iPad UK Pricing Confirmed; Apple UK Tax Applied

The iPad will be available in the UK and eight other countries from 28 May 2010; both models will be available for pre-order on 10 May. Reader marcopolo007uk adds a note from iPad-Review.co.uk with pricing: "WiFi Models: 16GB / 32GB / 64GB — £429 / £499 / £599. 3G versions: 16GB / 32GB / 64GB — £529 / £599 / £699. These are a little higher than some had guessed... The Apple Tax stings the UK consumer again." At the current exchange rate, these prices are right around 150% of those offered in the US.

The OP forgot VAT.

[Dzimas]

Someone can't do math. The numbers are actually really close. Let's look at the base 16GB model. It's £429 in the UK, which equals about $630 according to xe.com. Take off the 17.5% VAT, and we get £353.93. That equals $520 US. What's the problem again???

Re:

[dunkelfalke]

How is a difference of £75 ($110) "really close"?

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Re:

[timeOday]

That's what we're quibbling about, 5%? It changes that much all the time [x-rates.com] due to exchange rate fluctuations.

But your U.S. prices do not include tax

[SuperKendall]

£429/1.175=£365.11, which is approximately $537.80. The mark up from the US prices seems to be around 8%.

Unless you factor in that you have to pay sales tax in most places in the U.S - which coincidentally for my area is 8%, so basically the exact same price in the end.

Re:But your U.S. prices do not include tax

[godawful]

Quite right, my 16GB non 3g after taxes was $550 here in California.

Re:

[account_deleted]

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Re:

[SSpade]

I always consider sales tax in the US to be a bit of a non-issue on things like this, since (unless I'm mistaken) avoiding it is pretty trivial, by ordering online from a distributor in another state.

You're not mistaken that avoiding it is pretty trivial, but it's also probably tax fraud.

Most states require you to pay a "use tax" at the same rate as your state sales tax on anything you order from out of state and don't pay sales tax on. As with any other tax fraud you're fine until you get audited.

Re:But your U.S. prices do not include tax

[gyrogeerloose]

You're not mistaken that avoiding it is pretty trivial, but it's also probably tax fraud.

That's yet to be determined. The states say it is, the vendors say it's not; right now, the vendors are winning but you can expect to see it in the courts eventually. I think that Amazon.com and the State of California are going to go at it before long.

Re:

[dangitman]

I always consider sales tax in the US to be a bit of a non-issue on things like this, since (unless I'm mistaken) avoiding it is pretty trivial, by ordering online from a distributor in another state.

Which is why pricing in the US is such an insidious trap. Displaying shelf prices as tax-free amounts to deception. And the whole "easy to avoid by buying out-of-state" is almost criminally inefficient. It encourages waste by having items shipped across the country for no good reason, resulting in more pollution.

It would be nice to see some tax reform, but I doubt that will ever happen, as people would rather exploit the loopholes than have an honest system that might cost a few bucks more (but also save a

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Re:

[calmofthestorm]

That's a pretty small markup for a US->Europe product. Of course my only point of comparison is software, which tends to be closer to the 50% mark for MS "productivity" apps.

Re:

[Dzimas]

Yup, I stand corrected. That's what I get for trying to squeeze in my Slashdot fix before work. Now I'm off to calculate some orbital trajectories. This might not end well...

Re:

[SimonTheSoundMan]

No duty on the iPad, it has no calculator.

Re:

[evilbessie]

You might want to do your maths again, as to remove vat you need to multipy by 40/47, which is £365.11, or $537.84 (using 1.4731 as the exchange rate, just retrieved from the beeb).

Re:

[Inda]

What a strange method. Simply x/1.175 removes VAT.

(429 / 1.17500) * British pound = 536.085702 U.S. dollars [google.co.uk]

Every time I catch someone double-dipping on their expenses, I wonder how on earth they make the same mistake over and over. Is it a game to rob the tax man? Are they stupid or is it just above them?

