G4 cheaper in USA than Europe!

[Filthy]

If we were all to compare the price of a litre of unleaded...

Oh my gosh this! If you could hear people here complaining about how crazy it is that gas is $4 a gallon you guys living in Europe would be flabbergasted. So many people in the US have no idea how much our government subsidizes our gasoline. If they could see what the real price of gas is, they would feel lucky! Whenever people I know start freaking out about rising gas prices here, I tell them to look up how much the same amount of gas costs in Ireland. They are stunned.

It's approximately 1,8€ per litre here in Finland....   And someone who claimed that the cost of ponies in US is higher than $5 if it needs to be shipped to you: it costs 4€ ($5.3) to ship one pony within this country. It's crazy!

[Mapago]

Oh wow.. o____o;
Does this make both of you less likely to find yourself buying Fashion Styles and such?

Pretty much, I don't own any of them


It's a tax problem here; toys and electronics get over 100% of their value added to it's price; the government does it so we would be more likely to buy stuff that's made here, the problem is: brazilian manufacturers think it's fair to charge the same price over their own products, so everything gets overpriced...
Just lookit here: http://www.rihappy.com.br/prod/busca/16790/0/Hasbro%20-%20My%20Little%20Pony%20Amigas%20para%20Sempre%20-%20Amigas%20de%20Escola.aspx


That's US$37.00 for the school pals and brushable Celestia each (and I so wanted those sets =X)

[Vintergatan]

They encourage buying of products made within your country, and therefore keep money circulating within your country rather than going elsewhere.

This is actually completely and utterly forbidden by European Union's laws! There can be absolutely no discrimination and taxing on foreign products as opposed to domestic ones as it would go against very strict laws of free trade under which the EU is bound.

So while I agree with most of the things you are saying (and myself have huge issues with free trade) EU is bound by all the Free Trade agreements just like the United States and they simply may not bump the prices of foreign goods just to support local businesses (unfortunately I might add).

That said, I just think it is the stores that ultimately benefit the most. This is not an educated guess and it might be different everywhere but my husband has worked in some stores here in Iceland and he says that the price for which the stores are selling things is a few times higher than what they get the products in for. He only worked in electronics stores, not toys, so I will just assume that let's say TRU Iceland gets MLPs for $6 each (as stores get great tax discounts when importing), they sell them for $11-12 each and they gain profit.

Again, I´m just concluding based on what I know about how things work here so don't take my word for this (but the free trade laws in the EU I know quite a bit about as i´ve studied parts of EU law).

[Itajn]

Here in Russia taxes are not as high as in EU. And wage is surely lower than in US (especially if you count whole country, not just few really big cities). And I'm not sayng anything about social services or state of economy - that's wery sad topic.
But prices are still crazy - G4 singles are $13ish (lowest price I've seen was $9, but that store does not stock regularly), FS are $25-35, same with basic playsets. I've never seen Rarity's Carousel lower than $55.  I bet wedding castle is going to be at least $80, if not $100...
My vision may be biased, as I'm living in the capital city, and it's not just the ponies, everything here are priced crazy.

Well, as least we've got international exclusives.

[Chi]

Oh wow.. o____o;
Does this make both of you less likely to find yourself buying Fashion Styles and such?

Pretty much, I don't own any of them


It's a tax problem here; toys and electronics get over 100% of their value added to it's price; the government does it so we would be more likely to buy stuff that's made here, the problem is: brazilian manufacturers think it's fair to charge the same price over their own products, so everything gets overpriced...
Just lookit here: http://www.rihappy.com.br/prod/busca/16790/0/Hasbro%20-%20My%20Little%20Pony%20Amigas%20para%20Sempre%20-%20Amigas%20de%20Escola.aspx


That's US$37.00 for the school pals and brushable Celestia each (and I so wanted those sets =X)

That's awful! Maybe someone here in the US can pick one up for you and sell it to you at cost + shipping? I haven't seen them in stock around here for a while, though.
It's only about $15 in stores and shipping (if you don't mind them loose) would probably be about $8, which would save you a good 10+ bucks.

[ShinePaw]

Well if we want to compare, here the single brushables are around $10-15, and I just saw the Pony School Pals for $45 (that's a lot o.o) And also 1 litre of gasoline is $2 (1,5 euro) but the we have quite low wages, and incredibly high VAT :/ I'm so fed up with my country, and it's getting worse with even more taxes ><...

