USA -vs- U.K. ($ -vs- £)

[Cucumber]

USA vs U.K.

A little bit off subject
OK i live in the UK, and seeing as i am going to San Francisco in 3 weeks i thought i would look at some of the PC prices in the USA! So i went onto Compusa and found that prices in the UK are usually about 50% higher than in the USA!!

For example:
-GeForce4 Ti.4600 USA$399 (£258), UK£350 (Around $460)
-24x CDRW - in Compusa for $50!!! There more than £50 in the UK
-Athlon XP2000+ $255(£179), UK£243($345)

It kinda takes the.....
I want to know why there is so much difference in price??

Any Comments?

 

[svtcobra]

I am taking a stab in the dark here but I would have to say that there is such a price difference because the supply for these products may be lower in the UK.

It may also be from the currency conversion. The worthiness of 1 US dollar is different and therefore the price is relative to worthiness of 1 Pound. If 1 Pound was worth more than your cost would be lower after the conversion. I think for the most part prices are subjective to the countries economy, cost of living and the value of their money.

 

[TS | Thomas]

Yeah, all about supply & demand.
They usually do differentiate the prices of products per market though, another thing is the shipping.

 

[uncleel]

How are Currency Exchange Rates determined? It's determined by the Foreign Exchange Market on the basis of supply & demand of US dollars in the International Currency Market.
How do the FX (est. 1971) arrive @ these figures? I don't know specifically.
today's rate: ­£1 = $ 1.41942

 

[Arris]

Plus most of the products will be from Asia and USA in the first place, so the shipping costs probably add a little to the price as well. This is just like cars, we in the UK have been overcharged for years... you can could even go to anywhere in the rest of Europe and get cars cheaper than in the UK.... How do Euro prices compare with pound prices????

 

[Ai Hate]

Originally posted by Arris
This is just like cars, we in the UK have been overcharged for years... you can could even go to anywhere in the rest of Europe and get cars cheaper than in the UK....

hmm.. really? how come? i thought it (the price) should be quite the same for all countries in the same region...

 

[Arris]

Originally posted by Ai Hate

hmm.. really? how come? i thought it (the price) should be quite the same for all countries in the same region...

This is sort of going off topic but
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1451000/1451560.stm

From news.bbc.co.uk July 21st 2001 :

In the worst case scenario, certain cars are 60% more expensive in the UK than elsewhere.

Price differential compared to UK (pre-tax, May 2001)
Fiat Bravo £3,806 cheaper in Denmark
Ford Focus Ghia £5,250 cheaper in Belgium
Megane Scenic £4,300 cheaper in Holland

The pre-tax price of a Fiat Marea
-----------------------------------------
£9,197 in the UK
£5,752 in Greece
£5,583 in Denmark

The situation has improved since the british government stepped in and told the industry that they must do something about the inflated prices...

I don't know if computer hardware prices are inflated, but I do know that in general everything seems to be cheaper in the US

 

[hdmk]

Another example of reip-off Britain..

Again, the UK is ripped off.

Playstation 2 [when first released]

£299
$299

Convert the $ into £ and you see the difference.

XBOX

£299
$299 about (£240)

Same with so much more...