Quote:
Originally Posted by kacir
The question is, how much more expensive are the operating costs of business in Europe and how much of the price difference comes from: "*Everyone*(1) rips off European consumers, so why shouldn't we?"
(1) Amazon is THE only company that sells e-ink readers for the same price in Europe. They make up the difference on that usurious $2 "wireless delivery fee" they tack on each e-book (even if you only own WiFi-only Kindle). ;-)
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I thought Amazon phased out that charge a few months back...?
How much higher are european business costs is obscured by a lot of factors, like those mandatory warranties you mentioned. (Around here we can, for example, get new DVD players for $20 and MP3 players for $10---with three month warranties. Electronics retailers routinely make a ton of money on extended warranties so you could say the warranty is an option; you get to choose whether you want it or not and how much it is worth to you.)
I also understand localization and IP costs (trademarks, patents, etc) are significant on the continent as there are literally dozens of regional regulatory regimes whereas the US is a unitary market---one set of laws, one language, one design.
In the end, it may just be a matter of what "the market will bear".
As the HDTV case proves, businesses will always seek the highest price the market will tolerate and competitive markets are less tolerant of high prices because there will usually be room for an aggressive competitor to undercut the field and make it up in volume. Which is why competitors that push the market are respected by consumers and reviled by their opponents, whether their name be Walmart, Vizio, Borders (in its day), or Amazon.
It only takes one but it does take at least one.
Without it...