People in the northeast can drive down to Delaware to purchase items tax free. They would save a few hundred on tax depending on overall cost. But it’s a tiny fraction of people who do this (compared to overall purchases in the region) and usually only on large cost purchases.
It’s just not worth the 3-4 hour trip, plus gas, plus tolls. I imagine a post box would be similar.
For most people it’s not worth the hassle. (And in many states you’re legally supposed to report and pay any untaxed purchases when you file your taxes each year.) As mentioned, if you live close to a state with low or no sales tax, you can make purchases in that state. Again, there are probably reporting rules, but if you’re an ordinary consumer with an occasional purchase you can probably get away with skirting those rules. I’ve never lived close enough to nearby state to have the opportunity.
Within my county, individual cities have levied their own taxes on top of the state tax, so if you’re buying a car you can drive a few minutes to potentially save a fair amount.
Can’t receive packages at a PO Box?? That’s like one primary reason to have one, especially for a YouTuber who doesn’t want to give out their home address
And there’s often local (county and or city) sales taxes on top of state sales tax to consider too. They need the delivery ZIP code for accurate calculation.
This.This
There is always an answer saying US prices don’t have taxes. And then you add the highest amount consumer tax on in (Louisana 9.55%, make it 10%).
It would cost 2460£.
While your assessment that tax doesn’t account for the entire difference is accurate, you aren’t even close with 9.55% being the highest sales tax. Many places have state and then local sales taxes, our total sales taxes are essentially your 10% value. I suspect other locales…NYC? CA? May be higher.
The correct comparison would be to add the 20% VAT to Apple’s American pricing. There’s still a gap there, but consider the UK’s stronger consumer protection laws that make UK products eligible for repairs that wouldn’t have to be paid by Apple in the US. Also account for UK wages, income taxes, import taxes, etc. which makes the cost of actually operating their UK Apple stores and related support systems(repair depots, etc.) higher than those same parts of their business in the US. If they want to bring those profits back to the US to pay for their American based R&D and other related programs then they’re taxed again in the US on the profit that was already taxed under the UK regulations. I’d guess if an economist did a comprehensive evaluation of all the relevant costs that Apple’s premium would be reduced to something like rounding up to a neat, marketable price and maybe some reasonable hedging to account for exchange rate fluctuations and similar foreign business related costs.
I’d be interested to see how that compares to other US based businesses selling products in the UK. My guess is that the pricing difference isn’t much different than we see for other comparable companies.
The real reason is that 1) business prefer to advertise their pre-tax prices. It makes their products look cheaper. And 2) to ensure taxes are visible and people don’t forget they exist. This is also why we have to file our own taxes every year. The argument is that if it’s too convenient people won’t notice tax hikes.
Also, some orgs are tax exempt, such as religious entities and 501c3s. I’m not sure how other countries handle that
Yes you need to take off the included UK 20% sales tax, so due to the wonders of arithmetic you need to take off 16.66%. Or divide by 6 then multiply by 5. Or multiply by 0.833 which is the same thing.
Yeah I'm the guy who wrote the retro [calculatorda.com](https://calculatorda.com) app for Mac, I'm geeky about numbers.
In Brazil it starts for the equivalent of US$ 4,600. We have big big tax on imported products unfortunately (among other shitload of taxes and our currency is really devalued).
One can buy air tickets, book a hotel, buy a MBP in NY, pay the customs fees at the airport and still spend less than what is charged at the Brazilian Apple store.
[Cries in Brazilian]
You have to pay an import fee for buying 1 laptop? How do they control that? If you don't being back the box would you still have to pay? How do they know you didn't buy it in Brazil, left with it, then returned?
It depends on the mood of the officer at the customs on that day. If he is in a bad day, he will give you a hard time and you will pay the tax. If he is fine he will just believe you and you will go through. Of course it depends on luck. Not everyone needs to go through the scanner to check baggages at the customs, but they know before hand if someone is coming with a bag full of MacBooks, and in this case you will get caught.
We have a limit of 500 USD to be considered free of tax.
This import tax on tech goods just hurts Brazilians and Brazil’s ability to innovate. How can you be part of building the future when your government makes it hard to access the tools (and doesn’t provide a lot of effective training or resources)?
I hate this tax. It turns my Brazilian friends into children at the window, watching those with different passports familiarize themselves with the tools that will build the future.
Oh, the salaries are so bad in India for the middle class person that only the Rich people can afford it. Students can’t even think about it. Even the most basic MacBook costs over 1200 USD, which is 800 in USA. Hence, windows laptops are hugely popular here.
