Price gouging

5981 Views 32 Replies 19 Participants Last post by Atroz, Aug 15, 2007

Randi Scott

Discussion Starter · Aug 12, 2007

Hello all,

A question I would like to ask anyone who knows... Why is .Mac so much more expensive up here in Canada when our dollars are within a nickel of each other. Is Apple pocketing this huge spread or is it our own government?

Who's pocket are we feeding?

Anyone know?

P.S. Would this work? ... Buy a new Mac here but register it to somewhere in the USA and then sign up for .Mac... pay with a money order in US dollars and save the $30 premium we get stuck with for being Canadian?

I thought NAFTA was a good thing!

Randi Scott

1 - 20 of 33 Posts

CanadaRAM

· #2 · Aug 12, 2007

Ummm... it's Apple, not the government.

The $139 is pre-tax so where would you come up with the theory that the Government is jacking up the price?

ender78

· #3 · Aug 12, 2007

It is gouging at this best. iLife is priced at par, why in the world can .Mac no be?

adagio

· #4 · Aug 12, 2007

Folks, the problem is .Mac is an old product. It came out at the time our dollar difference was MUCH bigger. Apple only prices according to current standards when a new product is released. That's why you see current iMac pricing inline with reality right now. If the US dollar should suddenly rise then theoretically the iMac would be much cheaper in Canada.

I have been complaining about .Mac pricing for a few years. I can only say shop around like I do. If you have American friends/relatives then get them to order .Mac from Amazon for $79. Otherwise keep your eyes open here for sales on .Mac at Future Shop or Best Buy.

guytoronto

· #5 · Aug 12, 2007

There is no such thing as price gouging in a free and open market. There is however such a thing as ignorant consumers.

jamesB

· #6 · Aug 12, 2007

adagio said:
Folks, the problem is .Mac is an old product. It came out at the time our dollar difference was MUCH bigger. Apple only prices according to current standards when a new product is released. That's why you see current iMac pricing inline with reality right now. If the US dollar should suddenly rise then theoretically the iMac would be much cheaper in Canada.

I have been complaining about .Mac pricing for a few years. I can only say shop around like I do. If you have American friends/relatives then get them to order .Mac from Amazon for $79. Otherwise keep your eyes open here for sales on .Mac at Future Shop or Best Buy.

Well I notice that the current "updated minis" have a new more inline price, should not the new updated .Mac not also have it's price corrected?
jb.

adagio

· #7 · Aug 12, 2007

The "updated" .Mac is not considered a new product. I'm not aware of any product number change. The other things you list will indeed have new numbers.

ArtistSeries

· #8 · Aug 12, 2007

guytoronto said:
There is no such thing as price gouging in a free and open market. There is however such a thing as ignorant consumers.

Please elaborate.
For example, there is a Citizen watch I like. From ewatches.com it would cost me 270$USD, in Canada the same watch is over 625$cnd. I'd prefer to support local merchants (even e-retailers).
So what is an "ignorant consumer" to do?

I'd also like to purchase a watch by a Canadian company. Sadly, the exact same model is about 150$ (on a 225$ watch) more expensive in Canada. Free market should dictate about the same pricing...

JCCanuck

· #9 · Aug 12, 2007

Not just the macs either!

Heard on 640 radio that people are buying old and new cars in the states and selling that at Canadian prices (which are higher like the macs and other things) and making a nice profit. Boats also.

CanadaRAM

· #10 · Aug 12, 2007

A.S: No, you have a misconception about free markets.

A free market is where the seller is free to choose whatever price they want to ask for the product and the buyer is free to buy elsewhere or not at all.

There is no implication of price equity between sellers, nor does it imply there are no differences between the sellers' input costs (wholesale cost, volume discounts, transportation, warranty costs, overheads).

Free market also implies that there are no monopolies (like Hydro power or natural gas) governmentally imposed price or production quota restrictions (like eggs and dairy) and that there are minimal or no import duties or tariffs.

In the case of watches, cameras etc., often times the Canadian distributor of a model line has an exclusive on the product. They take a mark up (which increases the Canadian retail price) and they presumably provide warranty and dealer support as well as distribution and advertising in Canada. Gray market products (that is, products brought into the country without going through the official country distributor) may not have a warranty valid in Canada, or the required packaging and manuals for Canada.

A code word for this is when you see "One year warranty through importer" in an advert. This tells you that there is no manufacturer warranty.

In extreme cases, gray market goods may not have CSA approval, Engish manuals or software/OS, may not come with the normal accessories or they may be outright forgeries.

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HowEver

· #11 · Aug 12, 2007

JCCanuck said:
Heard on 640 radio that people are buying old and new cars in the states and selling that at Canadian prices (which are higher like the macs and other things) and making a nice profit. Boats also.

That's what I hear too, not a secret:
Auto - WOW ---- New cars from US up to 20% cheaper (cost to import under $200) - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

macsackbut

· #12 · Aug 12, 2007

.Mac prices are higher everywhere around the world, not just here. The falling US dollar is to blame. I wrote about this on my blog (here, for anyone interested) and made a comparison chart of .Mac price discrepancies around the world. Actually, the Brits have it even worse than we do; they pay the equivalent of $40 US more than people in the US.

