So why are us Brits getting screwed over once again?

[J Tyran]

The shipping part doesn't cost much per console, the costs of running a cargo ship are not negligible of course but when you think a container costs £2000-4000 to ship and as many as 400-600 PS4s will fit inside each container it doesn't cost much to ship each PS4. Thats the economy of scale in shipping for you, double the ship size and you only increase the operating cost by a third.

The taxes are where it hurts on top of the exchange rates, Sony and any companies involved in the shipping and retail will have to pay corporate tax, employee tax, import tax and these add to the cost of the console. Finally customers will have to pay VAT on top of everything else.

I wouldn't complain to much personally, we get shafted in comparison to the US but other countries suffer even more than we do.

 

[TehCookie]

Does anyone factor cost of living and average wage when it comes to comparing prices? Seeing the debate on sales tax, there are other things at work that make the prices more even.

I'll trade you your economy and health care for our low prices.

Oh and this.

 

[rob_simple]

Does anyone factor cost of living and average wage when it comes to comparing prices? Seeing the debate on sales tax, there are other things at work that make the prices more even.

This reminds me of when you see those lists of the countries with the highest rates of tax, and how they always ignore the fact that many of them also have the highest rates of pay so it all pretty much balances out.

It's just another example of people twisting statistics to make it look like they're somehow worse off, living in one of the most privileged countries in the world.

 

[GonvilleBromhead]

Okay, so first of all there is the fact (already mentioned) that VAT is inclusive in UK prices, whilst it is exclusive in US prices - which means the actual UK price is £290.80, or $454.78 - a $45.21 different. Some of the price difference will be due to various customs differences (though, weirdly, looking it up on the common nomenclature seems to show that no import duty is paid on games consoles in the EU), higher production costs due to different plugs, etc. Plus, obviously, making it a nice round number (well, when one considers the marketing rule of being a penny short of a nice round number) will play a part.

However, it's worth bearing in mind that exchange rates are not fixed. If the dollar falls 14 cents against the pound, then it'll be the Yank's who are being screwed. And it's also worth bearing in mind that that is by how much the USD fell against the Sterling from January this year to March...

 

[Requia]

So the actual pre VAT (which is 20% right?) would be 279.20, going off OPs conversion, that means about 24 GPB extra, yeah, quit bitching at Sony and ***** at your regressive tax policies.

 

[Requia]

Okay, so first of all there is the fact (already mentioned) that VAT is inclusive in UK prices, whilst it is exclusive in US prices - which means the actual UK price is £290.80, or $454.78 - a $45.21 different. Some of the price difference will be due to various customs differences (though, weirdly, looking it up on the common nomenclature seems to show that no import duty is paid on games consoles in the EU), higher production costs due to different plugs, etc. Plus, obviously, making it a nice round number (well, when one considers the marketing rule of being a penny short of a nice round number) will play a part.

However, it's worth bearing in mind that exchange rates are not fixed. If the dollar falls 14 cents against the pound, then it'll be the Yank's who are being screwed. And it's also worth bearing in mind that that is by how much the USD fell against the Sterling from January this year to March...

Your numbers are different then mine. Does VAT required that 20% be added to the price (this is how its done in the US) or does it require that 20% of the final price be given to the government?

Edit: Never mind, I must have fucked up the calculator somehow.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

$550 in Australia. I don't particularly mind. It's yet another case of "Well, it's still a rip-off, but it's not as bad as we've come to expect".

 

[chozo_hybrid]

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.

$650 for us in NZ, still a damn sight cheaper then the bloody PS3, that went for $1200 here, it's practically halved.

 

[Albino Boo]

Get your EU head honchos down in Strasbourg, the Hague, Brussels or whatever to stop messing with imports and business, get them to stop perma-suing Microsoft and other eevul imperialist capitalist forces and sucking millions or even billions out of them for no proper reason.

Get your government to lower your VAT taxes, which don't exactly add any value, just taxes. How much do you have to bleed out your wallet for every transaction now? 10%? 20%? A good comrade 50%? Put those relevant numbers into your number crunching routine and you'll eventually notice that the EU is not about making your life any easier, cheaper or less fun.

Enjoy.

How do you think free at point of use health services are paid for? You can't have more social benefits without higher taxation.

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?