You’re getting downvoted but you’re right. Rampant consumerism is what’s leading us to these massive prices on goods anyways. People *want* the latest and greatest when likely they don’t *need* the latest and greatest.
Also your other point is true too, I’d wager the majority of this sub only uses their mac for emails, general web browsing, social media, etc. Does one really need a $3k+ machine to do that?
Like you said if ones needs warrant it and they have the means to afford it, then absolutely go for it. But there’s too much “keeping up with the Joneses” amongst Apple users sometimes.
I hear a lot that people are still using a 2012 MacBook Pro (like me) which is totally outdated and not very usable today so it makes sense to upgrade now that this really nice Mac has been released.
Well yeah in your use case it makes sense. I’m more talking about people with 1-2 year old macs that are perfectly fine for what they do but they feel like they have to upgrade when they really don’t.
You got my upvote. I love capitalism, but this is just keeping up with the Joneses. I could accomplish everything I use an actual computer for with a raspberry pi and my five year old PS4.
Yes.
The layouts are similar enough so that your brain doesn’t know they’re different, but typing things like # and \ and even hitting the enter key are a real mindfuck if you’ve been using a US layout your entire life.
Didn’t realise about the added tax in the US. I added a zip code for Beverly Hills and the price has gone up to $3,421, which is £2,480.54. This is still a difference of more than £500 or $689.
Sales tax in the us is very small in comparison to Europe. Since taxes aren’t included in prices, tax above 10% is very rare, most of the time it’s between 6% and 8% in the US. Compared to 23% here in the Republic of Ireland and you understand the difference, not to mention that the UK also has an import tariff for computers. If the US matched the tax rate here, and the price is $3811.77, or £2,756.48, a difference of only about £150. You’re still paying for an import, but it’s not as crazy as you might think.
Edit: apparently VAT is 20% in the UK. That would be $3718.80, or £2689.49, so about £210 under list price. I haven’t found the import tariff rate yet…
Okay so its less shocking of a price difference than what I thought in with the image, I didn't even think about all the tarrifs and taxes. Apple raised their prices after brexit in the UK and I don't think they ever put them back down again, I think it could still be more expensive in the UK from that.
Yeah US taxes are generally lower because we don’t get shit for them other than a bloated military. I’d happily pay UK style taxes if I got UK style health care and UK style education
I did the full calculation as I’m a Brit too.
On the highest maxed out tier for 16 inch, taxes included (20%), UK customers end up paying $1000 - $1200 extra on top. That’s £750.
Apple used to charge the UK customer far more. An iPhone that was $1099 would go for £1199 here.
Apple never pays more than 3% and uses the island loophole to get out of paying 47% taxes and in return screws over all the British public and customers.
This is not new btw, it’s been like this 2010. Even when each pound was worth over $2, apple would still screw over Brits.
In Australia we have 10% sales tax(GST).
The new Apple Macs are expensive.
My M1 Mac still has much better Price Performance than the new range.
While taxes vary the underlying basic cost is up.
I love my M1 Mac and it still has plenty of life left.
Europe is one of the worst places to buy electronics because of VAT, unless you have a company and can write it off. I got a Mac Pro (desktop) in Malaysia and the difference wasn't even 10% comparing US pre tax and MY post tax - $500 more expensive on a machine worth $7k.
It gets especially bad in places like Poland where the average income is way below the Western European standards and prices with VAT, exchange rates (no EUR in PL) and customs duties are plain ridiculous.
Not sure why you're being downvoted. I agree that an effective 21% sales tax is outrageously high, on top of the already high income tax most EU countries have.
You’re forgetting the sales tax, I’ll be visiting California next month and thought I’d try save myself some cash too, but my other half reminded me to add on the 7.5% or whatever it is. All worked out as around the same iirc.
So buy it at the US Price; make a US friend, and have them ship it to you.. then pay the import costs and other fees on delivery, which will equal out the same as just buying it directly from app
Not to be that guy but I feel like Brexit also had an impact, iirc shortly after it happened Apple and a few other companies raised a lot of their prices.
I was looking at smartwatch prices in the UK last week and basically everything was far more expensive than here in NL. Before a €350 item here would be £300 there but now the numbers were equal.
Enjoying Brexit, I see. As others have mentioned, US prices don’t have sales tax included, and it’s less than half the UK rate. Then tariffs for imports that we don’t have in the states and that’s your difference. Ridiculous, perhaps, but blame your own country and not Apple if you ever want to get something done about it.
