I hate this. It’s not just amazon of course, they do however send me e-mail advertising from both their German and British sites. If I (say) receive an e-mail advertising something I’ve been after for a while from amazon.de: an iPod-type-thingie which doesn’t have a (delicate) hard drive in it and has the bonus of only being €59.00, together with postage and packing (within Germany), I will see how much it is on the UK site: £59.99. Why? It’s an identical product, there’s not even a different plug or somesuch that can add to costs. Can the only reason be that British customers are prepared to pay 40+% more? The price difference is more than enough to cover the cost of flying to Germany and picking it up there. Now, I just need to find some other bargain to purchase in order to “pay” for the return leg
Edit: Typical. As soon as I link, the price at amazon.de goes up to €62. But it was €59. It was, honest. And €62 is still only £41.60. It could be worse though (in oh, so many ways), I could live in France….
Song playing as this was published: Sarah Harmer - “I Am Aglow“
Try it at Amazon.com. They seem to have the same player for two different prices. I’ll take the cheaper one thanks you. SanDisk Sansa c150 2 GB MP3 Player (Black) by SanDisk versus SanDisk Sansa C150 2GB Black MP3 Player. Looks like only one can be shipped within the US and the other is allowed for export. Hmm
Er… I was just about to make the roast chicken comment when on the third reading I noticed it didn’t actually say what I’d read.
Anyway, I’m sure I know where I can find you a better [range of] price[s]. If you want arbitary mark-ups on electrical goods, try Tottenham Court Road; for a datastick I got from Amazon for £19 (including irritating postage), I was quoted anywhere between £27 and £75. Now if you bear in mind it’s the sort of thing pharamceutical companies bung out as freebies (well, if you’ve already paid them a lot of money), I’m beginning to realise there might be some difference between price and value.
Still it’s good to know that the unifying force of the Euro has worked so well at aligning prices in France and Germany.
And is everyone flying out of the country at the end of October?
Well, based on a sample of two. Are you coming back?
820: Thanks. I must admit I wasn’t necessarily after that particular model, it’s just that amazon.de did e-mail with one of those, “As someone who has previously purchased an iPod a year and a day ago, you’ll need a replacement now” emails. And it didn’t sound bad - 2GB of flash memory, a colour screen, built-in radio and it takes normal batteries, rather than the iPod’s non exchangable thing and only €59, i.e. £40 (or so I thought) - I looked it up at the amazon.co.uk site, because at the German price it is a bargain, I’d have had it as a stop-gap thing, even if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted.
Incidentally, iPod’s are very, very nice, if anyone would like to buy a USB—>iPod connecting cable (hardly used, still boxed, no less) and an international iPod charger with 4 interchangable plugs for just about anywhere in the world, just say…
Where were we? Oh yes, price differences. I’m sure that EU single market regulation means that amazon.de would have to ship it anywhere within the EU, it’s just that national sites charge what they can get away with in that language.
Anyhoo: You’re going to be the only person in the UK on Nov 1st, you know….
As for the Euro, well I’m sure amazon.fr and amazon.de have to ship to the other country, but of course the customers have to be able to read the other language and have the idea that amazon’s prices might vary that much on different banks of the Rhine in the first place….
Re: I’m sure that EU single market regulation…
Here is what amazon.de states for the product in question: “Versand: Dieser Artikel kann nur in folgende Länder verschickt werden: Deutschland, Österreich.” And here is what amazon.fr says (not that anyone would want to pay their price): “Expédition : cet article peut être expédié uniquement en France métropolitaine et à Monaco.” So there doesn’t seem to be any legal basis that would require them to ship to any EU country. Why amazon would limit shipping instead of sending their products to anyone anywhere who wants to pay for it is an entirely different question.
Michael: This is another great example how (retail) companies are always in favour of globalisation, unless the customer could get a better price or access to an otherwise unavailable product. REI cannot sell certain merchandise (North Face, I believe) to Europe, iTunes shuts out non-US customers for most of its video content and a laptop from Europe (the very paradigm of going global) will normally not play US DVDs even if you are in the US and would like to play a legally purchased US-DVD. European car dealers are now forced to sell to customers from across the border, but many other companies out there still like to keep a tight lid on certain markets.
