Not happy with how Apple treats us Aussies

I have to say, whilst I love Apple products, it really sucks having to pay a premium price on everything just because i'm an Aussie. The entire Apple product range is on average 10% more expensive than the equivalent found in the US or Hong Kong (iTunes downloads are near twice the price). With the exchange rate near enough to AU$1.00 = US$1.10, it's a double blow.

So for example - in the US you pay US$300 for the new FCP X. In Australia we're charged AU$320 - which works out to be US$350.

Apple Aus lost a sale to me recently as I just bought a brand new 2011 2.2 i7 MBP w/8G RAM for AU$2200 shipped (with warranty) via a HK seller. The equivalent machine here would retail at ~AU$2750. I saved around $500 by avoiding local retailers.

How does Apple justify this? Isn't it an example of price fixing (which is illegal here in Aus)? Australia is closer to China than the US afterall, so it can't be logistical costs, and there's no logistical cost in software downloads.... hmmm.

Australia fights with Apple on pricing | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Maybe things will change…

It's kinda the same up here in the far north, a lot of things you buy in stores are twice as expensive as down south.

The issue is certainly known by the right sources and matters will hopefully change in the near future. But don't kid yourself by thinking that it's just Apple who does this. I wish they didn't do it at all, and set a better example, but there is far worse gouging going on, especially by Adobe. Check out this article:

Apple boss confronts rip-off claims - technology | Stuff.co.nz

Doug

McYukon said:

It's kinda the same up here in the far north, a lot of things you buy in stores are twice as expensive as down south.

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Kind of hard to feel bad for you when the median incomes in the Yukon/NWT are the highest in the country (source).

Those are government employees that make 71k a year, not us normal workers

I guess you know what your next job is then.

To the OP - it's not price fixing. Apple can't change the prices of products on a daily basis to accommodate constantly changing currency values. Australia isn't the only country that experiences this either.

^^ I don't expect daily adjustments, but exchange rates have been at parity for at least a year and this trend isn't a short term bubble. A year is plenty long enough for Apple to sit on their haunches and be non reactive - something has to give to bring pricing back into line with other more competitive markets.

How can it not be considered price fixing? The Apple range is global and standardised, and better prices are available, but I can only buy within a defined channel at a fixed price

Che_Guitarra said:

How does Apple justify this? Isn't it an example of price fixing (which is illegal here in Aus)? Australia is closer to China than the US afterall, so it can't be logistical costs, and there's no logistical cost in software downloads.... hmmm.

Click to expand...

Items sold in different countries, sell for different prices for different reasons...it's NOT just a matter of currency conversion.

- Nick

It's not price fixing if Apple isn't in cahoots with another company to fix the prices of their products. Apple, as a company acting independently, has every right to sell their products for whatever they want. Granted, I don't have an understanding of Australian law (or any law beyond my own jurisdiction for that matter) but I'm willing to bet that without evidence that Apple is artificially fixing the prices in cooperation with other companies, it's not price fixing.

Considering they're teaming up with AT&T now, maybe that explains it all..

Doug b said:

The issue is certainly known by the right sources and matters will hopefully change in the near future. But don't kid yourself by thinking that it's just Apple who does this. I wish they didn't do it at all, and set a better example, but there is far worse gouging going on, especially by Adobe. Check out this article:

Apple boss confronts rip-off claims - technology | Stuff.co.nz

Doug

Click to expand...

AT&T is known for its high prices and ripoff schemes. I'm sad to hear Apple is following their lead

Going to work now but will comment when i get home. This subscribes me easy lol

But to the OP it is changing. On top of McYukon's link i have some others i will dig up later.
Put it this way, there is light at the end of the tunnel

Cheers

It's the same for us in the UK:

iPad 2 retails at $499 in the US which equates to £305. In the UK it retails at £399. That's a wide difference, but when one takes shipping and taxes and exchange rates and blah blah, the cost is always going to increase when the product is further from its starting point.

Yes, I know components are built right across the world, but it still has to travel. Also there's local laws which must be abided, particularly tough laws in the electrically powered consumer goods market.

Filterlab said:

It's the same for us in the UK:

iPad 2 retails at $499 in the US which equates to £305. In the UK it retails at £399. That's a wide difference, but when one takes shipping and taxes and exchange rates and blah blah, the cost is always going to increase when the product is further from its starting point.

Click to expand...

And of course folks in the UK have the VAT to deal with (as well as other countries)...so that always increases the cost of items vs. countries without VAT.

- Nick

Indeed. Still, despite the gap in price, the products are still most definitely worth it.

Apple is not the reason for complaint by me personally. If you want it buy it, if not don't bother.


What irks me is the price of memory etc from local dealers. Can purchase from say OWC, pay USPS first class air mail, receive goods within seven days and still costs half the price of local dealers. They may well bleat about online sales and poor business, but you have to put your product in the market place at a competitive price..

harryb2448 said:

What irks me is the price of memory etc from local dealers.

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Yeah...I remember what you've mentioned previously about ram prices in Australia. This is definitely something to be upset about. There's got to be an economically logical explanation for this sort of pricing.

- Nick

I also don't like that we can't buy certain songs or episodes because we live in Oz as well.

ie: Bones is done and over with for season 6 yet I have to WAIT for each episode each week! I wanted to purchase an album but itunes yelled at me and said "Sorry, it's not available to you in Australia".... but every other album this singer has done IS?

Little things like that really make me miss the U.S.