From: cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn)
Subject: Re: Record shops (LPs)
Organization: Digital Equipment Co. Ltd., Reading, England
Distribution: uk
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 21:08:49 GMT


In article <C01Iwx.6z6@exnet.co.uk>, dhd@exnet.co.uk (Damon) writes...
>In article <1992Dec23.151627.20703@spider.co.uk> michaelr@spider.co.uk (Michael S. A. Robb) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec23.095214.7523@memex.co.uk> scott@memex.co.uk (Scott Williamson) writes:
>>>Headline news today (Wednesday) is Trading Standards Office
>>>investigating how Sega and Nintendo can get away with charging more
>>>than 40 pounds for a game which costs less than 10 pounds to
>>>manufacture. Sounds like a bargain compared to CDs...
>>>
>>>In any case is this an unusually large mark-up for toys etc.?
>>>

Not really, it seems to be standard practice to use a 1 for 1 dollar for
pound exchange rate for any goods sold in the US. A $30 US book will sell
for #30 in the UK. The Sega products are also priced on this imaginary
1 for 1 exchange rate. This info is pretty current - I have compared
prices of both the US and UK Sega products in the last week. 

The British, and many other European consumers, are being totally ripped
off by ridiculous pricing. Many consumers are becoming aware of bargains
to be had by overseas shopping:

1) 10% of the Beer consumed in the UK is imported from French hypermarkets.
2) If you want info on buying goods in the US and importing them, I would
   recommend the following book:
   Buying Direct from the USA by Richard McBrien available from:
   Running Heads International, Grove House, 82 East Dulwich Grove, London
   SE22 8TW

>>Not really. The 10 pounds is the component price of the memory chips and plastic
>>casing to store the game. It does not take into account the amount of time and
>>money spent on developing the source code to go into the memory chips.
> 
 why are the goods 33% cheaper in the US then?

For anyone wanting more info on the Sega/Nintendo story, there is an article
on it on P3 of The Scotsman on 24th Dec 92.

The comment in that article from the Office of Fair Trading says "We are
not a price commission". Well if they're not, then it's about time we either
had one or we had someone doing something about it. As of this week I'm
officially redundant and will be moving to Edinburgh on Wednesday without
a job lined up. I've got a good mind to set up an import shop, selling
things like Levi's and CDs as near to US prices as can be acheived and
see what happens.

According to an article in the Scotsman on 19th December (P13), a Mintel
report shows that Britain is the 5th most expensive country in the
world for a "typical selection of 22 consumer items". In Germany and
the US, however, wages are higher and prices are lower. The UK has
the cheapest Mars bars and Baked Beans. The UK is a major oil producing
nation and has the cheapest petrol in Europe, but it's still 3 times
the price of petrol in the US. Why? I wonder what the duty is for 
someone importing petrol?

Maybe a decent set of prices in the UK is just what we need to get the
economy moving again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Craig Cockburn  (leaving Digital on 4th Jan)
New internet address: craig@smo.ac.uk (working now)
Voice after 7th Jan: +[44] 31 554 2926
Moving to Edinburgh, yahoo!
Newsgroups: uk.misc,demon.local
From: sjh@skewsby.demon.co.uk (Simon J Hopkins)