And that's just on .Mac. UK Mac users pay an incredible premium on hardware too. At least Apple is pretty close in Canada for the computers.

But I agree that the price for .Mac should be adjusted. The thing is, I'm sure the company doesn't want to lower the price too much, because then if the US currency rises, they will be forced into a position where they have to boost the price for the service or (presumably) lose money. What's a poor CEO to do?

ArtistSeries

· #13 · Aug 12, 2007

CanadaRAM said:
In the case of watches, cameras etc., often times the Canadian distributor of a model line has an exclusive on the product. They take a mark up (which increases the Canadian retail price) and they presumably provide warranty and dealer support as well as distribution and advertising in Canada. Gray market products (that is, products brought into the country without going through the official country distributor) may not have a warranty valid in Canada, or the required packaging and manuals for Canada.

In extreme cases, gray market goods may not have CSA approval, Engish manuals or software/OS, may not come with the normal accessories or they may be outright forgeries.

The second example was for a Canadian company (not some distributor). Odd how the products are less expensive in the U.S. -

I'm not talking about grey market - that's something else entirely.

It's a balancing act when you are a retailer in Canada for sure and sometimes consumers can be odd. I still remember the customer that complained about a HD that we were selling. Our price was 5$ more than elsewhere (but with free installation). He bought the less expensive HD but paid 50$ for someone to install it...

krs

· #14 · Aug 12, 2007

macsackbut said:
.Mac prices are higher everywhere around the world, not just here. The falling US dollar is to blame. I wrote about this on my blog (here, for anyone interested) and made a comparison chart of .Mac price discrepancies around the world. Actually, the Brits have it even worse than we do; they pay the equivalent of $40 US more than people in the US.

Did you back out the VAT when you do the EU, GB etc comparison?

RunTheWorldOnMac

· #15 · Aug 12, 2007

guytoronto said:
There is no such thing as price gouging in a free and open market. There is however such a thing as ignorant consumers.

I beg to differ. An oil cooler for my dads atv is 400 plus tax in Canada. 140 no tax in the US; Pennsylvania.

Yamaha said it was because duties, buying power, yaa daa yaa daa...BS!

There are no duties on atv parts and they should be buying parts as one company not 2.

I bought it in the US and can nayone guess what was printed in LARGE letters on iut?

MADE IN CANADA!!!

.Mac should be similarly priced. The dollars are close and we pay $40 more before tax....

CanadaRAM

· #16 · Aug 12, 2007

ArtistSeries said:
The second example was for a Canadian company (not some distributor). Odd how the products are less expensive in the U.S. -

Well, yes... if the Canadian company buys from the authorized Casio Canada distributor, then they pay the distributor's markup and pass that along as higher retail prices --- that's my point, in some cases a manufacturer's approved distribution channel adds 1 or 2 layers of handling and cost into the price.

There are cases where our Canadian wholesalers are charging us more at wholesale than the US retail price. But if we bring in the items from the US, the customer won't have a warranty. There are also US manufacturers who will sell to us and to US dealers at the same price - but the shipping costs are insane ($90 on a $200 product) so that gets bundled into our retail price as well.

absolutetotalgeek

· #17 · Aug 12, 2007

What I find funny is that a Mac user is complaining about the price of an Apple product. Mac users have been taking it up the butt and getting gouged for years. Some of the stuff Apple pulls on it's loyal customer base is just ridiculous, but we all just bend over and smile and stare at the shiny new Mac stuff with that 'deer in the headlights' expression 'cause it's from Steve...

HowEver

· #18 · Aug 13, 2007

absolutetotalgeek said:
What I find funny is that a Mac user is complaining about the price of an Apple product. Mac users have been taking it up the butt and getting gouged for years. Some of the stuff Apple pulls on it's loyal customer base is just ridiculous, but we all just bend over and smile and stare at the shiny new Mac stuff with that 'deer in the headlights' expression 'cause it's from Steve...

Those writing in this thread beg to differ:

http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/54535-rob-wright-star-macs-more-expensive-than-pcs.html

krs

· #19 · Aug 13, 2007

absolutetotalgeek said:
What I find funny is that a Mac user is complaining about the price of an Apple product. Mac users have been taking it up the butt and getting gouged for years. Some of the stuff Apple pulls on it's loyal customer base is just ridiculous, but we all just bend over and smile and stare at the shiny new Mac stuff with that 'deer in the headlights' expression 'cause it's from Steve...

The oldest Mac in my family is a G4 I bought in 1999.
Only thing I ever upgraded other than adding hard drives is the processor - $250 for a 1.4 GHz.
Repairs none, viruses none, spyware none etc. Currently running latest version of OS X.
In the office, they had to replace the Dell PC three times in the same timeframe, that alone cost a lot more than my Mac and that's not counting the endless lost hours fixing the PC over the years.

Life-cycle cost wise, the Mac is light years ahead of a PC.

Atroz

· #20 · Aug 13, 2007

The other odd thing about .Mac is that there's nor corporate (or edu?) discount on it. Of all the things they sell, this is something they should be able to discount.

1 - 20 of 33 Posts

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