Quote:
Originally Posted by bobson
Still can't figure out why XW 7mm is $749 dollars???
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While this question was not the question in the original post but as the original post has now been answered, I thought I'd tackle this as this question/comment (and similar) comes ups regularly and often devolves into an accusation of price gouging in retailers and similar claims of misconduct.
There are a large number of reasons that can account for this price difference but most are related to:
* Small size of Australian market (for most goods)
* Currency fluctuations
* RRP (recommend retail pricing)
* Accounting policies and relationship to cost of stock
* GST and Customs/Import duties and transportation costs
Some or all might have an impact and I'll try and address how these things have an impact.
The small size of the Australian market for many goods means that manufacturers aren't often located in Australia and/or don't have a direct relationship with a retailer. This means that "Australia and New Zealand" marketing/sales rights are contractually given to a third party facilitator/distributor/trading company (in some cases there might be more than one "middle man" invovled) who then have contact with the retailers. This "middle man" will of course expect to make a profit creating a price gap.
As is often cited currency fluctuations can often create price differences however, the real issue with this is in how they impact on price of stock on hand. The value and method by which a company (retail and distributor) cost inventory can and does have a big impact on pricing and pricing flexibility. So even if the AUD$ gains, if one of the "middlemen" distributors work in a different currency that moved in a different way pricing might not fall with the strengthening AUD$ for the retailers.
Recommended Retail Pricing established by a manufacturer for a given geography might also have an impact. While the practice of "setting a price" sounds like it might be illegal it is not and is often used by manufactures on many goods.
Lastly, difference in taxes and duties and transportation costs can also have a big impact on prices.
Having said all of that, I am not involved with Pentax and don't know their circumstances, policies or their distribution chain to Australia.
I have worked in companies that experienced all of the above that had an impact on the pricing that we were able to offer to our retailers and ultimately end users and explains why there is a differene. Of course there can also be artificially high pricing for profit to but this is not nearly as common as people assume...most markets and products do have pretty good substitutes.
With this I will close my comments on this subject...
