Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!dcl-cs!gdt!exspes
From: exspes@gdr.bath.ac.uk (P E Smee)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: ST peripherals - UK versus US
Message-ID: <1991Mar6.180216.28700@gdr.bath.ac.uk>
Date: 6 Mar 91 18:02:16 GMT
References: <1185@exua.exeter.ac.uk> <4bp2=jK00WB0QQG2VJ@andrew.cmu.edu>
Reply-To: P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Organization: University of Bristol c/o University of Bath
Lines: 43

In article <4bp2=jK00WB0QQG2VJ@andrew.cmu.edu> mg20+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Paul Greelish) writes:
>Whoa... I've heard stuff about European products being more expensive,
>but your price quotes are outrageous! Is it some kinda tax thing or
>something? Things are *WAY* cheaper here.

The apparent exchange rate for computer stuff is about 1 dollar equals
1 pound sterling.  British prices do include their analog of the sales
tax, which is about 15%, which accounts for some (but not much) of it.

>A weird side note: how come imported European software is so cheap here,
>at least from a good importer?

The software companies *claim* that it's because the US market is so big
that they can take advantage of economies of scale which they can't use
in their own countries.  (If this is true, I'd expect the common market
act to drastically cut European prices, come '1992'.  I suspect the real
answer, though, is that they know they can get away with it.)

>I dunno, maybe it's because we're in a recession... how's Europe doing
>economically?

Depends which bit of Europe.  For most of Europe, the answer is 'not
great, just at the moment'.  For the UK specifically, well, you think
*you've* got a recession?  Let me tell you...

>Would you have to *SMUGGLE* stuff back from the States? What if you
>mail-order it? Is there some kind of import tax?

At the very least, we'd have to pay our sales tax (15% in the UK).  In
some countries, duty might be charged as well.  The biggest problem
with 'unauthorised imports', though, is that the software might not
work, and there'd be no-one to turn to for support.  Examples, European
ST keyboards use (slightly) different scan codes than US ones -- or at
least, mapping of scan-codes to letters, since European keyboards are
laid out differently.  Also, ROM identifiers tend to be different,
which can screw up stuff which checks things like that, either for
protection or for modifying it's behaviour.  US wordprocessors usually
don't support (for example) the British 'pound sterling' currency
symbol.  There are lots of potential such annoyances.

-- 
Paul Smee, Computing Service, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UD, UK
 P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk - ..!uunet!ukc!bsmail!p.smee - Tel +44 272 303132