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Cost of Apple products in the UK.

H

Heltik

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Am I the only Brit who is getting frustrated by the cost of Apple products in the UK?

I was looking at the New G5, which costs Americans about $3000. With the current exchange rates, one would expect the price in the UK to be around £1785. But it isn't. In fact, the price is £2299.

I appreciate that this might not be Apple's fault with the taxes in the UK, but surely Americans pay taxes too?

Further more, it cannot be argued that there is a cost in shipping from the States. Apple products, as far as I understand, are shipped to the States as well.

How would Americans view the value of these products if they cost them an extra $650 - $700?
 
I quite agree. The price of Apple kit over here is deeply concerning - both at the professional and consumer levels. How Apple can even think about holding onto their already miniscule market share here - never mind increasing it - is beyond me.

I am unfortunately increasingly of the opinion that the only markets Apple actually cares about are the US and Japan...
 
You are right, the prices are steep over here in the UK.

Americans do pay sales tax on products, and that tax isn't included on prices advertised for consumer goods - that's different to the UK where the VAT is normally included. The actual rate varies from state to state - the only one I know off-hand is California which is 8.5% (which I think is considered high).

Even still, if you work it out we STILL pay more. That Dual 2GHz would cost around $3525 if tax were added at the UK's rate (17.5%), and that works out at £2099 - still two hundred pounds LESS than the official UK price.

Ouch.

Neil.
a.k.a. Arnel
 
Whilst it's true that in the UK Apple gear costs more than in the US it's also true that it's not that we're picked out for special treatment. It costs more in the Eurozone countries and in Australasia as well. Most things are cheaper in the US anyway so Apple is just milking the rest of the world whilst offering preferential rates to the US just like everyone else (Dell for example). Just because everyone else does it doesn't make it right though 🙁
 
There may also be various tariffs that either goverment imposes on the sale of American electronics in Britain.

Gotta love that foreign exchange policy!

Alia
 
Ouch, 17.5%. That would leave a dent in my wallet.

I think that it depends where you buy it though. I live in Ohio and the sales tax here is 6.25%. But if i drive to Michigan and bought a G5 it would be cheaper, because they have an even lower sales tax. (can't remember what it is)

What would the price come out to be if you bought it off of Apples web site and had it shipped to the UK i wonder?
 
Originally posted by alia
There may also be various tariffs that either goverment imposes on the sale of American electronics in Britain.

Gotta love that foreign exchange policy!

Alia
Click to expand...
Mostly Apples stuff isn't American-made. My ibook was made in Taiwan and my MDD powermac was assembled in Ireland. The powermac is definately exempt from import duty as it's in the EU. It would have still cost more than the same machine in the US...I checked.

Sweetfeld28: Amazingly 17.5% is one of the lower sales tax rates in the EU.
 
My original iMac was manufactured in Cork, the second in the Czech republic. I think most of the laptops are made by contract equipment manufacturers in the far east.

Hopefully I will be able to pick up a cheap(er) iPod when I visit the states later this year...
 
The problem about prices is not just bound to Apple, Dell computers are also cheaper in the US. However the actual costs of PC componants are not that much different in the UK compared to the US. However the main problem is not the US/UK price difference, but the cost of Apple hardware. In the windows would we can get a cheap/fast, but ungly looking PC, or is we want we can get a sony PC that looks good, but is more expensive. However, Apple only do expensive good looking Macs, the non-pro models are not fast enough for anything other than office/internet. What we need are cheap macs in a plastic case and a G5 chip. Apples G5 case alone costs around $150 more to make than a normal plastic dell case. I don't really care what my computer looks like as long as it gets the job done, since it is more a tool than anything else.
 
Originally posted by Interiority
My original iMac was manufactured in Cork, the second in the Czech republic. I think most of the laptops are made by contract equipment manufacturers in the far east.

Hopefully I will be able to pick up a cheap(er) iPod when I visit the states later this year...
Click to expand...

But you don't get an warranty with it because it is only valid in the US. Apple seems to be one of the only computer companies not to do international warranties on portable hardware.
 
You're forgetting the "I'm British but I'm buying stuff originally priced in dollars" rule: £1=$1. I think we got off lightly.

Maybe the UK should invade Apple, on the premise that they're building supercomputers there - I'm sure Alistair Campbell could find some project on the internet written by some student explaining this and then plagiarise it and exaggerate parts of it.🙄
 
Originally posted by hvfsl
But you don't get an warranty with it because it is only valid in the US. Apple seems to be one of the only computer companies not to do international warranties on portable hardware.
Click to expand...

Well my powerbook has an international warrenty, wherever in thw world it breaks down it gets fixed, I dunno bout the iPod. Importing from the US isn't an option because we would get charged 17.5% VAT when it arrived at customs in the UK and Customs Tax as well, which I'm not sure how much it is. THen theres shipping....
 
hey i live in canada and the prices are way too high as well.
when apple dropped the prices on the powerbooks they also adjusted the prices for inflation. which led to a significant drop. as an example- on the 12 inch powerbook. the 200 US drop was changed to 650CDN
per the rate the drop should have only been around 275CDN or so..but they had to fix the prices for the change in the exchange rate.
they ddidnt care about the differences for the other products though. including the G5.

Unfortunately for reasons unknown to me apples foreign prices are for the most part not equivalent to their us prices.
also, i do not know how the other computer makers prices compare to their US prices.
oh well
 
there was another thread about this a while back. i think its strange how different machines cost different ammounts in different countries, eg, an ibook might be cheeper in canada, while the emac costs more than in the US (hypothetical). they are different markets, people have different buying habbits.

think different 😉
 
Originally posted by Mac til death
10% sales tax in Tennessee.... 🙁
Click to expand...

Atleast it's easy to figure out tax before hand...

over in WA its 8.8%, but it varies county to county i believe.
 
Applecare is crap here too, they have 48 hour turnaround in the US, it took them 3 weeks to pick my PBook up.😡
 
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