So why are us Brits getting screwed over once again?

[mattinkent]

This time however, the Console & Games are NOT regionalised. So get a plane ticket to New York for a holiday, take the ferry over to Jersey (where the sales tax is less) and buy yourself one. Just remember to take it out of its box when you take it home otherwise you'll end up paying duty on it back in Blighty.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Quick Robin, TO THE CALCULATOR!

VAT in the U.K. is 20%.

20% of £349 is £51, which means the console is sold for £298 + VAT

$399 converted to £ is £255.50, so there's still a £44.50 unaccounted for.

Where does it go?

 

[KeyMaster45]

Quick Robin, TO THE CALCULATOR!

VAT in the U.K. is 20%.

20% of £349 is £51, which means the console is sold for £298 + VAT

$399 converted to £ is £255.50, so there's still a £44.50 unaccounted for.

Where does it go?

That's the shipping cost obviously, and any other insignificant bureaucratic fees that get added on in the import process. Has anybody thought to actually maybe ask Sony what goes into deciding the cost? I guarantee you we aren't getting the console in the states cheaper than they will be in Japan or the rest of Asia.

But like I was told when I traveled to the UK a few years ago with my university, "If you try to compare prices in the UK to US Dollars you're going to drive yourself insane."

 

[MorganL4]

Quick Robin, TO THE CALCULATOR!

VAT in the U.K. is 20%.

20% of £349 is £51, which means the console is sold for £298 + VAT

$399 converted to £ is £255.50, so there's still a £44.50 unaccounted for.

Where does it go?

As far as the whole tax thing goes, here in the states $399 is going to be the base cost they put up on the shelves. Many states (like Washington for example, the home state of Microsoft) have sales tax on quite literally EVERYTHING you buy except for simple food stuffs(flour, pork chops, apples etc...) and candy/soda pop

So really there is only about £20 difference that you have to kind of suck up.

Just figure it's the cost that comes with having a higher minimum wage than the US does.

 

[DanielBrown]

Still 1000SEK(around £100) cheaper than it'll be in Sweden, so shush.
No PS4 for me until the price has dropped a lot...

 

[Legion]

Things cost more in the UK anyway, our wages on average are higher, and therefore so are our general costs. It's not Sony or MS being bastards, it's all down to economics.

Still 1000SEK(around £100) cheaper than it'll be in Sweden, so shush.

I feel sorry for Australians too, they are known for being ripped off when it comes to luxury goods.

 

[Albino Boo]

Things cost more in the UK anyway, our wages on average are higher, and therefore so are our general costs. It's not Sony or MS being bastards, it's all down to economics.


I feel sorry for Australians too, they are known for being ripped off when it comes to luxury goods.

Actually they are not, there are sales tax issues again and the much more fundamental point is that Australia is long way from anywhere else and only has a population of 23 million. Yes that is twice that of Belgium but Australia isn't next door to Germany's 80 million or France's 65 million. So a higher transport cost has be shared over a small sales volume. If you had to ship to Belgium only via Ostend the price would be even higher than Australia but as it Rotterdam, in Holland, is used as the main landing point for the entire EU. In about 3 days you can transport from Rotterdam to the 300 odd million population of the EU.

 

[DanielBrown]

Things cost more in the UK anyway, our wages on average are higher, and therefore so are our general costs. It's not Sony or MS being bastards, it's all down to economics.

Still 1000SEK(around £100) cheaper than it'll be in Sweden, so shush.

I feel sorry for Australians too, they are known for being ripped off when it comes to luxury goods.

Aye, though from what I read in another PS4 thread the price in Australia was gonna be 549AUD. Not sure if that persons source was reliable, since it seems a bit low compared to their usual prices. It exchanges to £331.

 

[Agayek]

I'm talking about the console prices here just so you all know and mainly about the PS4 because I couldn't care less about the Xbone. $399 or £349 I mean c'mon don't insult us Sony, $399 on a simple XE currency converter is £255.50 which means we are paying £93.50 or $145 more for our console then the guys are in the US. This is a huge difference, I wouldn't mind if it was maybe £20 or £30 more for the console as that could at least be explained with the additional logistics of shipping the consoles to us but nearly £100 more is quite frankly a joke. It's wrong that we are constantly being screwed over with prices when we don't earn any more money than you guys do in the States. It's a real shame cause I was actually looking forward to a couple of the titles that were shown off at their press conference.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you just take a weekend trip through the chunnel, pick up whatever you want in France, then come right back and save a few bucks?

