Comments on: Angry consumers flood IT price hike inquiry

By: jasmcd

jasmcd — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 23:55:49 +0000

Other issues get private submissions as well, however you are probably looking on the wrong news outlet to be gaining insight into the number of private submissions to government regarding gay marriage.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 02:21:32 +0000

Hey djos, mate I’m pretty sure you can send them a PDF, that’s how they prefer it instead of CD/postal.

By: djos

djos — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 02:22:34 +0000

No, annoyingly there is no electronic submission method! :-(

By: Graham R

Graham R — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 01:34:50 +0000

Check out SLR camera and lens prices in Australia compared with OS. Canon seems to be the worst – for example the Canon 5d Mk3 retails for A$4399 in Australia and US$3500 in the United States (sells for about US$3000), and of course they are all made in the same factory in Asia.
Then they make it hard to import grey camera with restrictive warranties, even though a camera of all things is something you probably would like a global warranty on when traveling.

By: muso1

muso1 — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:31:45 +0000

Just on a selfish note, it’s good to see the technology companies caught out being unreasonable, instead of music companies for a change.
Apple are an obvious case for me.
I was just comparing iTunes last week. A top ten song costs 99 cents more from Australian iTunes compared to iTunes USA. This is comparing like for like – eg Katy Perry, Chris Brown and Nicky Minaj current hits. You can buy all those songs for only $0.99US from Amazon mp3, but Amazon wont sell you an mp3 if you aren’t in America.
What happened to the global market place?
I priced Final Cut Pro a couple of years ago, while traveling between London, New York and Sydney over a week or so. NY Apple Store was the cheapest, then London. The Apple store in Sydney was significantly more. This is an Apple shop selling an Apple product!

By: midspace

midspace — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 23:28:47 +0000

I’ve heard from friends who have seen price discrepancies on the PS3 network when buying downloadable content.

I haven’t been able to verify it myself, as I haven’t seen any listed prices.

Just to point out, not all of us have enough information to make a reasonable submission, or are absolutely sure that the information we have is a clear price hike.
That, and sometimes you have to use unusual methods to access the US price information from some sites, as they geo lock you to AU prices.

By: midspace

midspace — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 23:24:39 +0000

Have you made a submission?

By: bern

bern — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 09:44:21 +0000

It’s a lot of submissions for one of these inquiries… considering the vast, and I do mean *vast* majority of Australians wouldn’t even be aware this inquiry is going on.

By: Marcus

Marcus — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 08:42:32 +0000

31 is not a flood.

I guess Australians really don’t give a damn they’re being ripped off.

Disappointing.

By: Pineapples McFriday

Pineapples McFriday — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 08:22:14 +0000

While I agree with all the sentiment and the fact that Aussies get the raw end of the stick w/ regards to pricing, 28 submissions is hardly a flood.

By: djos

djos — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 05:50:04 +0000

It’s not just IT gear either, here are 2 examples I’ve experianced recently:

1/ Denon AVR-4311 Amplifier – AUS RRP: $2,999, International RRP: $1,999USD – cost to purchase from Hong Kong, $1,770USD + $200 Shipping. I didnt have to pay GST on this only a $60 customs inspection charge so all up it cost me over $900AUD less than to buy the same 240v model here in Australia (dollar was slightly above parity at the time).

What I dont get is the 30% Australian Markup over and above the international RRP, If I could buy it for $1,770USD and the retailer is still making money, that means there is at least $300 profit in the international RRP!!

2/ Baby Jogger City Elite Pram – AUS RRP: $900, we bought it from New Zealand of all places for $580AUD shipped to our door saving us over $300AUD!!!!

That implies there is at least 50% markup on this product here in Aus and the Pram is the Aus/NZ version, not the US version which we could get for the same price.

I strongly suspect that the biggest culprit in all the is the independent distributors and the OEM’s are just doing it because the independent distro’s have conditioned us with high prices. I’d really like to see a ban on “Exclusive Distribution Deals” to get some more competition into the market place – This might need us to visit a few countries that we have free trade deals with to prevent companies on in those territories ignoring local laws but it may help.

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 04:56:20 +0000

Adobe has been so disingenuous as to label their Creative Cloud pricing on the AU website as including GST. Which would lead you to believe Australians are being charged 14.5% more than the US. In fact, it’s billed out of Ireland and doesn’t include GST so we’re actually paying 26% more. On top of that, they get to avoid paying company tax on the purchase as well.

Nice one Adobe.

By: Dean

Dean — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 04:21:16 +0000

It’s interesting to see the kinds of issues that get responses like thing from the general public. The other issue in recent memory was the R18+ rating for games which got a pretty massive response from the general public.

I’m not sure what it says about us as a society when this kind of thing gets such a huge public response, but things like the issue of gay marriage, asylum seekers or whatnot is relatively quiet. Though I guess the government isn’t specifically asking for feedback on those issues, like it did with the R18+ one or this one…