Re:

[fermion]

Agreed. And for the top of the line 3G version the brits seem to be getting a good deal. $829 iPad is around $550-$600 without VAT. With VAT it seems like it should sell for upwards of $650. So, depending on the exchange rate and cost of doing business in Britain, the £699 may actually bring in less money than the $829 in the US.

In any case, such straight forward calculation are hardly useful. In South America a liter of coke can be bought for a fraction of what it costs in the US, but no one c

Re:The OP forgot VAT.

[tk77]

What's the problem again?

VAT

And how is this Apple's problem?

Re:

[DarkFencer]

You're still paying sales tax in most areas here in the states, in the high single digits in many areas but in the US the tax is added AFTER the sticker price. The difference is really not bad at all.

Then again I think the iPad is overpriced no matter where you are.

Re:

[fredrik70]

and so they should! We like our public servies

Re:

[dougmwne]

At least in the UK you're getting a better return for your tax pounds. You spend a smaller percentage of your GDP on military and you get nationalized healthcare.

Re:The OP forgot VAT.

[Neoprofin]

And free houses for all the Chavs. I'll take my nano-tech, space laser, military-industrial complex.

Re:The OP forgot VAT.

[Space cowboy]

I disagree with you. This is a quote from a post I made late last year:

I've recently had very bad news in my family - in the space of two weeks, my uncle has been told he needs heart surgery, and my mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. My uncle has been scheduled for surgery on 15th of this month, and my mother has put off her appointment (originally on the 11th) because I'm getting married on the 12th. She'll be going under the knife on 19th instead. My uncle will be missing the wedding, but we're going to stream it live so he can watch it in the UK, even if it is at midnight over there :)

I thank my lucky stars we're from the UK, because there's just no way our family could afford their treatment over here in the USA - my uncle's heart surgery would cost [cnn.com] circa $175,000, my mother's cancer treatment and subsequent costs [repec.org] could come to circa $100,000. We've never had money - I was the first kid in our family to go to college for example, and I had to pay my way through that. We've always scraped-by and made-do, mother and father working, grandmother looking after the kids etc. Over here, I'm lucky in that I have an excellent medical insurance plan from my company, but my fiancee didn't have medical insurance until we met. She used to try not to visit a doctor, to self-medicate via a drugstore if something was wrong. I was horrified that someone would even consider that. Seriously and truthfully - I was aghast that a visit to the doctors wasn't just "what you'd do if you're not feeling well". It's just a no-brainer from my (and anyone from the UK, I suspect) perspective.

For her part, my mother gets personal visits in her home from the MacMillan [wikipedia.org] nurse (cancer specialist nurses, there to answer any questions, give advice, as well as do the nursing stuff), and she has one of the best surgical teams in the country ready to operate when she gets back to the UK. All of this is standard-stuff, she pays her dues (in her taxes / national insurance contributions), and she has the peace-of-mind that comes from knowing she has access to excellent health-care whenever she wants it, without being suddenly landed with huge bills, and without any worry of 'recission' by a financially-orientated insurance company.

There's a lot I like (even prefer) about the USA, but the healthcare system is (from an outsiders perspective) a badge of shame. Everyone gets sick eventually, and everyone dies eventually. Any civilised country ought to recognise and cope with that such that people don't fall through the cracks. The NHS in the UK isn't perfect - you'll frequently hear Brits complaining about it - but it's head, shoulders, and torso above the system over here. I still pay my 'national insurance' in the UK, even though I live in the US - the cost is minimal (about £15/month), and I don't mind helping fund something today that I (or, say, a member of my family) might make use of tomorrow. To me, it's beyond belief that people in the USA fight *against* a similar system, but hey, each to their own. I don't get to vote over here so it's not as though I can do anything about it...

Bottom line: In the UK, health follows an almost burger-king like mantra - "you need it? You got it!" whereas in the USA, you're trusting your health and possibly your life to the same sort of company that screws you over if someone hits your car - an insurance company that has a fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders. After the last few weeks, I'm pretty darn certain which of the two models I prefer.

From our perspective, the good news is that my mother pulled through, both her and my uncle are on medicines for the rest of her life (free, of course) and my mother has just finished the chemotherapy, so she's feeling a little fragile atm, but she made it; anything else is irrelevant.

