Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue Tyson
Yes, that is one thing that peeves buyers. When dollar goes the other way prices jump almost immediately. Reverse does not happen.
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Some months ago I got a little curious about our local petrol price in comparison to our exchange rate, as I recall around 1-2 years ago price was around $200 a barrel. What I did was grab the daily price of crude oil and combine it with our daily exchange rate. When I graphed it the two lines were basically parallel, our exchange rate goes up, so does the price of petrol. Exchange rate lowers, so does the price of petrol. What I still hadn't worked out is why, when we produce most of the oil we need from our own rigs, yet our crude price is based off singapore. Anyhoo.
But many retailers here need to have a good think about their pricing. I needed a VGA-HDMI cable. Dick Smith thought it a good idea to have a $29.95 price tag. MSY in Melbourne thought $3 was good enough. Both identical in specs. So umming and ahhhing, do I spend $27 in markup to buy from a store where the staff know nothing about the products being sold and have no motivation to provide good customer service, or save the $27 and still get bugger all service and lack of caring?
So not only do we have pricing discrepency between us and overseas sellers, but also with just our local businesses. Makes me sick when companies cry poor but when you look behind the scenes they sell products with up to 300% markup.
I tell you, I still think Baen is one of the best ebook publishers out there. ebooks are set at usually $6USD. Live in the US, $6 thanks. Live in Australia? $6 USD please. Live in some remote part of the world with no running water, $6 from you too please. None of this "Ah Australia, land of Mick Dundee and throw another shrimp on the barbie mate....we'll charge you $12 for this ebook just because we're good people".
But at least we have a winner of a government controlled by a handful of independents....they'll save us
