Rant about £=$

DeadlySmurf

DeadlySmurf

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,017
Name
David
Edit My Images
Yes
I have been looking for a new router and over the weekend decided on the D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N, its a nice beefy bit of kit that will go in my network nicely. :thumbs:
Time for the rant after having a poke around online at the weekend i found a fiew places that sold it all for around £120, then a like from amazon, humm i might as well take a look, turned out it was the .com and not co.uk and it was there for $114.
Link to .com:
http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DIR-655-Extreme-Wireless-Router/dp/B000LIFB7S

and .co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Link-Xtre...5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1212393470&sr=8-5

:cuckoo:
now my job is a IT Buyer for a verry large IT company so i will be getting it off one of my suppliers for a hell of a lot less than that but DAM thats just silly :bang::suspect:
im getting fed up with this country :shrug:
 
I agree, it is completely wrong. I'm in the bad position of working for a yank company. Its really difficult to get a pay raise as the exchange rate is so bad and they will be spending too many USD's on us. It sucks.
 
I think that DeadlySmurf was ranting because the exchange rate is so GOOD at the moment, you would of expected to pay around £80 (roughly $150) for something thats only $114 in the US.

I agree with him another case of a company ripping of the UK cos they know us suckers will pay it.
 
Yes, it's very annoying that we are ripped off like that. I recently had to buy some Canadian text books for my exams which were about £80 on Amazon.co.uk and $87 on Amazon.com. The thing that annoyed me even more is that they won't let you order from the .com site :annoyed: Thankfully I won't have this problem for much longer though ;)
 
i hear all these stories about companys ripping us off because they think we are suckers, but its nonsense tbh.

things cost more in this country for 2 main reasons.
1) Rent, Land and Property prices are ridiculous. Companies have to pay to store their goods, shops have to pay rent.
2) Fuel costs are ridiculous. Companies have to pay to transport their goods to their customers.

Those two costs are much much less in the US so they can afford to sell their stuff cheaper.
 
Last edited:
What really bugs me about this is that they won't sell to the UK :bang: Why not?
 
trading laws prevent .com selling to .co.uk region, my company has deals that restrict some products in some regions. Also dont forget that the currancy market is fluid, in 2 months it could be the other way round, retailers would never be able to keep up with the changes
 
badgerbaiter said:
i hear all these stories about companys ripping us off because they think we are suckers, but its nonsense tbh.

things cost more in this country for 2 main reasons.
1) Rent, Land and Property prices are ridiculous. Companies have to pay to store their goods, shops have to pay rent.
2) Fuel costs are ridiculous. Companies have to pay to transport their goods to their customers.

Those two costs are much much less in the US so they can afford to sell their stuff cheaper.
Click to expand...

Those are factors, but only minor ones. Like most products, there's no way that router was made in the US, nor the UK. It was made in China, Taiwan, Indonesia or other SE Asian nation, under their cost structure. Then it will be only a tiny additional part of the cost will be added for stocking etc.

Market concentration in the UK will play a part in higher retail costs, but main reasons are a) why charge lower when you don't need to?, b) smaller market, meaning profit per unit needs to be higher to cover costs, and c) much higher cumulative taxation (not only VAT, but the tax burden throughout the retail and distribution chain is far higher than the US).

There's no tax on aviation or shipping fuel, so shipping costs from the country that actually made the item are pretty much the same whether going to US or UK.
 
yes but you've still got to get it from the port to the shop. Eddie Stobart (or whoever) is going to charge you much more than a US company, because he has to pay a fortune in Diesel and road tax. He also has to pay a fortune to store his trucks, house his admin team, etc etc. And then PC World has to pay rent etc etc.
 
badgerbaiter said:
yes but you've still got to get it from the port to the shop. Eddie Stobart (or whoever) is going to charge you much more than a US company, because he has to pay a fortune in Diesel and road tax. He also has to pay a fortune to store his trucks, house his admin team, etc etc. And then PC World has to pay rent etc etc.
Click to expand...

My job involves a high level of import/export, involving stocking and delivering in the UK, and across Europe. Hence my comment that shipping/storage etc will be a small percentage of the costs.

If people do believe UK retail and rents are the issue, buy from HK or when travelling. That reduces the money which can flow to rents, thereby forcing prices down. Or lobby for a change in the law to apply taxation based upon land ownership, which will incentivise less concentrated ownership.

There's things we can do, but most people seem to prefer to pay the money. :shrug:
 
How about we celebrate that we don't pay crazy South African prices (for example!) The whole premise to this kinda guff is that an item has one true universal 'price' and so 'we' are getting 'ripped off' compared to someone els. That is not so. As Moadid points out there are many costs involved in getting an item to each person and clearly they will vary according to where in the world we each live. It is also true that by intelligent shopping around item by item and making use of cashback web sites it is often possible to get close to US prices. I did it a few weeks ago for three lenses I was after. So Badgerbaiter is right - to lazy to think it through and too lazy to shop around ;-)
 
Another thing to keep in mind is the earnings ratio. An american earning $20k a year is no better or worse of than a brit earning £20k a year. Yes it truly sucks to see what we think are amazingly cheap prices in America but they are seen that way because of the exchange rate, not a like for like cost of living rate. Having lived there for a few years I can tell you now that spending $1000 on a laptop impacted on me as much as spending £1000 here would have done.

There's also a huge difference in consumer protection laws there. An example would be here we have statuatory 1 year return to retailer no questions asked. There you are unlikely to get more than 3 months return to retailer. After that you have to deal with the manufacturer (hence all those registration cards we see). That has to have an impact on the retailers overheads I would have thought?

Shopping around is always the best policy!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top