It's been a long while since I wrote in Portuguese, so it's a bit rusty and I'm also more familiar with the Azoreano dialect (I'm from Angra do Heroismo)
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Why are Mac's so much more expensive in the UK?
- Thread starter londoner888
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It's been a long while since I wrote in Portuguese, so it's a bit rusty and I'm also more familiar with the Azoreano dialect (I'm from Angra do Heroismo)
A lot is due to tax within the UK, plus everything else mentioned with labour costs etc..
The thing is in the UK we pay a lot of tax but we actually get a lot from it without thinking about it. NHS (FREE healthcare!), A very good infrastructure - okay some roads aren't amazing but it's there and works well. Need I go on...
Think about all the things our tax actually pays as in US for example no free healthcare where I believe one stitch can cost $40++!
The thing is in the UK we pay a lot of tax but we actually get a lot from it without thinking about it. NHS (FREE healthcare!), A very good infrastructure - okay some roads aren't amazing but it's there and works well. Need I go on...
Think about all the things our tax actually pays as in US for example no free healthcare where I believe one stitch can cost $40++!
if someone gave me the extra money i spent on all my
Why are Mac's so much more expensive in the UK?
Interesting. It's a really bad thing, it is such a beautiful country ran by idiots. Considering emigrating myself.
Never been to Açores (Azores) though, but I want to visit the islands some day
Interesting. It's a really bad thing, it is such a beautiful country ran by idiots. Considering emigrating myself.
Never been to Açores (Azores) though, but I want to visit the islands some day
I hope you don't regret of saying this one day
Why are Mac's so much more expensive in the UK?
I couldn't complain as an downhill mountain biker I've made use of the NHS a lot with many times needed stitches from splitting stuff open and having completely broke my arm in the past both bones and needing a metal plate and screws (2 operations to put it in, and remove the following year) I've made full use of the free healthcare
Plus it's always good to have it available all the time to use with no fee and we do have a really good infrastructure compared to some countries!
I couldn't complain as an downhill mountain biker I've made use of the NHS a lot with many times needed stitches from splitting stuff open and having completely broke my arm in the past both bones and needing a metal plate and screws (2 operations to put it in, and remove the following year) I've made full use of the free healthcare
Plus it's always good to have it available all the time to use with no fee and we do have a really good infrastructure compared to some countries!
It's cheaper to buy a German car in Germany than it is Spain or much of the EU to be honest, it's about equal between Germany and the UK for German cars and Austria is cheaper for the less expensive German autos but still generally German cars cost more outside of Germany than within.
I recently bought my new Macbook Pro retina, I wanted to very top tier model with upgraded CPU and 1Tb SSD. Heres what I worked out...
UK Price £2,799.00
Japan Price ￥338,799 (£1,969.18)
Total saving = £829
Plane ticket to Tokyo £550
It was cheaper to fly London to Japan, nip to the Apple store in Tokyo, fly back and still save money... so thats exactly what I did!
UK Price £2,799.00
Japan Price ￥338,799 (£1,969.18)
Total saving = £829
Plane ticket to Tokyo £550
It was cheaper to fly London to Japan, nip to the Apple store in Tokyo, fly back and still save money... so thats exactly what I did!
To be honest, it's not bad. Over here in Poland VAT on notebooks is 23%. 17,5% is nothing..
You can always order your MBP in USA. It's still cheaper and warranty is worldwide.
Would you say Switzerland practices good politics? Well, it's perhaps good for its own benefit, but not to the world. As a fiscal paradise, most of the stolen money from politicians and corporations around the world is deposited in swiss banks. It's like becoming reach by keeping money from the thieves. But, I agree, the swiss democracy is pretty good for its citizens.
By the way, a lot of money stolen by politicians and corporations from Brazil is diverted to swiss banks. So, I think I'm kind of a benefactor of Switzerland's social welfare.
Returning to Macbooks, a 16GB/512GB/2.3GHz 15" rMBP costs around USD 4600,00 here. We have around 71% in taxes, but part of its high price is caused by protection from exchange rate volatility and this protection usually favours Apple by a high margin.
I get so mad when I hear about how other countries screw people over with those bs VATs. If only we could give you some guns to take care of the problem.
