Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
It's not "gouging". It's a simple fact that it's more expensive to run a business in the UK than the US, so prices are generally higher. We have a completely different tax system to the US.
We gain in other ways, however. For example, the Reader only has a 90 days parts warranty in the US (or at least that was true with the 500 - don't know if the 505 is any different); in the UK, British law requires at least a 1 year warranty.
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Yes, it is more expensive running a business in the UK, and the extra warranty also has a cost associated with it. A price difference is expected, where I take issue is with the size of the difference.
Spread across tens or hundreds of thousands of units I simply don't believe the costs are more than a few percent higher per unit compared with the US. The "it costs more to trade in the UK" excuse does however provide companies with a convenient excuse to jack up the price (and profit) significantly while shifting the blame for the difference elsewhere. That is where the gouging is taking place, it's hardly breaking news that this goes on in the consumer electronics field, to believe otherwise is naive.
Regarding Play doing this without Sony's approval; I think it's unlikely. I don't believe a large retailer like Play would risk their trading relationship with Sony by indulging in grey importing. It's more likely that Sony plan to release the Reader in the UK and Play have jumped the gun by putting their listing up too early.