Simon.

Re:

[initdeep]

and my father just had a heart transplant that cost him a whopping $2500.00 total.

and all of his previous heart treatments cost him $2500.00 year over the last 5 years.

and i guarantee the treatment was better at Duke University medical center......

Re:The OP forgot VAT.

[shilly]

1) There's plenty of people who would struggle to get $5k together
2) He also paid insurance premiums, and the premiums may go up and the exclusions may become more significant because of his history now
3) In the UK, he'd have paid £0 at point of need, not $2.5k or 5k
4) How do you know for sure that Duke provides better treatment? What do you mean: better outcomes? better experience? safer? all three? Where's the evidence for your assertion?

Re:Prove it

[DangerFace]

From the wiki on life expectancy [wikipedia.org]:

Average lifespan at birth in the UK: 79.4 years

Average lifespan at birth in the US: 78.2 years

So, minor win for the UK's far inferior system there. Now, from the wiki on infant mortality rates [wikipedia.org]:

Infant deaths per 1000 live births / under 5's deaths per 1000 live births in the UK: 4.8 / 6.0

Infant deaths per 1000 live births / under 5's deaths per 1000 live births in the US: 6.3 / 7.8

Another one called for the Kingdom, there. Again, not a huge difference, but pretty significant if you're a parent of 1.8 out of 1000 children. So, the question seems to boil down to a choice between expensive good care or cheap effective care.

Re:

[cayenne8]

"You spend a smaller percentage of your GDP on military and you get nationalized healthcare."

Well, seems a most of Europe does this....I've been of the opinion that they are able to spend less on their military, because we in the US spend more, and we help and will help cover their shortcoming in times of conflict these days.

I firmly believe, that is we in the US spent significantly less on the military, that Europe would have to start spending a great deal more!

Re:

[bami]

Now my advice for those who die, (Taxman!)
Declare the pennies on your eyes, (Taxman!)
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
And you’re working for no-one but me,
(Taxman).

Re:

[b0bby]

My first Troll mod, yay! Someone needs to watch Raising Arizona...

And FWIW I've lived in the UK, and enjoyed the NHS etc. No need to get all defensive, it was just a joke.

Re:

[Jake73]

I got your reference, dude. Next time, pull something from the Family Guy or xkcd. It'll go over better with this crowd. ...Son, you've got a panty on your head.... Just drive... Fast, k?

Pleased I didn't wait

[DavidR1991]

I like Apple's products but this price is too high for what the iPad is. I recently bought a second hand Tablet PC (a Fujitsu Stylistic) for £180 and shoved Ubuntu Linux and an 8GB SSD in it. Sure, it's bulkier than an iPad but I don't regret my choice now I've seen the UK price. Screw them and their price mark up

Re:Pleased I didn't wait

[Lumpy]

why dont you run AndroidX86 on it?

http://www.android-x86.org/ [android-x86.org]

Re:

[DavidR1991]

I actually had no idea that existed. If I can get it to accept the screen input etc. I'll definitely give it a go - thanks for the info!

£429? ... Ouch

[Manip]

Just to put the cheapest one into context:
  * iPod Touch - £189
  * Dell Laptop (Outlet) - £300
  * Acer / Dell Laptops (Retail) - £400-450
  * ePC "Netbook" - £200
  * Dell "Netbook" - £139
  * Sony "Netbook" - £399

So you could get two iPod Touches, or a Dell Laptop AND Dell Netbook, Sony Netbook, or two ePC Netbooks for this money?

Re:£429? ... Ouch

[Flipao]

Yes but this is an unbelievable, magical, amazing, revolutionary, gorgeous device. Surely that's gotta be worth something.

Re:£429? ... Ouch

[dintech]

Steve Jobs is writing a new story. "The Emperors New Computing Device"

Re:

[mario_grgic]

Finally someone with a sense of humor here.

Re:

[countSudoku()]

gorgeous device. Surely that's gotta be worth something.