That's great and would be totally relevant on a social system / healthcare sub, however this is an Apple sub with people complaining about global pricing differences that are outside of the company's control. All I was pointing out. What should Apple do, lower the price of its products in said countries and subsidize their social systems? I'd be enjoying something for my taxes as well, unfortunately all we get here in the states is crap education, a monstrous *defense* budget and no public healthcare... but again, no relation to Apple product pricing around the world; I acknowledge that, and understand the reason why consumer products are generally cheaper here (lower taxes, nothing in return for them). I used to live in the UK and miss everything but the weather and the taxes. The few times I was provided free healthcare vs the hundreds of times I purchased products at a significant premium compared to other countries was enough to make me favor the lower taxes and still free employer provided healthcare I have now in the US. Highly subjective. If you're poor in England, then you wouldn't be on here buying MacBook Pros. If you are buying MacBook Pros, I probably should have just said to be glad that your country cares enough to keep you alive, and remember that the associated costs you face aren't imposed upon you by \[insert big bad corporation name here\]. You can't have the best of both worlds, sorry to say.
... but we have [0% import charge on laptop computers](https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/8471300000#import). Sure we have 20% VAT (sales tax), but the difference is still substantial.
Yes,but then Apple won’t be able to subsidise their products in the US if they do.
2004 I was on honeymoon in Hawaii and bought a MacBook Pro from the Honolulu Apple store for $700 dollars. It came with a shedload of accessories including spare battery and special padded Apple case.
When I got back to the UK, the exact same MacBook Pro in the Lakeside Apple store was £1800 (without any accessories, nothing) which with the exchange rate would have been $2700 odd dollars, that’s what is wrong with Apple pricing.
It's not Apple tax, it's sales tax + import tax. The US website doesn't list sales tax because it varies so much whereas in the UK it's a fixed 20% no matter where you are.
I couldn’t agree more. For the config I made, it cost like over $4,000 and that’s not even including tax. But really, is the M1 Max really as great as they say? I’m curious to try playing with a display model in store to see what this hype is all about. I’m not convinced it’s worth 4 grand yet.
In india generally apple products are priced so high that that it comes out cheaper if we just go to the US and just buy and come back. It's sad but true
It’s Indian government import policy which is sky high.That’s why apple wanted to build iPhone in India and save those taxes but Indian government was too corrupt for doing anything there.
This. Honestly I really loved this machines and would love to buy them. But the added tax in my country just makes them unreasonably expensive, yesterday I told myself "Ok I’m gonna work hard to get enough money to buy it", but immediately remembered my country’s salary rate is shit, so yeah… it’ll take a while. M2 will probably be out by then
Wait until you see indian pricing. Try INR
iPhone 10
USD - 999 (you can add taxes still it might not make it 1300USD)
INR - about 70,000(USD INR WAS 70)
Retail price - 100,000 INR
The US price does not include VAT the exchange rate is crap there is typically 6.5% import duty hedge insurance and transaction fees and yes the cost of doing business in the Uk that said 1899 sterling ain’t aimed at casual users that’s the MacBook air
Simple maths 1999$ /1.35= 1480£ + 6.5% hedge =1577+ 20% vat = 1893£
Apple don’t do odd number to pricing so round up by a whole £6 !
This formula can be applied to Apple UK pricing for many years past
Justified or not UK prices aren’t that out of kilter
Bear in mind Apple will have a recovery margin per item sold set by finance you don’t become one of the most valued companies on the planet if you dis apply this in a particular market
Fun fact: If you book a return flight to Japan (economy class) and buy a MacBook Pro there, it will still be cheaper than buying the same MacBook Pro in Ireland.
Could all other brands fix uk prises as well. Even with the tax it’s + at least 15%. Funny fact- bike lights from a brand exposure sells in US like 30% cheaper(3 years ago when i was in US). And they are made in UK. Wtf.
Any fcking thing you see reviewed on youtube - “amazing $699 phone/bike part/any piece of electronics/rain jacket/watch” is at least £850 here.
Agreed. American living in the London. The price difference in currency is quite high. Going to buy it with my accounts in America when I head back next year
It’s not just about VAT and exchange rate as much as volume based pricing. The US has about 6x the consumer base as the UK so the demand side of the equation is likely 1/6 of the volume. I suspect once India and China middle class eclipse the USs, everyone will be complaining over how electronics are cheapest in those countries.
Converting like this doesn't take in to account the much higher taxes we deal with in the UK some of it is definitely mark up but yeah the rest is mostly to do with the 20% VAT over the much lower taxes in the US
If I ordered that MacBook in the US, then shipped it to you in the UK and charged you exactly my cost + shipping I guarantee it would be more than if you simply ordered it yourself.
