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Pros/Cons; Ordering software from US to Europe

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macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2006
577
0
Norway
Hello, I'm sorry if this has been covered plenty of times before, I tried searching and couldn't find it, so I guess there may be more than me that wonders why we shouldn't just order ie CS3 from the US, seeing that the US price is about half of what they try to charge us here.

So, the obvious pro is:
- Price

What are the cons to this?
- Customs, VAT, shipping (Would still make it cheaper)
- Registration issues?

The last thing is my main concern, is Adobe letting there US products register with a European address for example? It seems like they're trying to differentiate heavily with regard to region/price, so it seems plausible that they are in fact also enforcing their regions, has anyone tried this, or read what Adobes stance is on this?
 
a lot of things simply cannot, by law, be shipped out of the US. i've noticed this note on several items, particularly computer related items. so you might have to physically come and get it.

then you might have registration and customs problems also.
 
Cons
Definitely customs / vat / shipping.

Not the quickest way to go.


Pro
Registration should not be a problem. :)
 
Father Jack said:
Cons
Definitely customs / vat / shipping.

Not the quickest way to go.


Pro
Registration should not be a problem. :)
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say Customs & VAT is a 100% definite. Out of 100+ items I've bought from the US, ranging from $20 - $400, I've paid Customs etc once.

But the risk is there.
 
jeeze people stop trying to break your country's laws. unlike most of europe, we (as in US) dont have free higher education, nice retirement plans and national health service. where do you think that comes from? taxes on goods among things

i personally feel this issue is on par to discussing how to pirate software and personally do not think it should be encouraged or talked about here on mr. the laws are there for a reason.....
 
dukebound85 said:
jeeze people stop trying to break your country's laws. unlike most of europe, we (as in US) dont have free higher education, nice retirement plans and national health service. where do you think that comes from? taxes on goods among things

i personally feel this issue is on par to discussing how to pirate software and personally do not think it should be encouraged or talked about here on mr. the laws are there for a reason.....
Click to expand...
The taxes (VAT) in Europe are usually something like 17-22%. The added price on CS3 is almost 100%, so the high price isn't because of VAT. The prices are higher because Adobe is trying to rip us off. Besides, the OP already assumed he's most likely going to have to pay the VAT to the customs when it arrives, so we are not talking about circumventing the taxes here.
 
dukebound85 said:
jeeze people stop trying to break your country's laws. unlike most of europe, we (as in US) dont have free higher education, nice retirement plans and national health service. where do you think that comes from? taxes on goods among things

i personally feel this issue is on par to discussing how to pirate software and personally do not think it should be encouraged or talked about here on mr. the laws are there for a reason.....
Click to expand...


Adobe CS3 Master Suite is $2,499 in the USA.

In the UK it is the equivalent of $4,592.99, even including our 17.5% VAT.

That's on the way to double the cost, and it's not all tax. Even if we buy Master Suite in the US and pay for the duty/tax on import, it's still going to be over $1,000 cheaper than buying it at UK retail price.

Before you get on your high horse and start blurting out crap about it being on a par wtih pirating software, think again. The prices we pay here in the UK, for many items, are hitting the "downright unfair" realm, and there is nothing illegal about buying something in one country and importing it in to another when you're paying taxes and import duty.

Yes, we get access to health benefits and other things that the US residents don't, but does that mean we have to pay *extra* because Adobe sees fit to shaft us British?

I'm sorry, but the arguments about the increased price of many items here just don't work. We get shafted, and that's it. There's no wonder people are going elsewhere to buy things.

:mad:
 
dukebound85 said:
jeeze people stop trying to break your country's laws. unlike most of europe, we (as in US) dont have free higher education, nice retirement plans and national health service. where do you think that comes from? taxes on goods among things

i personally feel this issue is on par to discussing how to pirate software and personally do not think it should be encouraged or talked about here on mr. the laws are there for a reason.....
Click to expand...

As stated, I intend to pay customs/VAT, and when I do, the norwegian state (In my case) will get exactly what they are asking for, no laws broken, so please rethink your statement.
 
Ah so you think we pay Poll Tax/Council Tax, National Insurance for fun then? :D Our 'free' health service is anything but 'free'. As for 'free' higher education....my university fees are £3070 a year.

dukebound85 said:
jeeze people stop trying to break your country's laws. unlike most of europe, we (as in US) dont have free higher education, nice retirement plans and national health service. where do you think that comes from? taxes on goods among things

i personally feel this issue is on par to discussing how to pirate software and personally do not think it should be encouraged or talked about here on mr. the laws are there for a reason.....
Click to expand...
 
dukebound85 said:
jeeze people stop trying to break your country's laws. unlike most of europe, we (as in US) dont have free higher education, nice retirement plans and national health service. where do you think that comes from? taxes on goods among things

i personally feel this issue is on par to discussing how to pirate software and personally do not think it should be encouraged or talked about here on mr. the laws are there for a reason.....
Click to expand...

We don't get free higher education, I'm having to fork out over £3000 worth of tuition fee's per year, for a 3 year course at university. So thats just a grand shy of £10,000, not to mention living costs.

We don't get nice retirement plans either, my Nan (mums side) struggles to pay for her food every week, her pension barely covers necessities. My Nan on my Dad's side is a little better off but only because she started putting money aside from the age of 30 and now lives off the interest.

I'm not even going to comment about our NHS, it's pretty much gone to pot though.
 
Hear Hear! Why everyone seems to think the whole of the UK is sitting pretty with their phat pension schemes, free university and healthcare I don't know!

Uni is proper expensive. I'm going to be looking at £20,000+ of debt when I leave (~ $40,000!!)

xJulianx said:
We don't get free higher education, I'm having to fork out over £3000 worth of tuition fee's per year, for a 3 year course at university. So thats just a grand shy of £10,000, not to mention living costs.

We don't get nice retirement plans either, my Nan (mums side) struggles to pay for her food every week, her pension barely covers necessities. My Nan on my Dad's side is a little better off but only because she started putting money aside from the age of 30 and now lives off the interest.

I'm not even going to comment about our NHS, it's pretty much gone to pot though.
Click to expand...
 
It seems that more and more people are mistakenly mixing UK with modern European countries. :p

At least here in Finland higher education is free. No tuitions at all. You have to usually get the books yourself, though, but besides that, no costs.
 
dukebound85 said:
true good point. does anyone know why they do that then to you guys then?
Click to expand...
Most likely because they estimate their potential customers here have more purchasing power, so that overall profits will be highest with the price they set here, while the same price would probably be too high in the US, where they may go for more volume..
Microeconomics basically teaches that the best result is obtained from getting individual prices from everyone, becuase everyone has a different price they are willing to pay. That would imply a segmentation of the market with regard to price, and seeing the result, they must assume we are willing to pay more..

There is a thin line to walk though, I don't know if they have heard about globalization and the internet etc, but most people aren't that happy about being sold the same product for double price compared to their neighbour..
 
dukebound85 said:
jeeze people stop trying to break your country's laws. unlike most of europe, we (as in US) dont have free higher education, nice retirement plans and national health service. where do you think that comes from? taxes on goods among things

i personally feel this issue is on par to discussing how to pirate software and personally do not think it should be encouraged or talked about here on mr. the laws are there for a reason.....
Click to expand...

1) No one is breaking laws. If C&E decide to hold your parcel and charge you then 99% of people pay. C&E do not charge on every single parcel, it's quite random.

2) How is it on par with pirating software?
 
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