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Australian IT Price Hike Inquiry Kicks Off: Submissions Wanted
New submitter wirelessduck writes "After some recent complaints from a Labor MP about price markups on software and technology devices in Australia, Federal Government agencies decided to look in to the matter and an official parliamentary inquiry into the issue was started. 'The Federal Parliament's inquiry into local price markups on technology goods and services has gotten under way, with the committee overseeing the initiative issuing its terms of reference and calling for submissions from the general public on the issue.'"
It's not so much about high prices - it's about price discrimination. Yes, companies can charge whatever they damn well want for their software. And if they sell it for half the price in the US as compared to Australia, then customer's can damn well buy it wherever they want. And if companies introduce artificial barriers to stop the customers doing just that, that's when the government needs to smack them down.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Is as useful as tits on a bull.
No It's not
Companies can charge whatever they damn well want for their software.
Sure, but they shouldn't be allowed to stop you importing it from another region.
Who is anybody to tell them different?
The Australian Government
At least a part of the problem is that Adobe US will not willingly sell to an Australian. Actually, I don't know about Adobe, but that's the general problem they're trying to address. Companies are getting their US distributors to agree not to sell to Australians as part of their distribution agreement, specifically to stop Australians from getting them from overseas.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Allow free importation of goods from the US and other markets and watch the vendor premiums for your mysterious island continent collapse. If Australians could simply buy from Adobe US, It'd be pretty difficult for Adobe to maintain a price premium...
I hope this is intended to be sarcastic. Firstly, Australia already has a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Secondly, the reason I can't buy from Adobe US, or Steam US, or iTunes US, or Whatever US has nothing to do with the government, but that each of those respective entities won't let me purchase from them and will refuse to accept my Australian credit card and billing address. Why? So they can slug me a 200% markup on the Australian store, despite $1AUD frequently exceeding $1 USD. The massive marking up of digital products downloaded over the internet is not the fault of the government.
Y'know why vendors price their goods absurdly high in Australia? Because they can.
And because international retailers selling products to Australians online are colluding with domestic retailers to raise prices or eliminate online sales entirely. From that article:
THERE are growing calls for Australia's competition watchdog to conduct an inquiry into local apparel distributors who are preventing overseas suppliers from selling their products to Australian consumers on international websites or instructing them to increase their web prices. The calls come after The Age last week revealed that a growing number of Australian fashion importers and wholesalers are reaching agreements with international brands to lift prices or cease shipping here.
In Australia, retailers will frequently impose 300-400% markups on items found easily online. That is why an inquiry is needed.
Allow free importation of goods from the US and other markets and watch the vendor premiums for your mysterious island continent collapse. If Australians could simply buy from Adobe US, It'd be pretty difficult for Adobe to maintain a price premium...
Ummm...
Parallel importation of software is perfectly legal. I buy all my games from Hong Kong or the UK. I can order Photoshop from B&H PhotoVideo in New York and they'll deliver it to me in BumFuck, Western Australia. Ooops, sorry, that's Perth, Western Australia.
What I have a small problem with is the fact that I cant buy from Australian stores, who pay Australian taxes and support the Australian economy. The government has a very big problem with this.
But my prediction is that the report will tell us what we already know, Aussies are getting ripped off, the distributors are gouging prices and they'll have a nice list of recommendations that'll never happen because if for no other reason, the opposition will stop it because it wasn't their idea.
BTW, Kangaroo's aren't like Velociraptor Sheep, first they are bigger then a Velociraptor or a sheep. They are more like 6 ft tall bounding rocks because it looks like your car has hit a rock after running into one.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Posting AC because of Slashdot's bug that prevents me from logging in.
A Technet subscription is mysteriously $200 more dear a year in Australia despite us being quite happy to use US English and keyboards. Yet in Thailand, it's $40 a year, where they need a full translation and separate keyboard support. What's the difference?
The Thai pirate software a lot. A *lot*.
So I ask you, what's the simplist way for Australians to reduce the price of Technet?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Well, that customer testimonial has sold me! Unfortunately, I've already spent this month's IT budget on some Nigerian anti-virus software (they requested I pay for it in person, my flight leaves in an hour...busy busy), so I can't buy any.
However, a close friend of mine has confided in me that the company he works for is having some major, major security problems, and has given him a HUGE budget to buy whatever he needs to shore things up. His number is 202-324-3000, ask for "Bob" (his last name escapes me, I think it's Russian; lots of consonants, very few vowels).
P.S. Getting through the company phone system can be a bit of a pain (they have this automated system, and they are always changing their options...it can be quite trying). If you can't find him in the company phone book, just ask the operator to find his extension for you. Bear in mind, these people are all about security, so they may say things like "we do not have a Bob working for us" or "do you know who you are talking to?"; just relax, it's all a bluff. Bob's pretty far up there on the company hierarchy, and sometimes these annoying sales people dial the wrong number...just tell them that you "now exactly who you are talking to, and it's not Bob" (you need to be insistent at times with these people, so don't give up). There is, of course, a chance that Bob might be out of his office; if that's the case, ask them to put on their chief IT security guy (he handles purchase orders when Bob isn't around), and tell him everything you've told me here. Be sure to have him install a demo version of the software on his machine, and to walk him through the features; he'll be so impressed, he will probably ask for an on-site demonstration from you and your fellow coworkers. Also, remember to mention any other software your company makes, that he might be interested in.
I am John Hurt.