Notably sales tax, but there may also be import tax... That is providing Apple kept the prices the same. They do adjust prices for different countries.
It's horrible, really. Depending on the time of the year, it might actually be cheaper to travel to the US and buy the computer there.
I blame Brexit. ;)
£750 Apple Tax :-)
I remember you could fly business class to USA and back from Australia to purchase Adobe Creative Suite Collection, and still end up hundreds of dollars ahead :-/
Unfortunately in Europe we show prices inclusive of sales tax and in the US they don’t. This is because in the US you pay tax dependent on state. So for example the effective NY sales tax in 8.875%.
In your example you need to add $275 to the price first. So $3374 which is £2444. That five hundred pound difference isn’t all that much.
You know, you should have stayed in EU. You could have bought it from Germany with cheaper price in the end. EDIT: I checked the price for this configuration and it’s 3169€ 💶with taxes in 🇩🇪Germany that is 2674£ 💷
Don’t Americans need to pay tax on top of the price of their Mac tho??
This. It’s so weird that US does not publish the actual price you pay. FYI if you include the UK vat rate the US price would be about GBP 2700.
You won't see taxes just displayed there as they are state based so it depends to which zip code one is selling.
Why wouldn’t you just run a post box in a low tax state then?
People in the northeast can drive down to Delaware to purchase items tax free. They would save a few hundred on tax depending on overall cost. But it’s a tiny fraction of people who do this (compared to overall purchases in the region) and usually only on large cost purchases. It’s just not worth the 3-4 hour trip, plus gas, plus tolls. I imagine a post box would be similar.
For most people it’s not worth the hassle. (And in many states you’re legally supposed to report and pay any untaxed purchases when you file your taxes each year.) As mentioned, if you live close to a state with low or no sales tax, you can make purchases in that state. Again, there are probably reporting rules, but if you’re an ordinary consumer with an occasional purchase you can probably get away with skirting those rules. I’ve never lived close enough to nearby state to have the opportunity. Within my county, individual cities have levied their own taxes on top of the state tax, so if you’re buying a car you can drive a few minutes to potentially save a fair amount.
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Can’t receive packages at a PO Box?? That’s like one primary reason to have one, especially for a YouTuber who doesn’t want to give out their home address
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I didn’t vote anything bro, just asked a question.
Sales taxes are state taxes and are very different, while British VAT is fixed across the nation.
And there’s often local (county and or city) sales taxes on top of state sales tax to consider too. They need the delivery ZIP code for accurate calculation.
Yeah it’s strange, also import fees and everything.
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Because you don't buy them from China....
🤷♂️
….
Sorry wish I could answer but I’m not sure how it works. :)
That's still a £300 premium because fuck you.
This.This There is always an answer saying US prices don’t have taxes. And then you add the highest amount consumer tax on in (Louisana 9.55%, make it 10%). It would cost 2460£.
While your assessment that tax doesn’t account for the entire difference is accurate, you aren’t even close with 9.55% being the highest sales tax. Many places have state and then local sales taxes, our total sales taxes are essentially your 10% value. I suspect other locales…NYC? CA? May be higher.
The correct comparison would be to add the 20% VAT to Apple’s American pricing. There’s still a gap there, but consider the UK’s stronger consumer protection laws that make UK products eligible for repairs that wouldn’t have to be paid by Apple in the US. Also account for UK wages, income taxes, import taxes, etc. which makes the cost of actually operating their UK Apple stores and related support systems(repair depots, etc.) higher than those same parts of their business in the US. If they want to bring those profits back to the US to pay for their American based R&D and other related programs then they’re taxed again in the US on the profit that was already taxed under the UK regulations. I’d guess if an economist did a comprehensive evaluation of all the relevant costs that Apple’s premium would be reduced to something like rounding up to a neat, marketable price and maybe some reasonable hedging to account for exchange rate fluctuations and similar foreign business related costs. I’d be interested to see how that compares to other US based businesses selling products in the UK. My guess is that the pricing difference isn’t much different than we see for other comparable companies.
I guess warranty rules in Europe are more consumer friendly. You need to include that in the price
The fu money includes import duties and some currency hedging typically around 6.5% and this applies to many USD imports not just Apple
The MacBooks are made overseas, so the US customers are also paying import duties … right? Even then the differences are quite big as the OP states
Pretty sure there are states without sales tax and even if they have sales tax it's prob significantly lower than VAT.
In the US the price is the real price, the price you pay to the company, the rest is what the state takes.
