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Prices Drive Australians To Grey Market For Hardware and Software

Posted by timothy on from the markets-should-be-bright-green dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Australian government has been running an inquiry into why technology is so much more expensive to buy down under than in the U.S. In response to the price difference, many consumers are turning to the Internet to buy tech that is imported through unofficial channels at cheaper prices from the U.S. Not to miss out on sales, some retailers are starting to set up special websites that sell this way too. The so-called 'grey market' can save you cash, but could it cost you more in the long run? This article looks at some of the potential problems for people buying technology this way." A companion article examines some of the nitty-gritty of price differences between Australia and the U.S., including the observation that entry-level salaries skew higher in Australia.

5 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Ah, the sweet smell of free trade... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Worldwide scrounging for the cheapest labor, juciest tax breaks, and laxest regulations for them, region coding and 'grey market' for you.

    Low friction international capital markets for them, border and immigrations controls for you.

    See, 'free trade' is awesome!

    1. Re:Ah, the sweet smell of free trade... by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah; I'm waiting for the day they abolish prices altogether and just list the cost of everything as a percentage of your income. That's the pricing model everything is moving towards anyway -- not what something is worth, but what they can get away with charging you. And if any of you asshats stand up and make an "invisible hand" argument, you're waking up tomorrow with a horse head next to you. This is not the result of free trade, but the restriction of free trade. Those corporations are shoving region coding down your throats, signing exclusive contracts and manipulating distribution channels to artificially alter the prices, and buying off government officials to make it all legal. That is not capitalism. It is not free trade. It is exploitative, and should be stopped.

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    2. Re:Ah, the sweet smell of free trade... by macraig · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What that counter-argument does is justify institutionalized usury. Usury is inequity in a transaction when there is not an equal exchange of value. That leads to concentration of wealth. Before the Industrial Age, gross concentration of wealth wasn't as commonplace, but the Industrial Age and mass production has made it possible to concentrate wealth in a fashion never seen before that: rather than ripping off just a few people for a lot, it's now possible to rip off a lot of people for just a little and still get just as filthy rich. The people who control the means of mass production can get filthy rich without ever having to worry about villagers wielding pitchforks; the usury is spread so thin that individual villagers just don't notice the tiny knife being inserted and twisted. Multiply that by hundreds of mass producers, though, and the villagers notice but can't figure out where to march with their pitchforks. That's why the Occupy movements are so disjointed right now; they really don't know who to blame because they have so many tiny little knives in their backs rather than one big one. I miss the good old days when you knew who the Really Bad Guy was. Now there's hundreds of Slightly Bad Guys.

  2. Re:Price fixing by camera makers push me there. by xaxa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is there a reason that there 'almost has to be a markup'(beyond the costs of shipping)?

    I don't know if this applies to Australia, but some products are more expensive in the EU because the legally mandated warranty for the product is longer than for the US. I can buy a TV here in the UK, and if it breaks within three years there's a good chance it's the place I bought it from's problem (there's some complication, depending how long it lasted). If a manufacturer makes shoddy products, they're either going to do some QA and try and send the better products to the EU, or increase prices to cover the increased costs.

    (Similarly, a company might increase costs in the USA to pay for the higher cost of liability insurance.)

  3. No way man! by JustAnotherIdiot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You mean when you artificially jack up prices, people will try to find a way around it?
    I'm shocked.

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    What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?