Apparently about 100 quid. No fair equating iPad to two iPod Touches though, that's twice the walled gardening and half the usefulness of a real computing device. Why is Bob *my* uncle again?

Re:

[Archangel Michael]

Actually, I look at it similarly. Take a decent device and cripple it with cheezy plastic, cheap compentents and otherwise make it ugly and almost useless, and you can charge LESS! Yay!

Re:

[spire3661]

But can any of those besides the touch run the APPS? iPad's killer feature are its apps. The hardware is quite secondary

Re:

[Nursie]

No, it's true, Apple invented the application and no other platform is capable of running such a thing!

*facepalm*

Re:

[calmofthestorm]

But you need four iPod touches to equal an iPad. The iPad is a better deal, especially when you consider the gas saved by not needing to go to the hardware store for a roll of a duct tape.

Value add

[dougmwne]

Why the flamebait? What they are calling the "apple tax" is really the value add tax, which must be built into the price of all products sold. Why should products be priced identically across all countries anyway? Shouldn't companies maximize their profits by pricing their wares competitively with the local market?

Re:

[BiggerIsBetter]

"What they are calling the "apple tax" is really the value add tax, which must be built into the price of all products sold."

For those wondering exactly what value is being added, perhaps having local retailers rather than international shipping / grey market retailer, shipping and distribution? It might not matter to the /. populace, but the punters seem to prefer having a physical shop to go to (and online stores are often fussy about selling internationally).

I disagree about localized pricing however, because the world is too small for that now. Local pricing only applies to the ignorant who are unable to find the "home market

Re:

[account_deleted]

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Re:

[cayenne8]

"Enforcement is a bit inconsistent, but if customs do slap you with a VAT bill you will then have the added pleasure of the courier company automatically paying it for you and levying a ~£10 fee for the privilege of doing so. They will then hold the parcel until you pay them both the VAT and their added charges."

So...in your country, they open up your private mail/packages coming in to see what is in it? If not..how else would they know if you have a VAT item or not?

EU/UK vs. American Pricing

[tlhIngan]

Let me guess - in Europe, you'd pay exactly those prices listed? No sales tax added on?

So you'd pay £429 / £499 / £599 / £529 / £599 / £699 for an iPad and not a penny more in sales/VAT?

That's one thing we have in North America - the prices listed ($499/$599/$699/$629/$729/$829) are sans sales tax. So add anywhere from 0% (a few states), to 5-10% to the actual price that Americans pay. Or in Canada, anywhere from 5-15% in sales taxes.

In the UK, the prices tend to be all inclusive - you pay what you see, so all the hidden consumption taxes get built in. VAT of nearly 20%, plus other import taxes and duties and the like. I'm guessing the price gap is a lot smaller than you think.

It's just that governments have used built-in taxes to hide how much taxes are really on products. Happens on this side of the pond with stuff like gas when you actually break down the price.

For example, the 16GB WiFi iPad - £429 is around $630 US. $500 US for the same iPad, plus taxes will probably mean one pays $530-$550 in the US. If we assume the total tax load is (VAT+importation taxes plus duties) 20% for the UK, that $500 iPad becomes $600 instantly.

Re:EU/UK vs. American Pricing

[Tim C]

Let me guess - in Europe, you'd pay exactly those prices listed? No sales tax added on?

I can't speak for the rest of Europe, but here in the UK you are correct - we pay the list price. Sometimes the price is listed as "ex VAT", so you have to factor in an extra 17.5% on top, but that's almost exclusively done by merchants that are targeting business customers. (And generally the price inclusive of VAT is listed alongside anyway)

Re:

[Alnitak73]

Sometimes the price is listed as "ex VAT", so you have to factor in an extra 17.5% on top, but that's almost exclusively done by merchants that are targeting business customers.

Prices advertised to consumers must in UK law be the VAT inclusive price. The "ex VAT" price may also be shown, but the total price has to be the headline price.

Re:

[Jugalator]

Let me guess - in Europe, you'd pay exactly those prices listed? No sales tax added on?

So you'd pay £429 / £499 / £599 / £529 / £599 / £699 for an iPad and not a penny more in sales/VAT?

