quote:
Originally posted by AssNasty:
Just one word fellas: Mailorder
https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/6.gif https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/6.gif
No point in having something shipped over here if I end up paying the same.
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'There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers'
Cheapest shipping I seen from the US was about$30-40! and then theres no guarantee that the thing will work.
I'm just irate that all these companies feel that its ok to rip us off.
I was using the £ to $ translation as a way of showing that this is a deliberate thing, not just the fact that they need to ship the things from oversea's.
I still think its disgusting!
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If it aint broke ..... KICK IT!
I'd go for mail order every time, try www.pcindex.co.uk to find the cheapest prices.
I went into Game the other day, a Creative GeForce 2 Ultra was.... wait for it... £439.99!!! WHAT!!! The price sticker even said "Nobody beats us on price" What a joke!
well, this just plain SUCKS!
one tip: ordering from the US is somewhat of a problem, not many do it at all, and if, be prepared for $50 H&S...
BUT : Britain is in the EU (vage rumor), so just get a vid card from the continent. the logic behind this is that (weak Euro) continental prices must be lower and both sides should have the same (EU) warranty laws!
if this is true, this might be a viable solution.... although i doubt that the EU is good for anything except wasting money.
hope this helps.
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No Pain, No Gain!
I agree with you t@xman, I think it's the same here in Sweden. When you see a product in US dollars, you think "hey that's pretty cheap". I can tell you, you don't think that after you seen the price in our currency, that's for sure.
Oh, by the way, our currency is about 1 to 10 against the US dollar http://dev.www.sharkyforums.forums.relay.cool/.
And since the shipping fee when ordering from, for example, the US, is so high, in the end, you don't win on it. And besides, there are the risks what happens if the thing doesn't work
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The major part of our exports goes to foreign countries. - George W. Bush.
There you have your new president USA!
[This message has been edited by Triton (edited November 28, 2000).]
What really gets my goat though is the fact that they appear to do it for no other reason than the fact that they know we'll put up with it. The whole bleeding situation is incredible! How can it be cheaper to buy a British built car, with British spec and a better than British warranty in france or Belgium???? even after import duty and registration!
It seams to me that these companies know that we'll put up with it and pay whatever they ask.
I don't suppose theres anyone in the US willing to import to the UK at US prices without charging extortionate shipping costs on here? You might be able to make a shed load of spondoolees and give the British market a kick in the goolies!
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If it aint broke ..... KICK IT!
You'll have no advantage buying stuff in France, e.g. the PS2 is sold 2990F, wich is almost the same as 299£ and much more than 299$. We've got the same problem here, since the 80's 1$ is almost allways converted to 10F even if it's not true anymore (1$ is roughly equal to 6F).
I just did a little experiment to see if I could help. I just set up for a 2lb package measuring 12x15x3 inches to be delivered to the UK from Atlantic city N.J. usa through UPS. I thought that I may be able to purchase a couple things that you needed and ship them to you for a fair price ( ie. me making no profit). BAD NEWS 68 US dollars. I will try using federal Express and The United States Postal Service and post back with my findings.
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I thought I was wrong once...But I was mistaken
fed ex $45 USPS $16
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I thought I was wrong once...But I was mistaken
Now that is expensive.Quote:
Originally posted by recombinant:
I went into Game the other day, a Creative GeForce 2 Ultra was.... wait for it... £439.99!!! WHAT!!! The price sticker even said "Nobody beats us on price" What a joke!
That same card costs about £410 over here in Norway - it's not much cheaper but better.
What does it cost in the US?
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Now listening to:
Death In Vegas - The Contino Sessions
I work for a UK company that has a (small) hardware division and the cheapest we can get a GF2 Ultra for (without buying lots of 10,000) is around £290 + VAT (~£345). Once you add shipping and profit onto that you can see why it turns out at £400.
When you think American end-users can buy as cheap as we can, and almost as cheap as larger companies then ourselves, there's got to be something seriously screwy going on.
Before you ask, the answer is, unfortunately, "no". I can barely swing getting my own gear at trade these days...
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What does this button do?
If I had a friend in USA that I 'd like to bother, I 'd have all my system shipped. If I add 70$(for shipping) to the price of a GeForce2 GTS, I still pay it half than the local price....
