Heavy Apple Tax on International Pro Users
Out of curiosity I just worked out the differences between USA and Australian Mac prices.
I calculated out the premium Apple Australia charges Australian users above the conversion rate with the Australian GST added in.
These are the results:
iMac 20"/2.0Ghz +6%
iMac 20"/2.4Ghz +14%
iMac 24"/2.4Ghz +15%
iMac 24"/2.8Ghz +16%
Mac Pro 8 core (low) +27%
Mac Pro 8 core (hi) +32%
The difference of A$5,570 on the high end Mac Pro would easily pay for a 2 week holiday in Hawaii to pick one up there instead of in Australia. In fact you could take the family.
The interesting thing is how Apple Australia's pricing is not uniform but increasingly punishes the purchaser the more they spend.
I gather this is their particular take on the USA-Australia "Free Trade" Agreement.
Anyone want to do the same for their country?
I calculated out the premium Apple Australia charges Australian users above the conversion rate with the Australian GST added in.
These are the results:
iMac 20"/2.0Ghz +6%
iMac 20"/2.4Ghz +14%
iMac 24"/2.4Ghz +15%
iMac 24"/2.8Ghz +16%
Mac Pro 8 core (low) +27%
Mac Pro 8 core (hi) +32%
The difference of A$5,570 on the high end Mac Pro would easily pay for a 2 week holiday in Hawaii to pick one up there instead of in Australia. In fact you could take the family.
The interesting thing is how Apple Australia's pricing is not uniform but increasingly punishes the purchaser the more they spend.
I gather this is their particular take on the USA-Australia "Free Trade" Agreement.
Anyone want to do the same for their country?
Comments
The US dollar amounts are posted to save looking them up and the markup is noted after tax:
Macbook - $1099 -> +10%
Macbook Pro - $1999 -> +13%
Mini - $599 -> +15%
iMac = $1199 -> +16%
Mac Pro = $2499 -> +18%
Mac Pro 8-core = $3997 -> +15%
iphone = $399 -> +17%
ipod touch = $299 -> +16%
So UK customers are paying around a 15% premium on all the products. A 32% premium is ridiculous.
My father-in-law paid $120K US for a Jaguar V6 that would have cost $50K here.
I don't think this is an Apple issue.
Everything in Australia is expensive, which makes me think it is import duties that are the issue. My wife goes there every year, and takes presents for her friends - because a pair of scissors which is $4 here is $40 there. A few years ago she brought shower heads with her, because $80 shower heads here are $400 there, and her mother wanted them for the house.
My father-in-law paid $120K US for a Jaguar V6 that would have cost $50K here.
I don't think this is an Apple issue.
"Everything" in Australia is NOT expensive.
I'd like to know what these expensive scissors and and shower heads are as I can certainly buy cheap both here.
You were not listening.
There is a Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the USA. There are no duties on US goods. If there is a high exploitative price on some US manufactures it is because the importers such as Apple Australia are imposing them.
On the other hand the USA is still imposing high import duties and/or quotas on Australian goods such as beef and lamb. Guess we got screwed on this deal! Just like Canada and Mexico.
The only reason prices otherwise would be higher is the exchange rate, currently the A$ is equal to about 88¢ US and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 10% which is imposed on everything.
The Americans I know here enjoy Australia because wining and dining here is very cheap and exceptionally good compared with the States and we do not HAVE to tip which is a constant pain in the States, which Americans ignore when calculating the cost of things.
All of which does not explain the span of mark-ups from 6% to 32% on the high end Mac Pro.
http://www.absolutehome.com/web/cata...4CA52AAB68B4A3
I have been to Australia quite a few times, stuff is way overpriced there as a general rule (except food, which is cheaper and better than US food, particularly the mangos and sausage rolls, yum).
How much do you pay for books? Last time I was there, paperback books were minimum $12 - they are $4.99 to $6.99 in the US. Do a price check on this shower head at your local Australian retailer:
http://www.absolutehome.com/web/cata...4CA52AAB68B4A3
I have been to Australia quite a few times, stuff is way overpriced there as a general rule (except food, which is cheaper and better than US food, particularly the mangos and sausage rolls, yum).
I think you are talking like phenomena.
US goods which are not subject to duty but are expensive when imported into Australia. A book published in the USA is about double on the sticker price here when by conversion and addition of GST it should only be 26% more expensive. Something goes into transport and computer books I can get at permanent 20% discount at A&R which is designed to stop us buying via Amazon.