Actually import taxes are just another tax that goes towards paying for the welfare state. The import tariffs are set at an EU level and you only pay the tax once upon entry into the EU or EFTA member country, movement of goods between member states are free of import duty. Even then, Eu tariffs are set within the rules of WTO. This is to avoid the disastrous trade tariffs of the great depression. Protecting your domestic markets with high tariffs while sounding good in theory falls down on the fact when you impose a tariff on imports everyone else retaliates, so your exporters find themselves excluded from the rest of the world.

 

[Genericjim101]

It's true that in America sales tax is not shown on the pricing of an item and can be calculated upon purchase thus making things look cheaper. Complaining about the price of things in Britain is a meager point if you ask how those in Europe and Australia feel about the price of their games, it doesn't solve your complaint but should help put it in perspective.

 

[Bertylicious]

What about if you bought the console through a British commonwealth country, that therefore used 240 volts and PAL (is PAL still a factor these days?), like, I dunno, Malaysia that allowed you to buy it for a fraction of the price?

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

The discrepancies in price arise from VAT being included in UK prices and sales tax not being included in the pricing of goods in the US. So while we do get shafted by about £30, it's not as big as it first seems.

 

[Mikeyfell]

The Revolutionary War.
I mean, you picked the wrong side, and at this point there's nothing you can do about it.

USA USA USA!

oh you want a real answer?
Import export tax and shipping cost.

The same reason it costs me 48 bucks to buy a CD from Japan that would cost me 12 bucks over there.

 

[MrStab]

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.

They were telling the truth https://ebgames.com.au/featured/playstation-4 as you can see there but it's that game prices that are fucked which you will notice if you scroll down a little after following that link.

 

[jackdaniel0001]

Like people have said, the exchange rate can fluctuate. Maybe today it looks like American consumers got the better deal, things could be reversed by next year. For multinationals like Sony and MS, they can only hope to hedge their pricing against exchange rate.

Although I am curious if it would be cheaper to personally import a device from one of the cheaper region, given that at least PS4 is region free.

 

[Perverted_Pirate]

$399 exchanges into just over £305 including 20% value added theft(tax). So we get screwed by about £45. So as always I will wait on price drops until I'm satisfied with how much I pay. It's the only thing I can do.
However the USA will have sales tax added on(though some can avoid this buying online or so I've been told) at about 7% though it varies from state to state, but at $399 it's just under $28.

we get screwed, but the guys using the Euro get screwed harder(this does not make screwing us OK) and I'm sure other places will get screwed too.

The other option will be looking at online stores that will ship to you and checking if they'll mark the package at low value and as a gift. This often times will help you avoid customs theft. I may or may not have done it in the past, as have many others. Even with this though delivery of a heavy object may outweigh the benefits, but I'd be surprised.

 

[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.

They were telling the truth https://ebgames.com.au/featured/playstation-4 as you can see there but it's that game prices that are fucked which you will notice if you scroll down a little after following that link.

Ugh, sure enough. Swedens prices for PS4 doesn't look good either tbh. Listed at 649SEK/game(which would be 104AUD).
At least I can still order games from the UK without any shipping fees. <3

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

It's true that in America sales tax is not shown on the pricing of an item and can be calculated upon purchase thus making things look cheaper. Complaining about the price of things in Britain is a meager point if you ask how those in Europe and Australia feel about the price of their games, it doesn't solve your complaint but should help put it in perspective.

Let's see...

(logs in to non USD-based PSN account)

(Checks out Last of Us digital download preorder)

Oh. How much is that in USD? Lemme do some quick math... $88 for Last of Us, digital download, no figurine, no box, no disc? They must be joking.

Yes, there is one bit, one extra thick slice of the pie that goes to random taxes in various random states. Import taxes, sales tax, tax tax, Microsoft tax, IE tax, blue monday tax, CO2 tax, et cetera ad infinitum.

And then there are the publishers (EA, Ubisoft etc. for games, but same applies to Microsoft and Apple) that just assume it's OK to charge a fistful or two or three more just because some study says the average income is that much higher compared to the US. Look! Free monies! Yay!

 

[Zenn3k]

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.

Its been confirmed that it requires the same number of working hours to earn $399 as it does to earn £349.

So really, you're paying the same price.