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03/22/2013 03:58:58 PM · #1 |
Very interesting article although I feel they may have made a typo on the price of photoshop.
Why should overseas customers pay more for itune songs and softwear when it is brought and downloaded online? They wonder why people end up buying pirated stuff!
Apple and Adobe products cost more in Australia |
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03/23/2013 04:45:18 PM · #2 |
Ok so Iâm continuing my rant even if no one else cares! This issue is really hotting up here and I can see lawsuits will be flying around soon.
I have posted a link to the latest article but for those who want the summary I have edited it below, basically âChoiceâ ( they are the leading consumer advocacy group in Australia) are endorsing and publishing a how to bypass online geo-blocks.
Choice endorses bypass on online geo blocks
Choice spokesman Matt Levey says the consumer group has published guidelines to help consumers circumvent geo-blocking, which prevents people from buying the cheaper, identical products available in other countries.
"[Geo-blocking] is the measure which forces you to the Australian part of Microsoft's or Adobe's site, rather than the cheaper identical products in the US part of the site," Mr Levey said.
"We'd argue there's a strong case that geo-blocking is anti-competitive so we certainly think there's a case for the committee to make a recommendation around that and for that to lead to some sort of government action."
Mr Levey says circumventing geo-blocks is still a "grey area".
"We're not talking about pirated products here," he said.
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03/23/2013 05:04:09 PM · #3 |
| I am with you. There was a thread some time ago where people started comparing camera prices across the different countries. As a Canon example, Japan was the most expensive, followed by Australia and then way down the list was UK and USA...I think! I can't remember what the thread was called. But anyway...there was no rhyme or reason for the price variances. |
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03/23/2013 05:24:48 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by Judi:
I am with you. There was a thread some time ago where people started comparing camera prices across the different countries. As a Canon example, Japan was the most expensive, followed by Australia and then way down the list was UK and USA...I think! I can't remember what the thread was called. But anyway...there was no rhyme or reason for the price variances. |
I can understand some reasoning for price variance in some hardware throughout the world but not to the degree we have currently.
But there is no sound reason for price variance for software.....a lot of these products you donât actually receive a disk at all it's all downloaded online and you receive an activation code.
I have just done a little experiment with this geo-blocking. I went to the Adobe US site and put Photoshop CS6 in a shopping cart at a price of $699 US....then magically you get redirected to the Adobe Australian site with Photoshop CS6 sitting in the cart with a price of $1168 Aus......currently the Australian dollar is worth more then the US $ so we should be able to purchase it cheaper!
Message edited by author 2013-03-23 17:25:42. |
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03/23/2013 05:33:48 PM · #5 |
... But isn't everything in Australia significantly more expensive than in the USA.
I have visited Oz on a few occasion and ended up have 50lbs of luggage that contained an assortment of items for friends of mine who live there. Things like cosmetics, batteries, phones, IT stuff etc., all of which were much cheaper on this side of the pond.
I also remember teasing  Beetle and her husband about the price of bananas, grape, soft drinks an a variety of other products when I visited last. Surprising that I can purchase Yellowtail wine cheaper in Ontario than I could in Oz, particularly when one considers where it comes from.
Could it be that the Australian government has a significant (outlandish) VAT on items coming from abroad?
Ray |
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03/23/2013 05:56:37 PM · #6 |
Rayâ¦. yes to a certain degree you are right about Australia being expensive, that is why many people shop online. And yes we pay a Goods and Service Tax of 10% on most itemsâ¦â¦..there is an exemption on small items brought from overseas online I think it is under $300 for the exemption.
But it still does not explain why these big IT companies treat us differently and this is why the Government has set up the inquiry.
A few quotes from the linked article in my first post:
'Australia Tax' Committee chairman Nick Champion says the inquiry has heard from many Australian consumers and organisations frustrated at the prices charged for digitally downloaded software, computer games, music, movies, and e-books.
"We've received evidence that big IT companies and copyright holders charge Australians, on average, an extra 50 per cent just because we live here, a practice referred to by consumers as the 'Australia Tax',"' Mr Champion said.
"In Australia, you pay on average 52 per cent more than an American consumer for the same top 50 iTunes songs," he said.
"It's the same file being downloaded more or less from the same server, but a 52 per cent price difference if you happen to be Australian." The editor of technology blog Gizmodo, Luke Hopewell, says Adobe is one of the worst offenders. |
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