Au cheaper than Fr?

[wolf]

So basically I recently moved to Paris and am saving for my next rig to build here, but I'm noticing a trend that has me scratching my head.

Theres a shop in Australia (in quite a few cities [MSY technology]) that do the best hardware prices, but usually other places arent far behind them, and what I'm noticing is that the prices all the way down under in Australia are considerably cheaper than the best prices I can find here in Paris.

some examples;

Gigabyte 1gb GTX460, in Aus $255 AUD = 185€, in Paris the cheapest I've seen is 210€

WD Green 2tb HDD, in Aus $138 AUD = 99€, In Paris 114€

theose are just some quick ones, but does it occur to anyone else as weird that I can get in excess of 10% better pricing in Au than In the middle of western europe? maybe taxes here are worse or something I don't know...

 

[Deleted member 3]

It's not weird at all, western Europe isn't exactly known to be cheap. Then again wages tend to be higher as well.
Also, don't look in Paris but look on the interwebs instead. I know Pixmania for instance is originally french.

 

[pantherx12]

Heh, that's even more expensive then here in England, everything used to be a bit cheaper in France, what's happening? :S

 

[NdMk2o1o]

It's not weird at all, western Europe isn't exactly known to be cheap. Then again wages tend to be higher as well.
Also, don't look in Paris but look on the interwebs instead. I know Pixmania for instance is originally french.

+1 for pixmania, there customer service is sucky but they do have some good prices from time to time.

 

[claylomax]

Well hardware in England is way cheaper than in Spain, I can tell you that from experience.

 

[Benetanegia]

Heh, that's even more expensive then here in England, everything used to be a bit cheaper in France, what's happening? :S

Exchange rates, that's the only thing that's happening. 2 years ago 1 GBP was worth around 2 USD, nowadays it's worth 1.5 USD. In the meantime the euro is slowly getting stronger against the USD, despite fluctuating a lot, between 1.2 USD and 1.5 USD. So comparatively the Euro is getting much stronger against the pound.

That means that something (i.e a graphics card) that costed 100 GBP two years ago that meant 200 USD and now an item sold at 100 GBP means 150 USD. No matter what the price must stay at 100 GBP or close, because the demand for that item or niche market is 100 GBP (no one would be willing to suddenly pay more for the same kind of item). With the time, if the GBP does not recover, prices will slowly get adjusted, which means that your money will be worth less, but for the time being your money still retains most of it's value and it's the money of the retailers and intermediaries that is suffering: they have to import the items paying external prices but sell them according to the demand with local (now weak) currency.

EDIT:

+1 for pixmania btw. In my experience the customer service was also flawless here in Spain. They even allowed me to change my order far later than they were supposed to, hours after they flagged the item as shipped for delivery.

 

[Frick]

+1 for pixmania, there customer service is sucky but they do have some good prices from time to time.

+1 on this. They have a pretty decent stock though.

 

[claylomax]

Exchange rates, that's the only thing that's happening. 2 years ago 1 GBP was worth around 2 USD, nowadays it's worth 1.5 USD. In the meantime the euro is slowly getting stronger against the USD, despite fluctuating a lot, between 1.2 USD and 1.5 USD. So comparatively the Euro is getting much stronger against the pound.

That means that something (i.e a graphics card) that costed 100 GBP two years ago that meant 200 USD and now an item sold at 100 GBP means 150 USD. No matter what the price must stay at 100 GBP or close, because the demand for that item or niche market is 100 GBP (no one would be willing to suddenly pay more for the same kind of item). With the time, if the GBP does not recover, prices will slowly get adjusted, which means that your money will be worth less, but for the time being your money still retains most of it's value and it's the money of the retailers and intermediaries that is suffering: they have to import the items paying external prices but sell them according to the demand with local (now weak) currency.

EDIT:

+1 for pixmania btw. In my experience the customer service was also flawless here in Spain. They even allowed me to change my order far later than they were supposed to, hours after they flagged the item as shipped for delivery.

Can you recommend a decent hardware etailer in Spain please? Thanks.

 

[DriedFrogPills]

Plus you are getting the Aus prices from MSY which is generally the cheapest store in Victoria at least.

 

[heky]

I noticed that generaly everything is expensive in Europe. Prices in the USA are really cheap compared to Europe. The sucky thing is that i cant find a decent website that ships to Europe(for anything less than 50 bucks).

 

[Frick]

I noticed that generaly everything is expensive in Europe. Prices in the USA are really cheap compared to Europe. The sucky thing is that i cant find a decent website that ships to Europe(for anything less than 50 bucks).

The reason is taxes, mostly. For me it's worth it.

 

[heky]

You know, i have been thinking about these things for a while now. And a have an Idea, i just dont think it would work. If for example someone from the USA buys a graphics card there, and ships it to me as a gift, would i still have to pay taxes. I mean since it is a gift, and technicaly "used"?

 

[Frick]

You know, i have been thinking about these things for a while now. And a have an Idea, i just dont think it would work. If for example someone from the USA buys a graphics card there, and ships it to me as a gift, would i still have to pay taxes. I mean since it is a gift, and technicaly "used"?

That's what you do.

 

[pantherx12]

You know, i have been thinking about these things for a while now. And a have an Idea, i just dont think it would work. If for example someone from the USA buys a graphics card there, and ships it to me as a gift, would i still have to pay taxes. I mean since it is a gift, and technicaly "used"?

Nope, hell if you emailed a place like performance PCS for a custom shipping quote you can save some pennies too

 

[heky]

Thanks guys, i really appreciate it. Will try doing that in the future.

 

[wolf]

Plus you are getting the Aus prices from MSY which is generally the cheapest store in Victoria at least.

Yeah it's the cheapest in Perth too for sure, but like I said other places usually aren't far behind it and sometimes have things on special that beat MSY's price.

thanks for all the replies ppl

 

[_JP_]

+1 for pixmania, there customer service is sucky but they do have some good prices from time to time.

True. See if there's anything on the "Ventes Flash" (Flash sales) that may be of your interest. I bought my HD 5770 from them. For a really nice price, 130€ while most places were selling my model at 180€.

It's not weird at all, western Europe isn't exactly known to be cheap. Then again wages tend to be higher as well.

I beg to differ. Pay checks here are very very (very) bad, unless you're a company manager or belong to the marketing department.

 

[wolf]

I beg to differ. Pay checks here are very very (very) bad, unless you're a company manager or belong to the marketing department.

I earn less here than I did back in Perth, the difference is tips, but thats money you can't really rely on. and yeah the cost of living is more than in Perth too, lord only knows how I'll afford a rig at this rate.

 

[BazookaJoe]

Jesus I'm such a nerd...

I was about to start ranting about how "Fr" (Francium) is immensely more expensive than "Au" (Gold), as it is one of the rarest natural elements on earth, and apart from that, it's horribly radioactive, what could you possibly want to use it in a PC for?

But yeah .. My bad

 

[wolf]

Jesus I'm such a nerd...

I was about to start ranting about how "Fr" (Francium) is immensely more expensive than "Au" (Gold), as it is one of the rarest natural elements on earth, and apart from that, it's horribly radioactive, what could you possibly want to use it in a PC for?

But yeah .. My bad

just lol