Can you have someone buy you a product in USA or Asia and then ship to you as a personal item, or do you have to pay VAT on everything?
Can you have someone buy you a product in USA or Asia and then ship to you as a personal item, or do you have to pay VAT on everything?
I recently bought my new Macbook Pro retina, I wanted to very top tier model with upgraded CPU and 1Tb SSD. Heres what I worked out...
UK Price £2,799.00
Japan Price ￥338,799 (£1,969.18)
Total saving = £829
Plane ticket to Tokyo £550
It was cheaper to fly London to Japan, nip to the Apple store in Tokyo, fly back and still save money... so thats exactly what I did!
What about eating and sleeping? Still you had a little holiday/adventure
What is the customs position with laptops coming into the UK? Did you have to pay import duty or VAT?
There is currently a refurb with your spec in the Apple UK store for £2399 been there for the last few weeks...I ordered it once and cancelled.
I've stayed in Hostels all over Taiwan, and a few in Japan. You only pay about £10-15 a night for a comfy bed and shower in the morning (Taiwan's hostels are exceptionally good). Japan and Taiwan are the safest countries in the world so don't really have to worry about security. (I could leave my wallet on a table in Starbucks, come back half hour later and it will still be there!)
Food in Japan is the best in the world and cheap as chips...
No import duty (not even sure if you have to?), I just shipped the boxes back to myself and put my new kit in my hand luggage. Who's to say I didn't take it with me?
Addendum:
Oh, and I completely forgot to mention... if you take your passport to the Apple store they will also discount the VAT for you. So that was a very cheap MBP and iPad Air for me
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If the package is sent as a gift, they might not check its contents on the border (although they can). Therefore you may end up not paying one cent of tax.
Addendum:
Oh, and I completely forgot to mention... if you take your passport to the Apple store they will also discount the VAT for you. So that was a very cheap MBP and iPad Air for me
This is the important part here people. If you miss this part you pay local taxes. By doing what this user has done they assume you'll pay vat and duty on your return but without boxes you don't need to
Old thread, but in updating my original post, only in Hong Kong is the price the same as the US because the HKD is pegged to the USD and there is no tax in HK.
And Macs like are like 20% more in China than the US despite it all being made here.
And Macs like are like 20% more in China than the US despite it all being made here.
The cheapest place to buy a BMW in the world is.... the United States! Cheaper than Germany even. The same car in Canada is about 15-20% more expensive than the U.S.
The U.S. loses on wireless phone plans though. We have some of the highest, most ridiculous rates in the world. I'm guessing one factor is the huge capital cost it takes to install the cell towers and backend equipment across the U.S. Think hundreds of millions of dollars.
BMW and Benz have assembly plants in the southern US (German labor got too expensive in Germany
).They still get you on the parts though.
/Acura 4 life.
While that may be true for US sales only, if one were to export a US model, it'd end up costing more after import duty and other taxes are taken into account, the taxes are the issue when it comes to pricing otherwise cars are equally priced.
As Praxis states, BMW have plants in the US, making it slightly cheaper but not by much.
I've had a lot of friends buy Laptops aboard and bring them back too the UK without an issues. My gf visits family in the US ever year so I normally get a few things while shes theres.
But you tend to get US keyboards with laptops so its something to keep in mind.
On top of taxes Brazil has crazy import tariff's on pretty much all electronics.
Here in Finland we have something similar for cars even when it can't be motivated by protectionism as we don't really have much of a car industry ourselves (a lorry maker called Sisu and Valmet who manufactures cars for other companies). It was originally supposed to be to keep money in the country during the post WW2 rebuilding period, but when the country had recovered brought in so much money that the government couldn't afford to remove it anymore.
That's not because of labor costs in Germany (while being more expensive, German labor is more productive and skilled than U.S labor), but because the U.S introduced protectionist policies in the 80's to protect their domestic car industry and basically force foreign carmakers to start manufacturing their U.S market cars there.BMW and Benz have assembly plants in the southern US (German labor got too expensive in Germany
If it really made sense for cars to be made in the U.S even without the tariffs non-US car makers would be exporting cars made in the U.S, but in reality they make the cars they export to other markets in their non-US factories. When you want cheap labor, you don't go to the U.S, you go to places like South America (where Mercedes has a lot of factories) or Asia.
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