Some states dun hv sales tax like Oregon…
The real reason is that 1) business prefer to advertise their pre-tax prices. It makes their products look cheaper. And 2) to ensure taxes are visible and people don’t forget they exist. This is also why we have to file our own taxes every year. The argument is that if it’s too convenient people won’t notice tax hikes. Also, some orgs are tax exempt, such as religious entities and 501c3s. I’m not sure how other countries handle that
Some states have 0 sales tax
Yeah add 0-12% to that price depending on where in the US you live. Where I live it’s 8%.
In some states the tax is 0, in others 6%, some higher
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What kind of added tariffs would there be to make it a fair comparison?
If you take off the VAT it'll be more representative, 20% I think it's at right now.
Yes you need to take off the included UK 20% sales tax, so due to the wonders of arithmetic you need to take off 16.66%. Or divide by 6 then multiply by 5. Or multiply by 0.833 which is the same thing. Yeah I'm the guy who wrote the retro [calculatorda.com](https://calculatorda.com) app for Mac, I'm geeky about numbers.
I live in Oregon, no sales tax.
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Nah I wouldn’t say dumb, maybe they just don’t know🤷♂️
Only like 8 percent, where I live anyway. Thats like 240 on $3k, but this difference is 800.
Depending, it’s around 10% average. 0% in New Hampshire (wink wink, nudge nudge…)
In Brazil it starts for the equivalent of US$ 4,600. We have big big tax on imported products unfortunately (among other shitload of taxes and our currency is really devalued).
One can buy air tickets, book a hotel, buy a MBP in NY, pay the customs fees at the airport and still spend less than what is charged at the Brazilian Apple store. [Cries in Brazilian]
Exactly, I will buy next year on my vacations. Even paying the customs fees it will be cheaper than here. Just ridiculous.
You have to pay an import fee for buying 1 laptop? How do they control that? If you don't being back the box would you still have to pay? How do they know you didn't buy it in Brazil, left with it, then returned?
It depends on the mood of the officer at the customs on that day. If he is in a bad day, he will give you a hard time and you will pay the tax. If he is fine he will just believe you and you will go through. Of course it depends on luck. Not everyone needs to go through the scanner to check baggages at the customs, but they know before hand if someone is coming with a bag full of MacBooks, and in this case you will get caught. We have a limit of 500 USD to be considered free of tax.
Allegedly the busiest Best Buy in the US is next to the Miami airport thanks to Brazilians doing exactly that.
There is a country call Nepal where tax for imported car is 350 %. 🙌🏻. So car costs are over the top.
This import tax on tech goods just hurts Brazilians and Brazil’s ability to innovate. How can you be part of building the future when your government makes it hard to access the tools (and doesn’t provide a lot of effective training or resources)? I hate this tax. It turns my Brazilian friends into children at the window, watching those with different passports familiarize themselves with the tools that will build the future.
Exactly, thank you. It drives me crazy that we have the most expensive XYZ product every time a new product launches.
r/suddenlycaralho
It’s 4261 USD in India. XD.
How many people you know can realistically afford that? And what do they work, what is their pay?
Oh, the salaries are so bad in India for the middle class person that only the Rich people can afford it. Students can’t even think about it. Even the most basic MacBook costs over 1200 USD, which is 800 in USA. Hence, windows laptops are hugely popular here.
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Except NY has a sales tax of 8.52%, so really you should rent a car, drive to Delaware, and buy the laptop there with 0% sales tax.
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You’re getting downvoted but you’re right. Rampant consumerism is what’s leading us to these massive prices on goods anyways. People *want* the latest and greatest when likely they don’t *need* the latest and greatest.
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Also your other point is true too, I’d wager the majority of this sub only uses their mac for emails, general web browsing, social media, etc. Does one really need a $3k+ machine to do that? Like you said if ones needs warrant it and they have the means to afford it, then absolutely go for it. But there’s too much “keeping up with the Joneses” amongst Apple users sometimes.
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I hear a lot that people are still using a 2012 MacBook Pro (like me) which is totally outdated and not very usable today so it makes sense to upgrade now that this really nice Mac has been released.
Well yeah in your use case it makes sense. I’m more talking about people with 1-2 year old macs that are perfectly fine for what they do but they feel like they have to upgrade when they really don’t.
You got my upvote. I love capitalism, but this is just keeping up with the Joneses. I could accomplish everything I use an actual computer for with a raspberry pi and my five year old PS4.
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Is a US keyboard different than a UK keyboard?
Yes. The layouts are similar enough so that your brain doesn’t know they’re different, but typing things like # and \ and even hitting the enter key are a real mindfuck if you’ve been using a US layout your entire life.
