So the new Razer Pro Type keyboard and Razer Pro Click mouse has been released, with the RRP set at $140 USD ($195.48 AUD) and $99 USD ($137.98 AUD) respectively. However, in the Razer Australia store, it costs $280 AUD for the keyboard and $190 AUD for the mouse, which is over 43% premium for the keyboard and over 37% premium for the mouse.
Can this steep price increase for the Australian market be justified?
"More-so in Victoria"
Yeah, nah. More-so in WA.
In the US, they know how much to charge for their manufacturer defined warranty.
Australia works on "reasonable* warranty and since the product is targeted at millennials…
Ah yes those millennials exercising their lawful consumer rights…
I'm sure back in your day things lasted because you looked after them properly.
Ah yes those millennials exercising their lawful consumer rights…
Precisely. Since the expectations, however ludicrous they may be, is now made law, the manufacturer/distributer has an increased cost of business.
It's also your right to feel offended and you sure are exercising that liberally.
I'm sure back in your day things lasted
Well, back in the day everything was made to last wasn't it
Lol. Back in my day, we know how to read the expressed warranty instead of being "surprised". We just don't buy if the warranty is crap.
300m vs 25m
mM
Sorry. Wrong unit of measurement. Should have been 300 yards 😁
🤣
US also pay sales tax or state tax (on top of the RRP), whatever you want to call it.
Yeah but they’re never as high as 10% like GST
FYI, you can find some places where the combination of sales and local tax exceeds 10% but in general you're right. I don't think this explains the AU/US price difference though.
Showing my age, but in the pre-GST days tax on electronics was 22% .The Australia Tax is more than just GST though, I guess volumes play a part but ultimately they price it at what they think the market is willing to pay, relative to the earnings.
With regards to difference between USD vs AUD pricing, this is normal for most products. Not just PC parts. This applies even to software.
No one would pay RRP for Razer products tho. If you're patient wait for them to do some 50% off promo on their Razer store (example: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/514079 , or cyber weekend / black friday). Or get it on Amazon US via Amazon AU.
From my personal experience with Razer keyboards & mice, I've been turned off by Razer's build quality from a few years ago. Hopefully it's improved since.
Agreed, I've only had one Razer keyboard but it has put me off buying any other products of theirs.
Listed USA RRP doesn’t include the relevant sales taxes as they change state to state.
Take into account that $99 USD RRP price is excluding local taxes in USA while $190 AUD mouse in Australia includes local taxes (GST).
So it's not really 37% premium for the mouse. When you exclude GST, it's down to 25%.
I think the difference is just down to the cost of running a business in Australia which is more expensive here. Smaller market means companies can't really take advantage of economies of scale and the fact that minimum wage in Australia is twice what it is in America. Prices in Australia reflect that.
But that doesn't mean we should feel bad about it. From our point of view, I think we are getting good deal. Goods are 25% more expensive but we earn generally twice as much. Any American would exchange with you gladly.
we earn generally twice as much
You are completely uninformed about reality given the national median income has been falling for what is coming up to a five decade period.
Next you'll be trying to pretend Australia has better educational outcomes than most third world countries instead of lagging behind as most education budget goes to the wealthiest in the country.
Amazing what brainwashing has people believing.
Australia's median, full-time salary stands at $71,500 AUD ~= $51,200 USD
USA's median, full-time salary stands at $38,000 USD
But I'd argue that US figures are inflated because they do not include 7 million undocumented workers (5% of their workforce) who work at minimum or below-minimum wage. So to get real median, you'd need to look at 45% percentile instead of 50% which is only $30,000 USD.
So that's $30,000 USD in America vs $51,200 USD in Australia. Not twice as much but close.
US figures are inflated because they do not include 7 million undocumented workers
One needs information to form a median.
It's very hard to find the employment documents of undocumented workers. I think it is fair to exclude undocumented workers as the purpose of income insight is to improve the lives of residents. Legal residents.
PS. I agree with you.
If you're going to start going into detail then you need to look at cost of living as a whole.
Happens for everything - The new Dell XPS13 (with the Australian base spec) is $1,200 USD. In Australia, the base model retails for $2,803 AUD.
Since when is $1,200 USD = $2,803 AUD?
Even with taxes and our GST, the price differential is absurd.
i think they’re still different specs? US seems to only offer the 8gb variant. Of course I agree they’re are immensely overpriced here
They juggle the skews a bit every few days, it seems like Dell, HP and Lenovo have a competition to make their consumer storefronts as unintitive as possible.
Currently Aussie's base model has:
Base model(s) in the US are currently:
OR
Agreed, the price jump (even with taxes, GST etc. is pretty insane).
ohh thanks for the info. Yeah I was going to get the XPS13 till I saw the US pricing.
@RobBoss: Have a suss of the Dell Outlet. Picked up an XPS 13 9300 (2020) myself for a fraction of the cost, even after adding additional warranty.
Top spec with FHD+ is about $1,700 before warranty add-ons (close to 50% off).
See, you're labouring under the free market delusion where you think there's a competition and prices are as low as they can possibly be because of this.
But the reality is everyone selling knows that a race to the bottom means less money for everyone so no one drops prices and the prices are set to what the market will pay.
There is no competition.
There is no competition.
Damn PC shops selling that one mouse.
less money for everyone
So the money would be worth more since currency is just a representation of value.
Let's pay everyone a bazillion dollars each for every second of labour. Everyone will be able to buy their own spaceship! Space expedition achieved. Final frontier conquered.
So don't buy it?
Razer China are often even cheaper than Razer US ;)
Yes, I agree with you on the overpricing.
Years ago (pre-Internet), when I used to buy software manuals (dBase, Symphony, Paradox etc.), they would cost anything from $A60-90 per item in Australia.
I used to go on trips from Brisbane to Hong Kong, Singapore or Penang and buy as many manuals (that were relevant at the time) that would fit in my baggage allowance.
Prices were $A6-$A10 each.
Many of these books would have a disclaimer inside the back cover which read "Not to be available or sold in Australia".
So, here we are in 2020 and it's still the same.
(No, I didn't go there just to buy the books, that would be silly.)
Is it worth it though?
Maybe buy a better/cheaper brand?
Well I reckon that is the case with many things we buy here.
I care about the Australia tax.
But not about razer products.
We get thrashed basically for everything here.
It's called Australia Tax.
More-so in Victoria