I'm not sure if it goes for all of Europe, but in Sweden, consumer goods usually already have the VAT added, yes. So like in this case on the UK Apple Store. Not a penny more. However, if the goods are aimed for corporate use which doesn't pay this kind of hefty tax (currently 25% in Sweden IIRC), the store may list non-VAT prices.

Re:

[myspys]

It's just that governments have used built-in taxes to hide how much taxes are really on products.

OR they do it so that it's much easier for the customer to know how much to pay when reaching the check-out.

I HATE shopping in the US because you can never really know how much you'll end up paying until you reach the check-out.

Re:

[MBGMorden]

I HATE shopping in the US because you can never really know how much you'll end up paying until you reach the check-out.

Unless of course, you can actually do some simple math. Not to mention the face that unless you're close to spending your very last bit of money, the tiny extra that sales tax adds is trivial. If what I have available to spend can't cover an extra 5-6% added onto it then I really should be hanging onto my extra cash.

Re:

[aztracker1]

I always round up to the nearest dollar, then add 10% (usually sales tax is a little lower, but it works for estimating).

£429 for the rubbish version

[Alistair Hutton]

In America the price was more than a netbook but not game breakingly more, in Britain the worst version of the iPad will be twice as expensive as a netbook.

They're expensive here too.

[mosb1000]

In the US an iPad is more than twice as expensive as a netbook. Netbooks start at $230, but the iPad Starts at $500.

My brother has an iPad, and it is nothing like a netbook, so I don't know why people compare them. Right now the iPad is in a class of it's own. Don't point me to some slate computer with a desktop OS. The iPad is built from the ground up to be what it is. That's true of no other tablet computing product on the market today.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

The iPad is built from the ground up to be what it is.

Yeah! Cummon guys, listen to him! I don't know of any other tablet on the market that was created by making a phone bigger and taking away the phone call capability!

Re:

[aztracker1]

It's a Giant iPod Touch... it's got the iPod Touch guts, bolted into a big screen.. no ground up here... no ground breaking OS enhancements... I'm not saying it's overpriced, but it was emphatically built to be a large iPod Touch.

Re:

[Petron]

Worse storage, Worse flexibility, Worse software selection, Worse productivity, there isn't anything on the ipad you can't do on a netbook, but there are a lot of things you can do on a netbook that you can't do on an ipad. The ipad isn't a tablet. Tablets have been out for years. Tablets are computers with a touch interface, mostly without keyboards. The ipad is a presentation device. It isn't made for computing. Writing a paper on an ipad would just be painful. It's made to view web pages, watch a movie,

Re:

[SuperKendall]

Your link didn't work, but the HP Mini 210 HD you tried to link to has a few issues - it's twice as thick, weighs a pound more, and going back to the screen does not have an IPS display as the iPad has, and it's also smaller in the 768 pixel direction (since the HP 10.1 inch screen has a wider screen).

It's only got a GB of memory, and the keyboard would be pretty small to type on. As I said, I don't see that as being better than the iPad. I see it being a very tiny and kind of mediocre laptop.

I am also du

If you think that's bad, wait until you see...

[Sockatume]

Some of the data plans [tracyandmatt.co.uk].

I'm quite sure

[spleen_blender]

Apple is glad to see such free advertising! This is consumerism crap, not slashdot-worthy "stuff that matters" content...

Can I mod an article down as "flamebait"?

[gnasher719]

It's not 150%, it's 126%. And the UK price includes 17.5% VAT which Apple would have to send straight to Gordon Brown's tax collectors if he hadn't just been thrown out (I think he is refusing to leave, but thank heavens he will), whereas the US price doesn't include US sales tax.

Round trip ticket

[kenh]

With a round-trip ticket from Heathrow to NYC going for under $500 (Virgin, leaving Heathrow Saturday, returning from NYC on Monday), how many iPads would a Londoner have to buy in the US to cover the airplane ticket with the money saved? Just a handfull or so?

