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The All New Kindle - ripoff!

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rgdot:
Cheaper to get someone to buy you one and ship it.

Carol Haynes:
Oops - got this slightly wrong!

The US has two versions of the standard new Kindle. The $79 version is ad supported (good eh?).

If you want the equivalent of the UK version (ie. not ad supported) it is $109. Still $30 cheaper.

Someone pointed out to me that the UK version included taxes and Amazon US ads taxes at checkout - but even so the state with the highest sales tax is California at 8.25% so even at the most expensive in the US it costs $118, still $21 cheaper than the UK market (and over $100 cheaper than SA).

Strangely in Europe the Germans get it marginally cheaper than the UK (about £5 UK) but it isn't even sold in France - amazon.fr redirects to amazon.com.

You also have to be careful if you buy products in the wrong region - Amazon say some of the US models don't work outside the US - though they aren't specific!

Renegade:
If you want the equivalent of the UK version (ie. not ad supported) it is $109. Still $30 cheaper.
-Carol Haynes (October 03, 2011, 02:52 AM)
--- End quote ---

Still, that's more than 20% more expensive. (22%) It does not cost 22% more on a hundred-dollar product to ship it from the US to the UK, or from wherever to the UK.

I would love to know the W5 on that 20%.

Dormouse:
VAT=20%
Does that do most of it?

40hz:
I don't think US sales taxes have any bearing on non-US prices. US prices are always quoted to domestic markets without any tax being factored in.

I think the Kindle is just more expensive outside the US. And I'd guess it's probably more because there's a buffer amount factored in for exchange rate fluctuation than for any other reason. Amazon has also probably built in some 'contingency' for "inventory shrinkage" (i.e. in-transit theft/damage and arbitrary 'customs' seizures). And possibly something additional for any potential legal hassles (i.e. local IP or patent lawsuits)

But if you're really getting skunked on price I'd first look at what import tariffs might be being added - and then at what the local major distributors may be doing to jack up the price tag.

***

Amazon US ads taxes at checkout
-Carol Haynes (October 03, 2011, 02:52 AM)
--- End quote ---

FTI:  In the US, there is no sales or VAT tax on the federal level. Sales taxes are strictly state taxes. The federal government does charge excise taxes on some products, but they're primarily luxury items. Electronics devices aren't considered luxury items.

Amazon also does not currently collect taxes on sales to every state it ships to:

Items sold by Amazon.com LLC, or its subsidiaries, and shipped to destinations in the states of Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota, or Washington are subject to tax.
--- End quote ---

That doesn't mean the customers aren't legally obligated to pay the sales tax. You're supposed to fill out a form and remit it to your local state revenue service. But enforcement is spotty to non-existent, so 99.9% of the public ignores it.

It's also a little more complicated in that many states also have local "sales & use" taxes which get lumped on top of state rates. New York is probably has the most complex tax structure. (NY State sales tax is 4%. But if you live in New York City, you'll pay 8.875%  (4% State + 4.5% City + 0.375% for Metropolitan Transit Authority services.)

It also gets further complicated by states that break products and services into categories with differing sales tax rates.

This nonsense is one of the reasons (there are others) why the state governors haven't been successful in getting the US Legislature to enact federal laws that would require online merchants to collect taxes in states where they don't have a physical (i.e. brick & mortar) presence. But they've been persistent. And with the cutback in federal funds flowing back to the states (since we're currently paying for a huge overseas military deployment) it will probably only be a matter of time before that changes.
 :-\

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