I did a quick search on your showerhead. Prices vary considerably with watersavers ranging from $20 up to hundreds of dollars if they are German imports. I'm surprised your USA made showerheads can be fitted here, we are metric and I am sure the threads are different. (btw They give away watersaver showerheads here for free to try and cut down water consumption).
What do you pay per lb (I'll do the metric conversion) for a good T-bone steak or lamb (raw) in the States?
Or a good bottle of Wynns Coonawarrra Cabernet Savignon? Or Billabong board shorts or Mambo shirt or RM Williams boots or an Australian made Cochlear Implant or Pacemaker? Or pharmaceuticals?
We have had a change of government here from the one that negotiated the "Free Trade" agreement and there is talk of investigating the phenomena that whilst the Australian dollar has risen 60% against the US$, imported goods from the US have not changed much in cost.
A glaring example of this exploitation is the difference Adobe charges for the Adobe CS3 Design Premium Suite. US$1799 becomes A$3205 which should be A$2259 after conversion & GST.
And it is an entirely appropriate comparison - just like Apple computers, they are designed in the US, made in China, and overpriced in Australia. Find some foreign made product that is not overpriced in Australia and I will believe that there is no hidden duty on that particular item. As far as I can see, based on the experiences of my wife's family who live there, every foreign made item cost more (some up to about double what it costs in the US).
And we get New Zealand lamb for dirt cheap at Sam's club - also Australian wine is $5 a bottle. But food is still less expensive in Australia, is is just everything else that costs more (the only thing that I can think of that costs less in Australia is the Toyota Land Cruiser, because they import the parts and assemble it there, most likely with some kind of government subsidy).
Australia is wonderful, one of my favorite countries in the world. However, prices are nowhere near US levels - either you have never shopped in the US, or you are rich enough to not notice how much you pay for stuff in Australia, particularly foreign made goods.
I doubt that those shower heads are made in the US - they are shipped from China to the US the same as they are shipped from China to Australia.
And it is an entirely appropriate comparison - just like Apple computers, they are designed in the US, made in China, and overpriced in Australia. Find some foreign made product that is not overpriced in Australia and I will believe that there is no hidden duty on that particular item. As far as I can see, based on the experiences of my wife's family who live there, every foreign made item cost more (some up to about double what it costs in the US).
And we get New Zealand lamb for dirt cheap at Sam's club - also Australian wine is $5 a bottle. But food is still less expensive in Australia, is is just everything else that costs more (the only thing that I can think of that costs less in Australia is the Toyota Land Cruiser, because they import the parts and assemble it there, most likely with some kind of government subsidy).
Australia is wonderful, one of my favorite countries in the world. However, prices are nowhere near US levels - either you have never shopped in the US, or you are rich enough to not notice how much you pay for stuff in Australia, particularly foreign made goods.
I am perfectly aware that US prices on manufactured goods are cheaper.
Australia does not "subsidise" nor are there "hidden" duties. In the few instances where Australia tried to support an industry during the growth of an export market, such as the case of Howe Leather's auto leather manufacture, the USA hypocritically took us to court and had it stopped despite the fact it does not itself comply with the World Trade Agreements.
US companies' marketing and advertising in foreign markets is subsidised by the US Congress. Your agri-business is dumping government subsidised food on the international market at an horrific pace. But both of these should be forcing prices down not up.
In all the cases you site the importing of the goods is controlled by the American parent company. I specifically know of Quark who charged distributors in Australia a wholesale price much higher than the undiscounted retail price in the USA. Our previous quisling government reinforced such practices by enforcing laws against parallel or grey marketing and copyright laws that are far more onerous than those in the States.
We understand there are some additional cost on the goods because of our smaller market and being the end of a supply chain, but how can you explain the sliding difference with Apple Australia's price gouging? Or the huge difference on the Adobe CS suite which is physically only the size of a large book and weighs considerably less and whose transport costs would be negligble?
If somebody is clever about it, they could also add in budget air flight costs and make a percentage off of Expedia, lastminute.com or something like that with people flying to New York for the weekend to buy Apple kit cheaper than at home.
I'm surprised there isn't a Dashboard Widget for comparing the prices of Apple US v the rest of the world.
If somebody is clever about it, they could also add in budget air flight costs and make a percentage off of Expedia, lastminute.com or something like that with people flying to New York for the weekend to buy Apple kit cheaper than at home.
I think that explains the tighter difference in the UK. You can just hop across the "Pond" at relatively low cost.
It also explains why Apple has such poor market penetration outside the USA. They have pursued high profits over larger sales.
In the long term I can only hope that Adobe which has grown particularly greedy gets punished by people buying and downloading over the internet where such artificial pricing is impossible.