Prices Drive Australians To Grey Market For Hardware and Software

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.

FUD all the way down

[Anonymous Coward]

Read the 'article'. Was not impressed. Sounds like a press release from the 'white market' sellers telling Aussies that the 'grey market' is risky at best and could cost them twice as much.

This is so with any product purchased any where from anyone no matter which color they choose to paint their store.

because of the extra staff needed

[Anonymous Coward]

Companies like Newegg and Amazon must employ extra staff to invert the contents of all the packages to be sent to the Australian market. It's hard to have robots do this because of the sheer variety of size and contents. Most electronics are made in the northern hemisphere also to be sold there, so are naturally constructed rightside-up for that market. Employing so many people to flip the products over costs money, which is naturally passed on to customers in that market.

It sucks for our AU friends, but it's the natural cost of being in such a small niche market.

Re:Price fixing by camera makers push me there.

[Frankie70]

I am in USA and I'm holding in my hand a box of advil ibuprofen tablets 200 mg per tablet. Now its getting late in the morning so if a canadian out there could put down his second molsen breakfast beer for a moment and shovel the snow to make a path to his or her medicine cabinet and report the size of a canadian advil / ibuprofen tablet I'd appreciate it. My hypothesis is that skinny canadian advil tablets are a mere 100 mg per tablet or maybe only 75 mg as opposed to the fatty american 200 mg tablets.

I checked with a skinny canadian friend of mine. He said that he usually just looks at photographs of American 200 mg Advil. That keeps him going for 2-3 days.

Re:because of the extra staff needed

[crazyjj]

Not to mention the fact that discs spin in the opposite direction down in Australia.

Re:Price fixing by camera makers push me there.

[RDW]

A similar story: I bought a box set of the first four series of Doctor Who from the UK (Ecclestone and Tennant's series, basically.)

Well, that highlights the real dangers of buying grey market. Instead of the first four series (Hartnell and Troughton), they fobbed you off with some modern imitation with Billy Piper in it!