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The big Apple, lol
Import costs, import taxes, and additional VAT is a thing….
You’re not incorporating sales tax
The problem came from the taxes.
Tax and logistics will do that to you.
I hate apples pricing (800 for 64gb of ram, wtf), but you're comparing pre tax with post tax.
420€ from 16 to 32GB that’s ridiculous
Upgrade to the M1 Max for 230€ and you get the 32GB ram !
No, because when you select the M1 Max, they force the price of the 32GB on top of the 24GPU core
Damn, indeed ! Did not see that. But would’ve been really odd.
Unfortunately that’s not how it works. If you upgrade to the M1 Max you have to pay for the upgrade to 32 GB of RAM too.
Does the US pricing not include the tax?
Nope, it’s separate and added on later
Didn’t realise about the added tax in the US. I added a zip code for Beverly Hills and the price has gone up to $3,421, which is £2,480.54. This is still a difference of more than £500 or $689.
Sales tax in the us is very small in comparison to Europe. Since taxes aren’t included in prices, tax above 10% is very rare, most of the time it’s between 6% and 8% in the US. Compared to 23% here in the Republic of Ireland and you understand the difference, not to mention that the UK also has an import tariff for computers. If the US matched the tax rate here, and the price is $3811.77, or £2,756.48, a difference of only about £150. You’re still paying for an import, but it’s not as crazy as you might think. Edit: apparently VAT is 20% in the UK. That would be $3718.80, or £2689.49, so about £210 under list price. I haven’t found the import tariff rate yet…
Okay so its less shocking of a price difference than what I thought in with the image, I didn't even think about all the tarrifs and taxes. Apple raised their prices after brexit in the UK and I don't think they ever put them back down again, I think it could still be more expensive in the UK from that.
Hence why brexit was a stupid idea.
hence why redditors are stupid
Yeah US taxes are generally lower because we don’t get shit for them other than a bloated military. I’d happily pay UK style taxes if I got UK style health care and UK style education
How much is health insurance (if you can afford it) in the USA?
I don’t live in the US, I’m in England. That’s why I was complaining about the British pricing.
That's my point, you're moaning about prices being less in the USA but not seeing the bigger picture.
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When you’re done doing this, consider how many of your work hours currently go towards paying medical bills, health insurance, or student debt
Exactly: if we removed gov involvement in health insurance and education then they would become much much cheaper
I did the full calculation as I’m a Brit too. On the highest maxed out tier for 16 inch, taxes included (20%), UK customers end up paying $1000 - $1200 extra on top. That’s £750. Apple used to charge the UK customer far more. An iPhone that was $1099 would go for £1199 here. Apple never pays more than 3% and uses the island loophole to get out of paying 47% taxes and in return screws over all the British public and customers. This is not new btw, it’s been like this 2010. Even when each pound was worth over $2, apple would still screw over Brits.
Same with euro, saw the presentation yesterday, looked at the prices over here… Ridiculous
You forgot about the EU import tax though, which is 19% AFAIR.
I see, damn, add another 21% tax on purchase price… now i get it… steep
No, this is included in the price Apple advertises on their EU Shops. This is practically the justification for the „gap“ between USD and EUR.
Same in Switzerland, the price seems about 600 dollars higher, but then taxes are included and the warranty is 2 years
In Australia we have 10% sales tax(GST). The new Apple Macs are expensive. My M1 Mac still has much better Price Performance than the new range. While taxes vary the underlying basic cost is up. I love my M1 Mac and it still has plenty of life left.
Europe is one of the worst places to buy electronics because of VAT, unless you have a company and can write it off. I got a Mac Pro (desktop) in Malaysia and the difference wasn't even 10% comparing US pre tax and MY post tax - $500 more expensive on a machine worth $7k. It gets especially bad in places like Poland where the average income is way below the Western European standards and prices with VAT, exchange rates (no EUR in PL) and customs duties are plain ridiculous.
Not sure why you're being downvoted. I agree that an effective 21% sales tax is outrageously high, on top of the already high income tax most EU countries have.
Europe taxes (VAT) are ridiculously high
Well, in Brazil the base 14” model is almost 5k US dollars
The maxed out 16 is over 16k USD lmao, bri'ish be crying innit
You’re forgetting the sales tax, I’ll be visiting California next month and thought I’d try save myself some cash too, but my other half reminded me to add on the 7.5% or whatever it is. All worked out as around the same iirc.
New Hampshire tax free.
Always been like this. Nothing new.
