Robbing us apple fans!

[iwhat]

I believe that apple must make sure that where ever their products are shipping they themselves arent being blamed for cut throat prices for their products. In our country apple has some vague authorized sellers and many of them are very frustrate and greedy idiots. I was checking out the latest stock of iPad Bluetooth keyboards and cases and I was almost fainted! The price tag for keyboard read 240USD(equivalent of local currency) and cases are of 180USD(equivalent of local currency) each!! The sales dude claimed that these are the official prices set by apple from USA!! It pains me sometimes thinking that I was not born in some US family.

Thanks

 

[Digikid]

Wow that guy is robbing you blind. Next time you see him bring along your ipad with the Apple US site on the screen. See what he says to that.

 

[Superbike81]

International exchange rates can sometimes be very bad.

What is your local currency?

 

[col.bris]

Apple does set prices from authorized apple resellers and apple stores. The only variation on that would be special promo's on run out computers or other products.
First one cannot do a direct comparison Apple store to Apple store as for example sales tax is not included in USA where as in Australia at least local GST is. The only way to start is work out the pretax price as a starting point at each apple store. For example a Bluetooth keyboard in Australia retails for $99. In us on the web site it is $69. If one then factors in the sales tax plus import duty into Australia and variations such as shipping costs etc and exchange rate one is pretty close to the same. The IPad entry. Level in Australia sells for $629 and the US price $499 (Apple store USA ). Again once you factor in the sales tax, import duty, shipping costs, exchange rate it is very close. Currently the exchange rate is 1 to 1 in Australia. When the prices were set it was about .86 cents on the dollar. Apple has not adjusted prices yet as they work in a 6 month cycle on recommended prices however in saying that it appears they are passing on a discount to retailers or Authorized dealers as discounts were offered during the Xmas period. The margins on IPads and iPods, iMacs and MacBooks are 5% pro series MacBook pro, Macpro is around 8% accessories are 15% up to 20% so there is not a lot to play with. All Apple products are manufactured off shore from Australia with most products coming from the Singapore or China factories.
I personally do not understand the OP numbers unless he is in a country that has a real bad exchange rate if so he has no choice as not only will the Apple products be much much higher but so will all products from USA

I too ask what country the OP lives in as that is the answer to the question as either they have a very bad exchange rate and or excessive import duty on any products.

 

[iwhat]

Nah,not really any bad exchange rate or anything,infact the gray market sales the keyboards at 70USD each and the cases as usual 56USD. There are no Apple shops here,just regular digital product sellers got contract with apple to import stuff officially. I actually got the word out of one of those dumb sales dude later who seems to be living in our neighborhood.

I don't know about tax and vat but the general rule is digital stuff including computers are sold a for a few extra bucks than their official prices. The real thing is since these shops aren't the real apple sellers just the contracted ones they set their own tags according to the dumb dude. They import each keyboard at 65USD(vat and everything included) in mass shipping which is far cheaper and then apply the new tags as according to the manager of the shop "people who are buying apple products are people with bag load of cash and head void of brains". According to him they make almost 40% of their easy profit from Apple and HP products followed by AMD and Sony. He kind of literally begged me not to let the shop guys know that he told me these else he is fired. I once decided to let the police know all this but damn I didn't want this dude to go fired and honestly I cant do much about it as the customers seem to be quite happy with the prices and no complaints at all.

I believe we really need the Apple shops here instead of contracted traders who are literally ripping us off. Apple would actually make some good profit as we have a whole load of expensive product fans who frequently upgrade to the latest products as they are released unofficially or officially,but then again who am I to say all these?

 

[xune]

Which country are you referring to btw? I confirmed via weblink provided by Peled, that in Israel, the iPad and accessories don't go for all that much more than they do in the US, and Israel has some of the higher import tariffs amongst the countries I've traveled to. With the prices you're quoting, it doesn't make sense that the folks in the country you're in wouldn't just purchase it from an authorized retailer in another neighboring country. In today's global economy and internet connected world, I find it strange that this man can get away with charging as much as he does, with iPad buyers none the wiser.

 

[laappla]

Very often you see that prices for Apple products are numbred the same in the US and Europe. Even so its not the same currency and makes the Europe price higher. That sucks.

 

[iwhat]

I'm from Bangladesh,Asia. Our Internet here is still in stone age of 1Mbps(not 1MB/s) speed limit and that too is the most expensive one. 3G is still yet to come within a few years(I hope). People here aren't very much fan of buying stuff online and shipping in. Many online shops we have prefer pay-in-person method. I actually got my iPad from US though,with little extra cost than official price but not as much these guys here are selling for in our country so it was cheaper for me. Buying stuff from neighbor countries is pretty risky according to the local folks as those goods might never arrive at our door steps. And as usual you don't get any warranty or guarantee with any electronic device in our country except for authorized nokia cellphones,cheap models of cellphones from other brands and home appliances like TV,Microwave Oven etc.

Thanks for your response

 

[tzimisce]

Last year I did a price comparison of Apple products in different countries because I was going to be in those countries, and wanted to find out which was the best place to get stuff. For instance, for the 13' MacBook Air, the prices (this was early Dec 2010) came to:

Australia -- AUD$1949 = USD$2046
Singapore -- SGD$2388 = USD$1857
Hong Kong -- HKD$12488 = USD$1615
USA -- $1605

These prices are from the respective Apple online stores for each country, which includes free shipping and any sales taxes where applicable, and you can see it's not a trivial difference.

Generally, in Australia, there are many things if you bought them off-the-shelf in a traditional shop have a huge markup than if you bought them online from an overseas vendor, even with shipping costs added in. It has reached a point where local major retailers have been complaining and asking the government to scrap the $1000 GST threshold for imported goods, claiming they were being disadvantaged, and they even took out ads in the newspaper to that effect -- Abandoned retailers try Boxing Day ploy | News.com.au

That's one reason I bought my TwelveSouth Compass from a US vendor rather than the Australian Apple shop (or indeed any Australian seller), and paid a third less for it.
The fact of the matter is, if local retailers sell things with a huge markup, your Internet-saavy shopper will find elsewhere to buy more cheaply.

 

[col.bris]

The us site does not include sales tax also on a Mac book pro the dealer cost is 8% and that is it

 

[tzimisce]

State sales tax in Oregon (one of the places I visited) is nil.

It's not just Apple products, either. To give another example - the Antler suitcase, model Novanta Medium. At antler.co.uk, at normal price it sells for £95, or about AUD$152. At luggagegear.com.au in Australia as well as Myers, the same bag goes for AUD$185, or 22% more than the UK - and that's after a supposed "35% discount".

Or how about IKEA's "Markus" office chair, which sells for $399 here in Australia. In the US, the same chair sells for US$199 (half the price!) and in the UK, £117, which is less than half the price of the equivalent in AUD (£117 = AUD$188).

It definitely pays to do some price research and figure out what's worth paying for and where's the best way to get the item you want.