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Thread ID: 63027 2005-10-27 02:40:00 Are Video Cards A Rip Off In NZ? deanbo (9151) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
399934 2005-10-27 02:40:00 Just curious why a $429 US graphics card (ATI 1800 XL or $613 NZ) costs over a grand in this country? deanbo (9151)
399935 2005-10-27 02:42:00 Hi, and Welcome to PressF1

Heres my answer...
The cost to ship it over, advertising and increasing the price to make a profit from its sale. :2cents:
bob_doe_nz (92)
399936 2005-10-27 02:45:00 Your wondering why a smaller(read, so tiny we are lucky to get any high-end video cards at all) market 6000 miles away has a larger price tag? Metla (12)
399937 2005-10-27 03:02:00 Economies of scale. It costs essentially the same to run a business here delivering goods to a potential market of a few hundred thouasand (at best) as it does to run the same business delivering to a bigger audience in Oz, or the US. And then, as Metla says, there's the shipping costs, etc etc. And of couse, if you are a huge US etailer, acting as a shop front for others without having actual warehousing yourself, your costs are low, your audeince large, and the competition fierce so that you put a low margin on the product and make your money through share volume.

NZ has many advantages but getting imported goods as cheap as you'll get them in the US is not one of them (unless, of course, you are an individual running a business out of your bedroom and using Trademe as your shop front ....)
Biggles (121)
399938 2005-10-27 03:16:00 haha... of course the price is gonna be higher in NZ, for almost everything...it's basic economics I guess... population size, value of the dollar, import costs etc... man, you should hear the prices my chinese friends get their gear for... it would make you cry... but atleast sometimes when they get their stuff through the mail, it's broken! that makes me feel a little better, but I'm evil! haha... :lol: bizzack (7739)
399939 2005-10-27 03:25:00 Just curious why a $429 US graphics card (ATI 1800 XL or $613 NZ) costs over a grand in this country?

Because there are suckers who still pay that much for them.. :thumbs:

Nah, it is to do with the wholesaler intrastructure in NZ (i.e. it is poor).

Get someone in the US to ship it to you, but watch out for the GST that is liable.
gibler (49)
399940 2005-10-27 03:30:00 Computer/electronics parts are an interesting product from an economics point of view especially in relation to New Zealand. Purchase Price Parity in theory would mean that prices should be equivalent, however they arn't for reasons stated above - in terms of electronics etc, because they are generally easier to ship, PPP should hold to a greater degree than a car. There is the idea that arbitrage will occur, where you buy it cheap in US/Asia and sell it here until an equilibrium price is reached (typically the NZ price would fall only as we are such a tiny market) and to a point that is what is happening with parallel importers and trademe is doing. Retail stores are already trying to meet parallel importers, bringing the price down closer to what it is in the states/asia. DangerousDave (697)
399941 2005-10-27 03:33:00 Looking at the available models, Only one wholesaler has brought them into NZ, so their is no competion futher up the supply line (meaning retailers only have the single source)

The price will level out as more range becomes available, Early adaters as always can expect to get hit hardest.

If you want to make a realistic comparison then pick a card that is easily available.
Metla (12)
399942 2005-10-27 05:40:00 And you all forgot buy price.
The more of an item you buy (wholesalers etc) the better the price you get it for. Not as much call for mega quantities of a particular itme here with our smaller population. And then when you take into account most of the PC owners are using rubbish internet boxes that probably wouldn't even have such an item - that leaves the gamers and a few others who would want a high end card. Even less of us.
pctek (84)
399943 2005-10-27 06:10:00 qmb.co.nz
This Ati card don't cost a grand at QMB.
Mr Wetzyl (362)
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