Michael: I know that’s what it says on the various amazon sites, I’m not sure that actually makes it legal under the Single European Market Act of 1993 though. I’m not legally-trained, don’t know exactly and don’t want to be libellious, but it seems to go very much against the spirit, at least, of “free movement of goods and people.” If the EU is a single market, these various subsidiaries of amazon are creating/enforcing price differentials, essentially on national/language border grounds. Part of me wants to say that companies should be allowed to sell to who they want to, but in this case it’s as close to price fixing as I can tell. If we are going to have the bloated bureaucracy of the EU telling us how wonderful it is for the people(s) of Europe, then this is exactly the kind of thing they should crack down on. As JCS points out - they did it with cars (I remember VW being slapped with a massive fine and my parents ordering a new Land Rover in Holland - with the steering wheel on the right - and, after driving it back, still saving about 35% on the UK price). Incidentally, and not a disclaimer in any way, it just seems to be articles from amazon’s Elektronik und Foto shop which have those limitations, computer games have different conditions too (although amazon.de will ship to the UK), so it could easily licencing issues which are not within amazon’s control.
JCS: Amazon were quite happy when I lived in Germany to let me buy UK books from amazon.co.uk - the price difference between amazon.de and amazon.co.uk was far more than the cost of postage. But, if the book was auf Lager in their German Logistik Zentrum, then it would be delivered from Bad Hersfeld, rather than Northampton (or wherever it is).
As for US iTunes, isn’t it dependent upon where one’s credit card is registered? i.e. If you had a US credit card, you can download tunes at US prices, irrespective of where you are? I’m not saying it’s right that one has to, just that customers should use the market just as much as the merchant. Isn’t everyone trying to get the most possible for themselves the basis of capitalism? Or, to quote one Adam Smith, after he’s been translated into German: “Wir erwarten uns unser Abendmahl nicht von der Wohltätigkeit des Fleischers, Bauers oder Bäckers, sondern von deren Bedacht auf ihre eigen Interessen. Wir wenden uns nicht an ihre Menschlichkeit, sondern an ihre Eigenliebe.” I should really buy a copy of the original…
As for the DVD example, two points. The people who run these firms travel regularly, yet seem to expect that their customers don’t. I’m not sure how many people do travel to the US regularly with their European laptops, it’s probably less than you or I think, but lots, lots more than said executives seem to believe. Secondly. Lots of films just aren’t available in region 2 anyway. I think about a third to a half of my DVD collection is region 1 - if I wanted to watch Fearless, say or until last year, The Breakfast Club, I can’t. Or, if I were that way inclined, I could get a copy in the US and either rip the copy protection off it or bridge two pins on a particular chip in my DVD player to make that region-free. Neither option is exactly customer-friendly and is probably in a legal grey area.
For years I ordered about half of my DVDs from Amazon.de because in the US, our DVDs only come with English or Spanish with the very occasioanl French thrown in for some odd reason. Even with shipping, the price was still comparable to buying it here. Buying a region 2 disk gave me many more language options. You are correct though that the European inventory was seriously lacking in available titles.
820: Ah yes, the benefits of Icelandic, Turkish and Hungarian subtitles…..
The French on North American disks will be for those pesky Quebecois, I’d imagine. Oh, another tip that’s of no use to you whatsoever: I always found it worthwhile when ordering stuff from amazon in the States to pay for it to be gift-wrapped if I was spending more than $50. Fifty dollars seems to be the limit at which German customs decides to charge you import tax, but not on gifts…. Similarly when making ‘emergency’ purchases of electronic goods on trips to the US, post any manuals and installation CDs home, don’t carry then in your suitcase, otherwise it’s a fair bet that Her Majesty’s finest will decide to inspect you and charge you 200 quid. Or so I’ve heard.
IAF: You’re right about the credit card. But even a US credit/debit card will only get you so far if you aren’t living in the US. The mailing address for the credit/debit card needs to be US-based. I have a US debit card, but my mailing address is in the German capital since I need to receive bank statements. I have not tried asking the Bank whether a c/o address at a friend’s place would be acceptable. But after three years of dubbed CSI, 24 and Grey’s Anatomy I’m about to crack.
Good point regarding movie industry and computer company execs.
By the way, who knew you had the hots for Molly Ringwald?
JCS: It was more Ally Sheedy, actually… And after years of deliberately avoiding CSI etc. precisely because they were dubbed I’m having difficulties getting back into the habit. That said, I’ve wasted two entire days watching a boxed set of 24….