Don't get me wrong, I get what you're saying and it really shouldn't be priced the way it is. It just seems weird to me that you would complain about regional prices when you can drive from anywhere to anywhere in your country in under 6 hours and your neighboring countries don't have the problem.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Things cost more in the UK anyway, our wages on average are higher, and therefore so are our general costs. It's not Sony or MS being bastards, it's all down to economics.

Still 1000SEK(around £100) cheaper than it'll be in Sweden, so shush.

I feel sorry for Australians too, they are known for being ripped off when it comes to luxury goods.

On that subject.......

EB Games listed price for the PS4: $549.00!

Just over half the original PS3 release price, and comparable to current PS3 pricing. What I can't decide is whether I'm gonna take a Day 1 plunge or wait six months, see what happens.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

OK I get that but VAT is 20% which is basically the entire additional cost of the console, does that mean that the Americans do not pay any form of import tax? Remember the consoles are not being made in America so they would have to pay those taxes same as us (maybe not the same as us but there must be some cost there).

That's not really how import taxes work, IF you were to import one yourself then yes it would be a fee, But Sony already have the consoles in the US so you're not importing the,, The USA does have a sales tax which I think can be from 1% up to 10% which is added on a point of sale I believe

OK so SONY already has the consoles in America and they need to be shipped at some stage to the UK. But no extra expense is levied on SONY for importing them from Asia (where I assume they are being made) to the US?

It's not about import tariffs or any such thing. You pay VAT for potatoes grown in British soil. Us Europeans pay VAT, the Yanks do not - but then, their prices never include sales tax, which when I lived in Illinois, was 8.25% for that state, I think. So at least you're not being lied to.

Funny actually, potatoes don't have VAT on them here, as they're part of the unprocessed foods market and as such exempt from vat under the 1994 VAT act.


But yeah, the price in the UK is largely made up of VAT, we still get a worse deal aside from that though, it's to do with adjusting prices for percieved income, games are most expensive in austrailia (for example) because people earn more there (the minimum wage translates to $15.03 per hour).

 

[Woodsey]

VAT my fellow Brit, We get shafted by it and so does anyone who wants to sell in out country, We have tax a hell of a lot more than the yanks do I am afraid

Also, I'm pretty sure Americans don't have VAT listed on the price of an item, which makes the gap seem bigger.

 

[search_rip]

It's wrong that we are constantly being screwed over with prices

it's not only you on the UK, sadly is a common practice with overseas items for example the Xbone with a $499 US dollars price (I'm getting a PS4 but there's no oficial price in México yet) in México is going to cost $8,499 pesos wich translates as $654 US dollars +/- *damn taxes and retailers "cut"*

 

[BlackStar42]

I'm talking about the console prices here just so you all know and mainly about the PS4 because I couldn't care less about the Xbone. $399 or £349 I mean c'mon don't insult us Sony, $399 on a simple XE currency converter is £255.50 which means we are paying £93.50 or $145 more for our console then the guys are in the US. This is a huge difference, I wouldn't mind if it was maybe £20 or £30 more for the console as that could at least be explained with the additional logistics of shipping the consoles to us but nearly £100 more is quite frankly a joke. It's wrong that we are constantly being screwed over with prices when we don't earn any more money than you guys do in the States. It's a real shame cause I was actually looking forward to a couple of the titles that were shown off at their press conference.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you just take a weekend trip through the chunnel, pick up whatever you want in France, then come right back and save a few bucks?

Don't get me wrong, I get what you're saying and it really shouldn't be priced the way it is. It just seems weird to me that you would complain about regional prices when you can drive from anywhere to anywhere in your country in under 6 hours and your neighboring countries don't have the problem.

Remember, fuel costs a lot more over here. Unless you're buying in bulk, it's not economical, and HMRC has an arbitrary definition of what they acept as "personal use".

 

[RoonMian]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you just take a weekend trip through the chunnel, pick up whatever you want in France, then come right back and save a few bucks?

Don't get me wrong, I get what you're saying and it really shouldn't be priced the way it is. It just seems weird to me that you would complain about regional prices when you can drive from anywhere to anywhere in your country in under 6 hours and your neighboring countries don't have the problem.