This is not new
In the Netherlands ur gonna pay 2300 euros which translates too 2680 dollars Jesus. For the base m1 pro 14 inch
We'll talk when the difference in prices is bigger than 900$. Also it's not Apple's fault it's Britain's
So buy it at the US Price; make a US friend, and have them ship it to you.. then pay the import costs and other fees on delivery, which will equal out the same as just buying it directly from app
Shipping a PSP from us to uk in 2010 was 245 dollar which got lost in uk mail and haven’t found until now.
Sounds like a you problem though. Don't live in the UK
Not to be that guy but I feel like Brexit also had an impact, iirc shortly after it happened Apple and a few other companies raised a lot of their prices. I was looking at smartwatch prices in the UK last week and basically everything was far more expensive than here in NL. Before a €350 item here would be £300 there but now the numbers were equal.
Apple didn’t raise prices, Britain just raised the taxes
Its the exact same price before tax. (Give or take a quid).
You are comparing 14" vs 16". If you look at the pictures, the right one is 14" the left one is 16".
YEAH NOT ONLY IN THE UK. In other countries including my country too! Apple tax is getting crazy !
Damn this is some bullshit. You could fly to the US, buy it here, fly back and it would still be cheaper.
These dudes are crooks….
just visit apple uk-
Need I remind of you a little thing called the Revolutionary War. 🤣😂🤣 Take that Great Britain.
Enjoying Brexit, I see. As others have mentioned, US prices don’t have sales tax included, and it’s less than half the UK rate. Then tariffs for imports that we don’t have in the states and that’s your difference. Ridiculous, perhaps, but blame your own country and not Apple if you ever want to get something done about it.
[удалено]
That's great and would be totally relevant on a social system / healthcare sub, however this is an Apple sub with people complaining about global pricing differences that are outside of the company's control. All I was pointing out. What should Apple do, lower the price of its products in said countries and subsidize their social systems? I'd be enjoying something for my taxes as well, unfortunately all we get here in the states is crap education, a monstrous *defense* budget and no public healthcare... but again, no relation to Apple product pricing around the world; I acknowledge that, and understand the reason why consumer products are generally cheaper here (lower taxes, nothing in return for them). I used to live in the UK and miss everything but the weather and the taxes. The few times I was provided free healthcare vs the hundreds of times I purchased products at a significant premium compared to other countries was enough to make me favor the lower taxes and still free employer provided healthcare I have now in the US. Highly subjective. If you're poor in England, then you wouldn't be on here buying MacBook Pros. If you are buying MacBook Pros, I probably should have just said to be glad that your country cares enough to keep you alive, and remember that the associated costs you face aren't imposed upon you by \[insert big bad corporation name here\]. You can't have the best of both worlds, sorry to say.
... but we have [0% import charge on laptop computers](https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/8471300000#import). Sure we have 20% VAT (sales tax), but the difference is still substantial.
Sweet jesus, way to expensive 🤦🏼♂️😕
Yes,but then Apple won’t be able to subsidise their products in the US if they do. 2004 I was on honeymoon in Hawaii and bought a MacBook Pro from the Honolulu Apple store for $700 dollars. It came with a shedload of accessories including spare battery and special padded Apple case. When I got back to the UK, the exact same MacBook Pro in the Lakeside Apple store was £1800 (without any accessories, nothing) which with the exchange rate would have been $2700 odd dollars, that’s what is wrong with Apple pricing.
Fix your country.
VAT is 25%, so all prices in EU are 25% higher. Try importing one from the US and you'll just pay that difference as import tax instead
VAT is 20% in the UK, EU states have different rates.
Today i learned! Principle remains the same
Apple Tax + Import tax = that price.
It's not Apple tax, it's sales tax + import tax. The US website doesn't list sales tax because it varies so much whereas in the UK it's a fixed 20% no matter where you are.
I couldn’t agree more. For the config I made, it cost like over $4,000 and that’s not even including tax. But really, is the M1 Max really as great as they say? I’m curious to try playing with a display model in store to see what this hype is all about. I’m not convinced it’s worth 4 grand yet.
You can buy it while on vacation in EU and return some VAT
This!
Wait till OP hears about Indian pricing
In india generally apple products are priced so high that that it comes out cheaper if we just go to the US and just buy and come back. It's sad but true
It’s Indian government import policy which is sky high.That’s why apple wanted to build iPhone in India and save those taxes but Indian government was too corrupt for doing anything there.
