Why are UK users disadvantage price wise?

[macOSX-tastic]

well.....there's no getting away from it we have to pay higher prices for most things....i think fuel here is taxed at something like 90%? maybe its the same everywhere.

UK prices officially suck.....as does that 1949 telegraphy law prohibiting us from using iTrips, the best accessory EVER.

S

 

[dr_lha]

Amen to that, not to mention the american keyboard + plugs...

Keyboard is a pain, but the plug adapter can be picked up at Walmart (or ASDA maybe) for around a buck.

 

[dr_lha]

well.....there's no getting away from it we have to pay higher prices for most things....i think fuel here is taxed at something like 90%? maybe its the same everywhere.

I imagine fuel costs actually are partly the reason Macs are more expensive in the UK. They have to truck those things around the country after all.

 

[assscat]

I just placed an order for a new iMac. I was going to do it at home, with my educational discount. But I found out I could go to university, which would let me on the applestore for higher education (you have to go through an institutions network (it checks through something like procureweb.apple.com )) - I think it was a couple of pence cheaper still AND I got the 3 year applecare for £58!! Score!

One can also get into the apple HE store via the NUS website (so long as one has an NUS number!). The FE discounts are the standard apple discounts i.e. the same as those at the 'Education' store. HE has larger discounts:

17" MBP
Apple Store: £1,999.00
Apple Edu Store: £1,838.88
Apple HE Store: £1,699.05

20" iMac
Apple Store: £1,229.00
Apple Edu Store: £1,155.03
Apple HE Store: £1,069.25

Though it's worth noting that the extra HE discounts do not apply to all of the stuff in the HE store – some discounts are the same as the regular Edu store.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I'm fairly sure I was charged my state sales tax from the Apple store...anyway my reciept shows a ~6% tax, which is roughly the same as my state sales tax IIRC. Our sales tax in Ohio is fairly low.

Apple's prices are a bit higher for you guys to start with, and the UK has a fairly hefty VAT...

 

[steve_hill4]

Yes, take into account all prices in the UK already include 17.5% VAT. In Ireland it's 21%, so can't complain too much.

When you look at the Eurozone iTMS pricing of 99¢, (about 70p), per song and the UK at 79p, it's in many ways a good reason to switch to the Euro. All countries VAT is added into the price of these downloaded tracks before pricing too remember.

 

[ScubaDuc]

Good luck with the customs fraud there, mate.
The downside of that game is painful.

Woha : The penalty in BE is a fine and a tax. Nothing drastic: However, the probability of getting nailed is proportional to the number of times one goes through custom. Hence, it may make more sense to get a mac mini in the U.S. and travel with a cheap, local laptop if one travels frequently. In three years, going through customs about 10 times a year, they checked my laptop and videocamera once...

 

[dr_lha]

Yes, take into account all prices in the UK already include 17.5% VAT. In Ireland it's 21%, so can't complain too much.

When you look at the Eurozone iTMS pricing of 99¢, (about 70p), per song and the UK at 79p, it's in many ways a good reason to switch to the Euro. All countries VAT is added into the price of these downloaded tracks before pricing too remember.

Talk to any European in a country that now has the Euro. They'll tell you that everything went up when they switched to the Euro. So iTunes may be cheaper, but from experience everything else won't be.

 

[mpw]

True. But the fact is so many people travel these days with laptops, that the chances of getting caught are minimal to say the least.

True, but I know someone who got 'caught' bringing a laptop into the UK from the US and was forced to pay 17.5% of the price HMC&R decided it was worth. OK say you might say 'tough sh*t' on him for customs fraud and I'd agree except that he'd purchased (and paid VAT) the laptop in the UK and taken it on holiday to the US.

Remember it is YOUR responsibility to prove you've paid tax not theirs to prove you haven't.

He later appealed and had a refund but it took months of hassle.

Is the ~8% or less saving really worth the agro?

Oh, OP there are already plenty of threads on this subject you could search for too.

 

[dr_lha]

True, but I know someone who got 'caught' bringing a laptop into the UK from the US and was forced to pay 17.5% of the price HMC&R decided it was worth. OK say you might say 'tough sh*t' on him for customs fraud and I'd agree except that he'd purchased (and paid VAT) the laptop in the UK and taken it on holiday to the US.

Wow, that's pretty bad. I've probably taken a laptop into the UK about 30 times in the last 7 years (I'm a UK citizen who lives in the US), and I've never as much been stopped by a customs officer, let alone been forced to prove that I'm not "smuggling" my laptop into the country!