Sales Markups

[Dragon Brother 619]

Im currently in the market for a new phone seeing as my current contract is basically finished. Yet when I compare the outright purchase prices of phones to that of the same version overseas I'm disgusted. One phone that I looked at could be bought for $850-900 down here in Aus, yet costs about $550 in canada (and that is taking the exchange rate into account, they don't have the same version in the us yet, but I assume it would be as cheap). Its not just phones though, any commodity that you would be interested in buying is cheaper overseas than in Australia, and often a lot cheaper too. Technology, clothing, books the list goes on. I end up buying textbooks for uni from off the internet because I can get $150 textbooks for $30.

 

Seeing as we get so many different people from around the world Im interested to see if this holds true for others? Is it cheaper to buy overseas? Or even for those of us in the US or canada...are there things that you would find cheaper to buy from another country?

[essjayehm 58]

Hmmm... I feel your pain, DB. It has been a solid 5 years or so that Canadian currency has been at or above par... yet 80% of retail items are still 20% more expensive here as compared to the US.

 

But, still I see you are twice as expensive as us here, so I cannot complain too much!

[podgie_bear 184]

We have the same problem here in England as well. I just bought some Crocs (shoes) from an American website, paid airmail postage and import tax and they are still cheaper than buying the same pair here in England.We have worked out as a rough guide that there are $1.5o to the £1, yet the same items cost the same amount in dollars as in pounds sterling, a 50% markup and that is before tax (add at least £15 or $22.5o). It is no wonder they call this country rip-off Britain. Since my wife is American we find it cheaper for her mother to buy a lot of stuf in America and post it to us here than to buy it here, how sad is that?

[chattius 2,526]

It was often cheaper to buy german cars in USA and bring them back per ship than buying them in germany, up to 30-35%. Reason was where the car was paid: stock exchange and versions for USA had standards which had to be paid extra in germany.

[Dragon Brother 619]

Well it's nice in a way to know that its not only us down in Aus that suffer this. But its pretty dodgy, companies think they can charge whatever just because there's no simple alternative to what they offer.

[chattius 2,526]

Stuff could be even worse. There is a german village (Büsingen) mid in switzerland. The tax currency is Euro, however there are no shops in town so people have to buy (and work) in switzerland.

With the strong Franken compared to the Euro, even a monthly income stayed same for 3 years if calculated in Franken, calculated in Euro it raised by around 50%. With the progressive german tax system the people there had to pay more taxes even there income remained same. So they actually lost a big amount of income last 3 years since they have to buy in Franken currency but now with way less money after taxes.

It is close to the fact that moving to germany and have no job would result in more money from social networks than they have when living in this village and working in switzerland. So lot of people left the village last years.

[gogoblender 3,070]

Im currently in the market for a new phone seeing as my current contract is basically finished. Yet when I compare the outright purchase prices of phones to that of the same version overseas I'm disgusted. One phone that I looked at could be bought for $850-900 down here in Aus, yet costs about $550 in canada (and that is taking the exchange rate into account, they don't have the same version in the us yet, but I assume it would be as cheap). Its not just phones though, any commodity that you would be interested in buying is cheaper overseas than in Australia, and often a lot cheaper too. Technology, clothing, books the list goes on. I end up buying textbooks for uni from off the internet because I can get $150 textbooks for $30.

 

Seeing as we get so many different people from around the world Im interested to see if this holds true for others? Is it cheaper to buy overseas? Or even for those of us in the US or canada...are there things that you would find cheaper to buy from another country?

 

 

DB, how did this go, what did you end up buying? I'm actually a very almost non-existent online buyer lol. It was only recently that one of my friends showed me some of the math of online buying, comparing it to bus fare and possible returns to the store, that I finally "got" that it's possible for online purchases to be cheaper.

 

The few times we've bought online, it's been only to Canadian distributors for computer paraphernalia, I'm actually not sure about bargains in overseas.

 

 

 

gogo

[masteff 64]

any commodity that you would be interested in buying is cheaper overseas than in Australia,

(Said entirely tongue in cheek) Easy! It's transportation costs! Those phones weigh 1/2 pound each and pack several thousand to a container. I'm sure it costs easily a million dollars to transport that container from where the phones are made in SE Asia to Australia. Divide that by the number of phones in the container and voila! there's your extra $400.

