Looking at the website for Adobe illustrator , I just happened to notice that it was £1051 in the UK, but $1199 from the US!
Computer guys may live in ivory towers, but I'm sure they're still aware of the exchange rate!
Any reason for this apparent rip off, and is it a common thing?
2006-09-08 16:59:55 · 8 answers · asked by richy 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
duties/tax can't possibly cover the entire difference (I thought the US was supposed to be a low tax economy?!) the british price works out at about $1968.00.
2006-09-08 17:23:52 · update #1
it is part of marketing. Pricing is one major factor.
Pricing depends upon Market, marketsize, demand, supply, competition, cost and profit, purchasing power, taxation etc etc etc. so many factors.
2006-09-09 06:11:44 · answer #1 · answered by gulludada 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its all a question of what the consumer is willing to pay. Certain things have changed slightly though, due to people being more aware of prices elsewhere. For example. the price of computer games is about the same for the US and UK these days. I'm sure other things will equal out as more and more people get on the net and become aware of the current differences. I guess the exceptions would be things like cars, as they cant easily be moved between countries by people looking for the best deal.
2006-09-08 17:09:13 · answer #2 · answered by Goffik 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the simple answer is v.a.t(value added tax),the goverment takes a massive percentage of everything sold in the uk,at the present it is 17.5% vat on all purchases
america has a much lower vat rate than in the u.k and that is the main reason why there is such a price difference,however you dont have to travel far to take advantage of easier vat laws
france,guernsey,and the ilse of mann all have much more relaxed vat rules so you can travel to these areas and buy computers,games and software,however you still need to declare these,but its still a good idea if you need a laptop or memory
2006-09-09 03:20:59 · answer #3 · answered by brianthesnail123 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hello Richy,
I believe that there are duty charges for shipping American software to the UK. Perhaps there are some comparable software coded in the European Community that you can try. Probably not in the case of Illustrator.
Best of luck to you.
--Rick
2006-09-08 17:15:27 · answer #4 · answered by rickrudge 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People in the UK WILL still buy it - same thing with cars, same numbers just change the currency symbol.
2006-09-08 17:04:21 · answer #5 · answered by dryheatdave 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because UK is one big rip off and overcharged
2006-09-08 18:22:29 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Shipping and export taxes....
2006-09-08 17:06:54 · answer #7 · answered by Mr Cellophane 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because US is robbing us.
2006-09-10 04:38:49 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