Scally wrote:Hi all,
I was just looking online and the best price I can see in the UK is £749 marked down from £799, that's $970.
I can get one on eBay in dollars for less than that including a huge $90 delivery.
Why so expensive over here?
Al.
Hi Al,
I keep looking at your price of GBP 749.00 and it surprisingly out of proportion to what I paid in USA and what the cost is in Germany.
Yesterday's exchange rates were as follows:
GBP 1 = USD 1.29306
Euro 1 = USD 1.12086
GBP 1 = EURO 1.15351
I paid for mine including delivery to my home $604.00 ($599.00 + $5.00 shipping) So here are the costs for USA, Germany and UK:
USA Cost = USD 604.00 = GBP 467.11 = Euro 538.87
Topschach.de = Euro 598.00 = GBP 518.42 = $670.27
UK Price = GBP 749.00 = Euro 863.98 = $968.50
(Typically in the USA the price is likely to go up by $100.00 as the importer likes to give a good early order price but then increase it later).
UK VAT = 20% (included in price)
Germany VAT (Mwst) = 19% (included in price)
USA Sales Tax (VAT) = 10% (Generally but varies from state to state). However most states if you order Online on the internet the sales tax is 0%. In a few states you have to pay the sales tax but most are 0%. Alabama for example is 0%. If I buy in a store I would pay 10% in total which is typically comprised from 3 taxes combined which are State Tax + County Tax and City Tax = 10%. This can vary by state and county and city, but typically in total varies somewhere between 8% to 12%.
Therefore buying the computer in the USA seems to have been the best deal especially since in most states you don't pay tax when you buy online:
USA = 0% Germany = +10.97% UK = +60.35%
As you can see buying in Germany the computer cost 10.97% more than I paid. However technically the computer itself is cheaper in Germany since the 19% sales is probably included in the price. The customer however because of the tax has to pay more.
In the UK where the cost is 60.35% higher (but with 20% VAT included in the price), I can only assume that:
1) The UK Distributor had to pay more than the USA Distributor or Topschach.de
2) The UK Distributor runs his business with a much higher profit margin
Best regards