Why I'm not going to buy eDGe... at least in Europe... (a few words about pricing)

Originally Posted by NiaTrue

Meilkor (and others), maybe I missed something, but shouldn't you be complaining about the European Union VAT instead of the enTourage price?

Oh I am aware of VAT, but
1) even after 'complaing about EU VAT' = 23% (usually) from €599 you still get €461 = $592.
In the US price ($540) you also have some taxes, although I don't know what part of the price are any of those taxes.
2) when buying EE for a company you can deduce VAT.

So the best option (though unavailable) would be to buy EE in USA tax free and then deduce EU VAT (imposed by customs) when buying for a company.

The available option is to have EE sent/forwarded from USA to Europe ($30-60). Skip VAT ($540 + $30 to $60 = $570 to $600) although it's illegal or pay VAT ($540 + 23% + #30 to $60 = $695 to $$725). Still it will be cheaper then buying EE in a EU shop for $777. Between $50-200 cheaper!!

This is annoying. After paying US taxes, double shipping, and even with the EU VAT, the price is still lover than in EU shops.

Originally Posted by supermarkitos2004

Melkor, I bought it in Germany for 575 euros, http://ebooks-guenstiger.de or ebay.de.

I know you can buy secondhand EE from ebay or other places, but this is not the street price which we're discussing here.
Any gadget will be cheaper when bought secondhand. The longer and better you look around, the better the price. Of course.
That's how I bought my Dell Latitude 2100 with touchscreen with a 50% discount and a 3 year Next Business Day warranty. Still it's not something that you can do in a shop.

isn't europe a great place to live?

Originally Posted by Melkor

Early August gives us the following:

€599 = $777 (Very slowly but it's going up from $760 two months ago.)

Late September, not even two months on, and:

€599 = $818.

With this price a) EE can't compete at the EU market, and b) you'd be "stupid" not to have it farwarded from the USA instead of buying it in Europe.

I have only just discoverered this forum after complaining direct to Entourage on this very point echoed by messages here. I think the problem is the company that are distributing their product. THey call themselves a discounter but in fact they are anything but. They are doing the same job on Pockbook as well. Seems they get a monopoly and then exploit it. A shame they didnt retain the right to sell direct. I am now looking for alternatives , I believe they have missed a massive market if they had a price point of £399 or euro equivelant they would have put it in reach of students , professionals , parents etc.. Instead they just priced themselves out of the market.

Their Response :-
How can I respond? It is definitely more expensive for us to get our products to Europe. At the same time, European outlets are accustomed to a different level of profit margin than US distributors. Electronics are almost universally more expensive there. We are still working hard to provide more channels in Europe and do appreciate your interest in our products.

They are only expensive because of profiteering however that reduces volume and Entourage market share and probably they will miss the boat entirely.


With the internet and USPS you already have a channel and I am sure some of the major retailers or book stores would have been interested.

How much is the iPad in Europe compared to the US?

Originally Posted by borisb

How much is the iPad in Europe compared to the US?

iPad 16GB WiFi €479
iPad 32GB WiFi €579
iPad 64GB WiFi €679
iPad 16GB WiFi+3G €579
iPad 32GB WiFi+3G €679
iPad 64GB WiFi+3G €779

Originally Posted by Jerry

... They are doing the same job on Pockbook as well. ...

Pardon me for asking, but could you explain this please?

That the eDGe doesn't stand a chance over here in the EU for reasons of pricing has been agreed on now, I believe. Whoever is to blame for this doesn't really matter in the end.

A competitor of sorts (its just an eReader and not a dualbook, I know) is pocketbook, the aspiring ukraninan eReader Company: They did reveal pricing for the new 9'' eInk Readers that can be preordered in Germany now. Apparently the 902 (coming out in November) with wifi will be priced at 329,- EUR, the 903 with 3G and wifi will cost 399,- EUR. Complete with wacom screen and all. Sounds sensible to me.

Just for completeness, the 64GB WiFi only iPad is 679 euros which at today's rate is $935.72. For comparison, the Apple store sells them for $699 + tax. I don't know if the euro price included tax. At least these numbers allowed me to compare easily.

Originally Posted by alefor

I don't know if the euro price included tax.

Yes, it includes 19% tax (BTW)

EU prices after sjarrel vs US prices after AppleStore

iPad 16GB WiFi €479 = $663 vs $499
iPad 32GB WiFi €579 = $802 vs $599
iPad 64GB WiFi €679 = $940 vs $699
iPad 16GB WiFi+3G €579 = $802 vs $629
iPad 32GB WiFi+3G €679 = $940 vs $729
iPad 64GB WiFi+3G €779 = $1078 vs $829

So the difference hovers between $160 and $250...
1) You must be nuts to buy those in EU.
2) I know it's VAT.
3) With those prices and with Chinese electronics at 40-60% of that, I don't think there is any real competition.

Knowing that, it's up to US companies to make it easier on us for their own good = profit.
If only we could buy from entourage directly (with or without VAT, we'll handle it here). Just get rid of EU retailers and everyone will be happy.

To be complete for Europe:

iPad..................VS.......Spain..France..Ital y...UK...Germ/Neth/Belg
16 GB Wi-Fi ....... $ 499 € 479 € 499 € 499 £ 429 € 499
32 GB Wi-Fi ....... $ 599 € 579 € 599 € 599 £ 499 € 599
64 GB Wi-Fi ....... $ 699 € 679 € 699 € 699 £ 599 € 699
16 GB Wi-Fi + 3G $ 629 € 579 € 599 € 599 £ 529 € 599
32 GB Wi-Fi + 3G $ 729 € 679 € 699 € 699 £ 599 € 699
64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G $ 829 € 779 € 799 € 799 £ 699 € 799

Thanks for the info on tax. Same here in Japan where prices posted include tax. Being from the USA it still surprises me sometimes.

I Mentioned the PocketBook in my earlier postand they seem to be using the same German distributor that Entourage are using. So expect the same price differentials.

Entourage can you sell it direct ? plus USPS Postage (I find them the most efficient and value for money for US to UK) We can handle tax when it arrives here. (currently 17.5%) Selling direct cuts out the middleman so maybe free postage

clealrly the very fact that we care enough to post shows there is a demand but not at any price.

So, if I understand correctly, iPad prices aren't too different in euros from the US price. Mind you, that's not surprising, as Apple makes them for a fraction of their retail cost, so they can keep the international pricing down while still making a great profit (and the retailers can make their profit, too). I guess comparing with iPad is apples-to-oranges enTourage isn't manufacturing them in the millions with an obscene profit margin...