 

It was often cheaper to buy german cars in USA and bring them back per ship than buying them in germany, up to 30-35%. Reason was where the car was paid: stock exchange and versions for USA had standards which had to be paid extra in germany.

That's really funny because there's a whole subindustry for people to fly to Europe to take delivery of their cars. It's because the factory doesn't have to pay the normal incentives to the dealer, so they can pass the savings to the customer. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2007/06/the-truth-about-european-delivery-programs/

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Experience/Events/EuropeanDelivery/default.aspx

[Delta! 987]

In South Africa it depends on what you are buying. Cellphones and other electronics are reasonably priced at big department stores, but still a bit more expensive than in certain other countries.

Books, are a little bit more expensive than online purchasing, about R 20 - R 50 more.

Clothing, Designer brands like Louis Vuitton, Armani, Guess, Gucci, Tommy etc, buy overseas, and bring it back. Other labels are affordable, but no where near what the masses can really afford.

Cars, there are so many brands on the market, that an average earning family can have 3 cars (if they can afford the fuel).

What is very expensive in SA is fuel and telecommunications(including internet)

 

Delta!

[FrostElfGuard 9]

Aussie $:

 

I made friends with a fellow who visited Canada from Australia. He worked at my company for a year as a traveling scholar. He'd started this world trip in Sweden (home of ABBA). He spent 6 months there working in manufacturing engineering. Then he worked with us for a year. (This was subsidized by Australian university... that way the prospective employers didn't have to pay as much... 1/2 the money (guess here) came from the Australian traveling scholar program.) So, he learned what things cost in Sweden and Canada (to compare with home, Austrlia).

 

When visiting this friend in Australia, (with an eye to re-lo) I noticed an ad in the newspaper for an engineering position. They were offering $70,000 AUS / year for someone with 2 years experience. I got very very excited for my friend. That was a lot of money! So I suggested to him to apply for that job.

 

His answer: Why would I take a paycut?

 

(I freaked out a little. He was being paid a lot!!)

 

Then he pointed out to me that cars cost more, houses cost more, petrol (we call it gas or gasoline) cost more, books cost more... etc.. Small market (roughly the same as Canada, but without a rich big attached neighbour (USA)) led to higher prices through less competition.

 

 

 

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When I traveled in Aus, I noticed that things like drop-in gym pass cost more than double Canadian, and didn't have amenities taken for granted in Canada. (Same thing in UK).

 

So: my take is that Aussies are paid more $ up front, but everything costs more $... so it kinda evens out.

[Dragon Brother 619]

DB, how did this go, what did you end up buying? I'm actually a very almost non-existent online buyer lol. It was only recently that one of my friends showed me some of the math of online buying, comparing it to bus fare and possible returns to the store, that I finally "got" that it's possible for online purchases to be cheaper.

I've kind of been doing it a little bit more recently these last few years. Cut out the middleman of a salesman (or buy from somewhere there isn't an "Australia Tax") and you can save a bit! But yes, I ended up buying it from an ebay store/person based in canada and while it wasn't as cheap as buying it outright in canada it was still $100-200 cheaper than in aus . Now I'm just waiting for a delivery in the mail some time next week!

 

any commodity that you would be interested in buying is cheaper overseas than in Australia,

(Said entirely tongue in cheek) Easy! It's transportation costs! Those phones weigh 1/2 pound each and pack several thousand to a container. I'm sure it costs easily a million dollars to transport that container from where the phones are made in SE Asia to Australia. Divide that by the number of phones in the container and voila! there's your extra $400.

Yeah....I reckon since we are closer to Asia than you guys that it should make it cheaper here!

 

Then he pointed out to me that cars cost more, houses cost more, petrol (we call it gas or gasoline) cost more, books cost more... etc.. Small market (roughly the same as Canada, but without a rich big attached neighbour (USA)) led to higher prices through less competition.

 

I think thats pretty much it. Small market = big prices. US (and canada by dint of being next door) is a large market and gets cheaper prices, even taking differing pay levels into account.