But the neighboring countries do have the problem. I live in the euro zone and even without the sales tax (19% here in Germany, France is 19.6%) the PS4 still is about 30$ more expensive than the base price in the USA.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

Don't get me wrong, I get what you're saying and it really shouldn't be priced the way it is. It just seems weird to me that you would complain about regional prices when you can drive from anywhere to anywhere in your country in under 6 hours and your neighboring countries don't have the problem.

Not exactly true, The negiboring countries DO have the same 'problem' and the european price translates to £340, a mere £10 cheaper. It would cost dozens of times that much money to get to calais and back from pretty much anywhere in the UK. Oddly enough, it's actually £332 in Australia (the cheapest of the PAL territories for the first time ever ever) but again, importing it wouldn't be even remotely worth the effort.

Oh well, VAT is totally worth it in my eyes.

 

[SecondPrize]

I'm talking about the console prices here just so you all know and mainly about the PS4 because I couldn't care less about the Xbone. $399 or £349 I mean c'mon don't insult us Sony, $399 on a simple XE currency converter is £255.50 which means we are paying £93.50 or $145 more for our console then the guys are in the US. This is a huge difference, I wouldn't mind if it was maybe £20 or £30 more for the console as that could at least be explained with the additional logistics of shipping the consoles to us but nearly £100 more is quite frankly a joke. It's wrong that we are constantly being screwed over with prices when we don't earn any more money than you guys do in the States. It's a real shame cause I was actually looking forward to a couple of the titles that were shown off at their press conference.

Microsoft is still bitter about that massacre in Boston. I dunno what you guys did to Japan, but Sony's still upset.
Ummmm, do you VAT? It shouldn't account for all the difference but It should make up some of it. Perhaps you have the stores who will by carrying them to blame as well. I dunno how it works with negotiations between manufacturer and retailers but I'd say it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that different regions would end up with different figures. Most likely though, is that Microsoft is pretty confident English consumers will be willing to purchase at that price.

 

[rob_simple]

I've never really understood how the government squares away import taxes like this. From the very brief dalliance I had with economics at college, my understanding was that high taxes are levied on imported goods to encourage us Brits to buy homegrown products (you know, bolster that Great British Industry that's totally still a thing...)

So that would make sense if there was absolutely any kind of competing video game industry in Britain and we could buy British consoles, but there is no British console industry so essentially we're just being punished for living in Britain.

Like I say, I don't understand economics --as well as suffering from generally being a bit thick-- but is that about the size of it?

 

[Little Gray]

I've never really understood how the government squares away import taxes like this. From the very brief dalliance I had with economics at college, my understanding was that high taxes are levied on imported goods to encourage us Brits to buy homegrown products (you know, bolster that Great British Industry that's totally still a thing...)

So that would make sense if there was absolutely any kind of competing video game industry in Britain and we could buy British consoles, but there is no British console industry so essentially we're just being punished for living in Britain.

Like I say, I don't understand economics --as well as suffering from generally being a bit thick-- but is that about the size of it?

You are both right and wrong. Import taxes exist to help bolster homegrown products as well as to try and keep jobs inside a country. If somebody wants to exploit cheap labour in China instead of having it build in the country then they will have to pay the import taxes. I am not actually sure what the import taxes would be on video games and their might not even be any but thats how they work in general.

 

[IndieForever]

The maths are little bit out on this one so far and it's not as bad as it first appears for the UK.

The pre-tax price for the PS4 in the USA is $399 which is £256. The pre-tax price in the UK for the console is £291, or $453 (£349 / 1.2). The difference is £35, give or take, most of which will be absorbed by the higher costs that retail businesses face in the UK compared to the States (fuel, warehouse space, business rates etc., etc.). I imagine the retail margin on the console is pretty much identical between the two countries.

There is also currently no import tax (as opposed to VAT) on games consoles from China. Sony will also have to hedge against currency fluctuations as they can't keep chopping and changing the price every time a currency moves against another.

Compared to some of the prices I've seen posted above from other EU countries, I don't think there's any reason to complain about Sony's UK pricing. If you want to complain to the government about taxes, I think there are better places to start.... VAT (intended for luxury goods) on electricity and heating fuel anyone??!!