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Originally Posted by fjtorres
We've been down this road before.
Local prices depend on local business conditions: taxes, wages, rent, utilities, sales volume...
If they are being sold by aussie subsidiaries then the price will be a function of the cost of running that operation, which often is a function of the *size* of the market.
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The price differences down here are more than can be explained by the additional costs of a local operation. Especially from companies that don't have a local operation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
As Harry pointed out, a digital content operation will only be able to sell content from the publisher licensed for that region at local prices.
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Not if the law is changed, or the courts rule, that local ebook stores can source products from overseas, thereby nullifying the geo-restrictions. There are a number of Kobo countries that sell both the US and British versions of ebooks. Australia may join this club, leading to cheaper ebook (and book) prices.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
If the local publisher charges Apple or Amazon or Kobo higher than US prices (which might be because *they* have higher costs) the retailers can't be expected to eat those higher costs just because a politician says so.
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Local publishers will continue to charge more for local books, but books that are also being published elsewhere will be able to be imported and sold, at a much cheaper price.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Not sure how high the overall business costs are in the antipodes but I doubt they are as low as in the US. If nothing else, the minimum wage down under is twice the US minimum. And I doubt that is an aberration.
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Very few people in the publishing industry are making minimum wage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
There is a lot more going on than just wanting to rip off customers for the hell of it. You may be looking at a chicken-and-egg scenario. The law of unintended consequences works in mysterious and often annoying ways but it can't be legislated away any more than the speed of light can.
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Another game they play is raising the prices as the exchange rate falls, which is legitimate. But then they don't lower the prices when the exchange rate rises. Now that we are having a period of falling exchange rates, I'm expected the prices of 'global' products to rise again.