Re:

[kenh]

Shame they don't carry these in the duty-free shops in international airports ;^)

Canadian prices

[Selfbain]

They also announced the Canadian prices today:

http://www.apple.com/ca/pr/library/2010/05/07ipad.html [apple.com]

Looks like we'll be paying $50 more if we want one. On the plus side, the iBook application was also announced for us and up to this point it wasn't clear if we would be getting it.

Re:

[Magorak]

I'm ok with the $549 pricetag. What I want is to be able to get my hands on one before forking out the cash. There are no Apple stores east of Quebec so us in Atlantic Canada are kind of screwed unless they will be selling them at Future Shop.

Re:

[MarcoAtWork]

what about the 3g plan prices for Canada? are they listed anywhere?

Prices must end with 99

[loufoque]

They don't? Round up.

Sick of the whining.

[fredjh]

So don't %#!$ing buy it.

If you didn't bend over and keep asking for it, the prices would come down.

Fanboys (Apple or otherwise) get ripped because they let themselves get ripped. Case closed.

Ever been to the UK?

[vijayiyer]

Everything is more expensive in the UK than the US. Have you priced out a car there recently? 17.5% VAT is one reason, and a market that is willing to pay more is another. A third (probable) reason is that Apple would want a nice round number, not something like £437.13.
Funny that Slashdotters can complain about an "Apple Tax" quicker than a real tax.

Gouging on the data charges?

[petes_PoV]

Typically UK 3G charges are much lower (and faster) than american carriers' charges. It might be that Apple expects to get something back from the higher data costs - which they wouldn't benefit from so much in Britain.
BTW, The iPad does have to be tested for EU safety certification. This is a costly process as the standards are high (as is the mains voltage!). Maybe Apple are planning to recoup these costs with the higher price.

Of course, most sensible buyers will wait for the price to drop by a $100 o

Re:

[onyxruby]

Sure, you've got to test for different markets (that was the whole Israeli thing a bit back on the ipad). That being said, I don't think I ever had a piece of equipment from the states that didn't run just fine on 220. What they ought to do is create treaties for standards for markets. Standardizing rules for markets on those things that reasonably can be (Cars, cell phones etc) would only increase consumer choice and reduce manufacturing costs.

Mains voltage doesn't matter

[Comboman]

The iPad (and iPhone, and iPod) charge on 5 volts DC from the USB connector (which is sort of a defacto international standard for charging portable devices). It doesn't care whether you have 110V/60Hz AC or 220V/50Hz AC mains; your computer (or wall wart) takes care of that.

Re:

[SimonTheSoundMan]

This is a costly process as the standards are high (as is the mains voltage!)

They use switched mode power supplies, most people do these days. The same supply will work on 110V or 240V (Apple's USB charger is rated at 100-240V when you read the spec on the supply).

Re:

[cayenne8]

"If that is the case, than why is it almost always cheaper to buy such things in the states?"

No VAT or import taxes perchance?

Re:Maybe if you were a little more efficient

[evilbessie]

At least we didn't change ours because the person who wrote the dictionary didn't like the spellings.

Re:

[Lord Bitman]

so, uh, where do you work?

Re:

[Achromatic1978]

Of course you do, Anonymous Yahoo here would like everyone to know he is apparently making a million pounds a year, $1.45M US.

What's that smell?

Re:

[InsaneProcessor]

I know it doesn't replace anything, and if I'm honest it is just because its a shiny new tech toy, but it's still less than a day's wages so I'll be plonking down £499 as soon as I can.

You are an idiot who spends his money foolishly. You will suffer for that when the economy comes crashing down around you!

Re:

[abigor]

Most of the price differential appears to be from the UK VAT, unless I'm mistaken.

Simple math is obviously beyond you...

[Space cowboy]

UK VAT (the equivalent of sales tax in the USA) is 17.5%

Removing the tax so we can compare fairly: £429 / 1.175 => £365.11

Converting pounds to dollars: £429 = $539.94 (currency [xe.com] rate is 1 GBP = 1.47884 USD)

So, the difference (before taking into account the import duties of ~10%) is $539.94 - $499.99 or ~$40.

