Huge price differential - Acronis backup UK / vs USA

whs · 20 May 2011

In most EU countries the consumers are being milked by the companies and the goverments. When I order something from Newegg in Florida, I pay no sales tax. When I order the same item in Germany from a comparable mail order house, I pay 19% VAT plus the item is a lot more expensive to start with. That is why I lug most of my equipment from the US - including laptops. Since my wife is a US citizen, there is no issue with customs and I can bring $500 worth of goods free of tax also.

But a real scandal is the other way around. In Germany, I live 10 miles from the Mercedes plant where the cars come off the assembly line. But if I were to buy one of those cars in Florida (provided one day I could afford it), I could buy them 40% cheaper than from my local German dealer (5 miles from the plant). The same goes for a lot of products that come from EU countries. A Cerutti dinner jacket I bought in Florida was 4 times cheaper than in a German store - exact same jacket. Go figure.

mickey megabyte · 20 May 2011

the phenomenon is locally known as 'rip-off britain'

(first time i'm used the word 'phenomenon' in a long time - phenomenal! :))

jimbo45 · 20 May 2011

Hi all
Thanks guys for the various explanations.

Physical goods I can understand -- transport / fuel / warehouse costs are ENORMOUS in UK / Europe (W.) compared with the US -- but downloading a piece of software from a CENTRAL SERVER that could be located on one of the moons of Jupiter for all I care ---- where's the extra cost.

Even if VAT were chargeable the price is still higher than it need be - and in any case "Educational Products" and similar carry no VAT in GB -- you CAN import loads of stuff into GB without paying VAT --it's a bit of a hassle but perfectly "doable" if you can take the time to hunt out the forms - a lot of computer software can be classed as "educational" - hence no VAT is chargeable - and fill in the Customs declaration - when I'm working in the UKI always try and get back the VAT -- it works in 90% of the time.

Perhaps Internet consumers need to get more savvy and get this sort of stuff sorted out. With an International market now its easy to compare prices so the consumer SHOULD be able to source stuff in the cheapest market.

In theory this should drive both PRICES and EXHORBITANT taxataion down.

Cheers

jimbo

tw33k · 20 May 2011

SIW2 said:

That includes the plus pack, tho, mate.

Normally it is $30 extra.

I don't know how they get away with that.

You have to pay extra for Acronis version of Adaptive restore ( most Paragon products include that - no extra charge ).

You also have to pay extra to get a winpe cd ( Paragon and macrium include that - no extra charge ).

Then - you have to download 1.9GB WAIK and make it yourself - unbelievable

I expect that saves Acronis having to pay the license fee to MS.

If you look at the OP, those prices also include the Plus Pack

SIW2 · 20 May 2011

That's me not reading properly then.

You are right Jimbo - we should vote with our wallets.

Not always so easy - some overseas sites don't take our payments ( there are workarounds - but I don't see the masses being able to do that )

It is also the case some things won't work cross border - an example in mickey's link :

HP print cartridges have been regionalised since 2004; as such, they not work in printers with a different RC. Canon print cartridges for the Pixma MP 480 will not work in printers of that type with a different RC either (even when listed on the packaging of the Canon printer cartridges in question).