Quote:
Originally posted by Dectek:
I just did a little experiment to see if I could help. I just set up for a 2lb package measuring 12x15x3 inches to be delivered to the UK from Atlantic city N.J. usa through UPS. I thought that I may be able to purchase a couple things that you needed and ship them to you for a fair price ( ie. me making no profit). BAD NEWS 68 US dollars. I will try using federal Express and The United States Postal Service and post back with my findings.
Quote:
Originally posted by Dectek:
fed ex $45 USPS $16
See, those shipping fees are horrible! What are they doing, hiring a privat jet just for my package? Ok, I might exaggerate a bit, but you get my point.Quote:
Originally posted by Triton:
And since the shipping fee when ordering from, for example, the US, is so high, in the end, you don't win on it. And besides, there are the risks what happens if the thing doesn't work.
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The major part of our exports goes to foreign countries. - George W. Bush.
There you have your new president, USA!
That card is about $430 USD. I don't know what the conversion rate is, so you'll have to figure that one out.Quote:
Originally posted by kid A:
Now that is expensive.
That same card costs about £410 over here in Norway - it's not much cheaper but better.
What does it cost in the US?
As far as why so much of this stuff is cheaper in the US, there are many economic factors, and isn't necessarily that the card manufacturers are trying to yank your chain.
First, lets start with wage comparisons. Being right next to Canada, I know things are more expensive there, I also know they make more money for the same job here in the US.
Import fees. Depending on what they charge manufacturers to bring products in, that can substantially raise the end price.
Competition can play a major role. We have so many online, retail, and mom n' pop shops around, that competition drives prices down.
One other thing I can think of is simply this. A lot of the major manufacturers are in Taiwan, and several are here in the US, but almost ALL of the Taiwanese companies have an office here in the US. Why do you think Guillemot (sp?) purchased Hercules; yes I know their not a Taiwanese company, it's just an example? They wanted a company that was already set up in North America. They got name brand recognition with the Hercules purchase, but with the Internet, how many people haven't heard of Guillemot and their video cards? It costs less to do business in a country where you have an office.
First, lets start with wage comparisons. Being right next to Canada, I know things are more expensive there, I also know they make more money for the same job here in the US.
Well.. somethings yes and some things no. Gas is more expensive, although no where near as expensive as in europe... haha. But tons of things are cheaper here (Canada). There was a big discussion on /. about the price of adsl and cable comparisons, it generally costs the equivalent of $23-26 USD a month. But in the states it seems to be anywhere form $35-80 or even waaaaaaaay more. And the average wage difference is like $600 a year so no biggie there. It's really the taxes that are the killer. But that's why alot of the sticker prices tend to be lower in Canada. People don't realize that if taxes are lowered they really won't have any more money. If taxes go down 10% prices just go up another 10%.. or there abouts...ehem..aboots.
Import fees. Depending on what they charge manufacturers to bring products in, that can substantially raise the end price.
For sure that's what most of it is. Europe is well... damn socialist, even more so then Canada and they love taxing the poop out of everything.
So true, so true...Quote:
Originally posted by Ironbar:
For sure that's what most of it is. Europe is well... damn socialist, even more so then Canada and they love taxing the poop out of everything.
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Now listening to:
Death In Vegas - The Contino Sessions
[QUOTE]Originally posted by t@xman:
[B]What really gets my goat though is the fact that they appear to do it for no other reason than the fact that they know we'll put up with it. The whole bleeding situation is incredible! How can it be cheaper to buy a British built car, with British spec and a better than British warranty in france or Belgium???? even after import duty and registration!
Haha...this is funny cuz i'm not getting the pointy end of the stick. Still I had a few relative over (to Canada) from Germany a while back. And they were mentioning how big a problem car theft is over there. Cars are stolen then smuggled into Poland and the Ukraine etc. Well... funny thing. Canada has one of the highest (if not THE highest) non-recovered car theft rates in the world. Huge country little policing and import/export customs inspection, weak (as in non-existant) anti-racketeering laws blabla.. They're favorite target is of course Mercedes. And what is done with the cars when they're stolen? Shipped to Poland of course. Now something is seriously messed when it's cheapper to build a car in Germany, stick it on a boat and ship it to Canada, steal it, go through the trouble of finding/stealing fake tags for it, loading it in a sea crate and shipping it back over to Poland and then selling it for a reduced price. Because obviously the buyer knows it's stolen. Cheaper then building it in Germany putting it on a truck and driving it to Poland... like um.. ***? And everyone along the way on the criminal side is marking these things up like huge $$$.