Subtracting $53 (estimated) of import duty means Apple is charging less than they do in the USA.

Simon.

Re:

[SimonTheSoundMan]

No import duty for the UK, as it has no calculator function.

Re:

[Space cowboy]

Now that's intriguing. What on earth do you mean ? Is it truly the case that there's no import duty because you have to download a calculator app, rather than comes supplied with one ? That seems ... bizarre.

Simon.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[hardburn]

Firstly that there is a "right" number that people are willing to pay for techie gadgets. 499 of whatever currency units is about right for a toy like this. People don't think about exchange rates when looking at an item on a retail shelf.

Second, it's hardly just Apple. All companies that export from the US into the UK are making a fortune. That's the upside of having your country's currency devalued. Consider: the Chrysler 300C has a US base price of $28k [chrysler.com], but a UK base price of £25k [chrysler.co.uk] (or $37.5k at an

Re:

[Lumpy]

A buddy of mine has sold 4, 16gig non 3G iPads to UK and German people on ebay for over $650.00 each.

They want these things and are willing to pay a premium plus nearly $100.00 in shipping to get them.

He sells only a few more and he has made enough to get himself a free iPad.

Also from the looks on ebay, they will not have a problem selling them over there even with really skewed currency values.

Re:

[gyrogeerloose]

Consider: the Chrysler 300C has a US base price of $28k, but a UK base price of £25k

While I don't doubt that's true, I'd really, really like to believe that you Brits are smart enough to know better than to buy a Chrysler 300. I mean, not even many of us Americans buy those sleds.

Re:

[beelsebob]

Nothing, it's a lie– $499 * 1.175 (VAT) in GBP is £399.27. Last I checked, 399.27 * 1.5 was not 429.

There's a £20 bump, and no more.

Re:

[beelsebob]

No, the US price listed doesn't include sales tax, the UK price does include VAT. To compare apples to apples, we must take the US price, convert to pounds, and then add VAT.

Re:

[OrangeTide]

who pays sales tax on easily mailed items in the US? 49 states in the US can order direct from Apple's store without paying sales tax.

Re:

[beelsebob]

Indeed, wheras in the UK, apple must pay VAT on every single item sold, hence we need to add VAT to the price to get a fair comparison.

Re:

[Qzukk]

You have to charge the state's sales tax if the company has a branch in that state (aka the Apple Store).

Re:

[gnasher719]

No, this is still not 150%, but it's more than three times the £20 that you said it was. Unless there is some other "sales tax" in the UK other than VAT, in which case you can call me an uninformed American and move on. :-)

Not uninformed, but non-thinking.

In the USA, the quoted price (the price you see in an advert or in a shop) is exclusive of sales tax / use tax. The US customer doesn't actually pay $499 for an iPad, they pay $499 plus whatever the sales tax is, say 8% = $39.92. The merchant receives $499 + $39.92 and sends $39.92 straight off to the tax office.

In the UK, the quote price (the price you see in an advert or in a shop) is inclusive of 17.5% VAT (value added tax). The UK customer hands over exactly the

Re:

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

the exchange rate is 1 USD to 1.5 GBP

£429 = ~$630 USD.

Re:

[electrosoccertux]

Nobody ever knows how to do a currency conversion.
It's 1GBP to 1.5USD.

What you are saying is that I can purchase 1 and a half GBP for 1 dollar. Which you cannot do.

Re:

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

You're absolutely right. My bad.

Given that economic buying power for the GBP is about 1:1 with the dollar in terms of earnings, a 399 iPad isn't that bad.

Re:

[beelsebob]

The 1.175 is the VAT, at 17.5%... Really, epic fail at reading comprehension.

$499 * 1.175 / (1.468$/£) = £399.27

Re:

[beelsebob]

Yeh... Woefully inaccurate [google.co.uk]

Re:

[beelsebob]

Actually, I wrote $499 * 1.175 in GBP.

The sum is correct, $499 * 1.175 is the price including VAT, and converted into GBP, it's £399.27. (.32 now, the exchange rate's changed slightly).