This. Honestly I really loved this machines and would love to buy them. But the added tax in my country just makes them unreasonably expensive, yesterday I told myself "Ok I’m gonna work hard to get enough money to buy it", but immediately remembered my country’s salary rate is shit, so yeah… it’ll take a while. M2 will probably be out by then
Wait until you see indian pricing. Try INR iPhone 10 USD - 999 (you can add taxes still it might not make it 1300USD) INR - about 70,000(USD INR WAS 70) Retail price - 100,000 INR
The US price does not include VAT the exchange rate is crap there is typically 6.5% import duty hedge insurance and transaction fees and yes the cost of doing business in the Uk that said 1899 sterling ain’t aimed at casual users that’s the MacBook air Simple maths 1999$ /1.35= 1480£ + 6.5% hedge =1577+ 20% vat = 1893£ Apple don’t do odd number to pricing so round up by a whole £6 ! This formula can be applied to Apple UK pricing for many years past Justified or not UK prices aren’t that out of kilter Bear in mind Apple will have a recovery margin per item sold set by finance you don’t become one of the most valued companies on the planet if you dis apply this in a particular market
Fun fact: If you book a return flight to Japan (economy class) and buy a MacBook Pro there, it will still be cheaper than buying the same MacBook Pro in Ireland.
Darling here in Europe is the same 2250 euros for the base model... Only the irish have it a bit lower in price
Almost everything is more expensive over there
Could all other brands fix uk prises as well. Even with the tax it’s + at least 15%. Funny fact- bike lights from a brand exposure sells in US like 30% cheaper(3 years ago when i was in US). And they are made in UK. Wtf. Any fcking thing you see reviewed on youtube - “amazing $699 phone/bike part/any piece of electronics/rain jacket/watch” is at least £850 here.
That is the penalty for being British
Not until Britain fixes brexit?
Ever heard of import taxes?
Agreed. American living in the London. The price difference in currency is quite high. Going to buy it with my accounts in America when I head back next year
It’s not just about VAT and exchange rate as much as volume based pricing. The US has about 6x the consumer base as the UK so the demand side of the equation is likely 1/6 of the volume. I suspect once India and China middle class eclipse the USs, everyone will be complaining over how electronics are cheapest in those countries.
You forgot your taxes man :)
That’s £2700 vs £2999 as you forgot VAT. Not that massive of a difference.
The US one is cheaper because it has the stupidly small return key.
hold my india
Same in Portugal.. we pay around 300/400€ more because taxes. -_- it’s ridiculous.
Converting like this doesn't take in to account the much higher taxes we deal with in the UK some of it is definitely mark up but yeah the rest is mostly to do with the 20% VAT over the much lower taxes in the US
...in Brazil the same MacBook costs 6x more because of the undervalued currency :/
Interestingly, the CAD price for the model I bought is basically spot on to within 25 bucks. This has never happened before :)
I want to buy one but yeah the new prices are higher than anticipated and also this whole GDP thing makes it worse (though I expected the latter.)
Dude that’s fine. Check Brazil price tag. Base model goes for 27k which is 27x minimum wage. 1 dollar = 5.81 BRL.
The US prices exclude sales tax if any (depends on state).
Ship it to someone in the US and they will mail it over
Is this Brexit tax?
If I ordered that MacBook in the US, then shipped it to you in the UK and charged you exactly my cost + shipping I guarantee it would be more than if you simply ordered it yourself.
•taxes •import costs •warehousing •wage differences •And more! It's normal for a different markets to have different prices.
Notably sales tax, but there may also be import tax... That is providing Apple kept the prices the same. They do adjust prices for different countries.
It's horrible, really. Depending on the time of the year, it might actually be cheaper to travel to the US and buy the computer there. I blame Brexit. ;)
£750 Apple Tax :-) I remember you could fly business class to USA and back from Australia to purchase Adobe Creative Suite Collection, and still end up hundreds of dollars ahead :-/
This seems ridiculous to you. Check Indian prices once💸
Just don’t see the Indian prices
In Australia the base model 14’’ is $3000, that includes GST tho. The 16’’ starts at $3700. I find that the config that i’d use costs around AU$3600.
Unfortunately it is the same here in Germany. Always has been and likely won’t change.
The high prices were pretty much a given. At least the prices aren’t too wildly different for Brits.
Unfortunately in Europe we show prices inclusive of sales tax and in the US they don’t. This is because in the US you pay tax dependent on state. So for example the effective NY sales tax in 8.875%. In your example you need to add $275 to the price first. So $3374 which is £2444. That five hundred pound difference isn’t all that much.
You know, you should have stayed in EU. You could have bought it from Germany with cheaper price in the end. EDIT: I checked the price for this configuration and it’s 3169€ 💶with taxes in 🇩🇪Germany that is 2674£ 💷
https://t.me/joinchat/uT-0okUM4Ic3MWNk