That's why I like to trade my art for ponies, these prices are just too high for me

[teresat]

Well as far as I could see, the US is the *only* developed country where a person can go bankrupt because of *medical* costs! So in the end our costs of living here in the US are very high!

[kestral_kitsune]

Well as far as I could see, the US is the *only* developed country where a person can go bankrupt because of *medical* costs! So in the end our costs of living here in the US are very high!

this, cost of living in the US is going way up due to politics,gas blah blah blah. but our wages are not going up either.  I hardly buy ponies anymore because I can't afford them, and I work full time D: they're a nice little treat every now and then.

[babystarz]

They encourage buying of products made within your country, and therefore keep money circulating within your country rather than going elsewhere.

This is actually completely and utterly forbidden by European Union's laws! There can be absolutely no discrimination and taxing on foreign products as opposed to domestic ones as it would go against very strict laws of free trade under which the EU is bound.

So while I agree with most of the things you are saying (and myself have huge issues with free trade) EU is bound by all the Free Trade agreements just like the United States and they simply may not bump the prices of foreign goods just to support local businesses (unfortunately I might add).

That said, I just think it is the stores that ultimately benefit the most. This is not an educated guess and it might be different everywhere but my husband has worked in some stores here in Iceland and he says that the price for which the stores are selling things is a few times higher than what they get the products in for. He only worked in electronics stores, not toys, so I will just assume that let's say TRU Iceland gets MLPs for $6 each (as stores get great tax discounts when importing), they sell them for $11-12 each and they gain profit.

Again, I´m just concluding based on what I know about how things work here so don't take my word for this (but the free trade laws in the EU I know quite a bit about as i´ve studied parts of EU law).

But that's exactly what charging import fees and Value Added Tax on foreign merchandise amounts to, isn't it? I'm assuming the VAT must be higher for imported items. And VAT on an item is supposed to reside with the end consumer, meaning that it's forwarded through the distribution chain until it's bought in a store. Or is there a certain amount at which customs fees are not applied? I'm not really familiar with mass import tariffs or anything like that. I don't doubt that the stores also jack up the price, but I'd imagine they are also paying considerably more for the ponies than stores here do.

[Vintergatan]

There is a distinct difference between the customs on the one hand and internal taxation on the other. I will say that I am in no way familiar with customs in these terms so all I can say is that as far as I know, they are down to the negotiations of corresponding countries (markets)

However, when it comes to internal taxation, the EU law (in the spirit of the WTO agreement) strictly forbids any taxes that should directly or indirectly favour a product based (inter alia) on it's origin. so basically, any taxes that are put in place have to apply equally to a domestic product and a foreign one.

In this case, obviously, since most toys are not produced in the EU they might be taxed extra highly as it is assumed most of them come from abroad, but this is pure speculation on my part. My point is that a country may not, under law, place such taxes that would favour domestic products. There are exceptions to this, but none that would apply in these cases ^^ Because of this I am positive that VAT has to be the same for products no matter where they come from. These are the basic rules of free trade which I think every European country has to abide to. Needless to say that some are more obedient than others, but I´m pretty sure the EU at least takes this pretty seriously as I´ve had to go through some cases in my studies.

It is also important to remember (mostly for us in Europe) that the whole of EU is considered *one* market and all the member states have same customs laws as well (whatever they may be)


ETA: I´ve actually checked the VAT situation just to be sure and I see now why you would think that VAT is higher on imported goods. There is a good explanation of the misconception here:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax#VAT_and_import.2Fexport


basically, there is a practice that is in place to normalize the VATs when products are being imported/exported that might seem like "discrimination" but is not, and is actually approved by the WTO

[Clipper]

i didn't read all the posts.. but our good are cheaper bc i think the difference of our dollar.. also in europe they make more hourly i believe then we do here in the usa.. so it evens out really.

[Vintergatan]

also in europe they make more hourly i believe then we do here in the usa.. so it evens out really.

really depends where in Europe. Being such a diversified continent, it´s hard to make generalisations like that

[Sora]

Well as far as I could see, the US is the *only* developed country where a person can go bankrupt because of *medical* costs! So in the end our costs of living here in the US are very high!

this, cost of living in the US is going way up due to politics,gas blah blah blah. but our wages are not going up either.  I hardly buy ponies anymore because I can't afford them, and I work full time D: they're a nice little treat every now and then.

In the UK, we've hit another recession - gas is much more expensive over here, and our wages aren't rising either. Everything has risen in price which is often double that of the US price too. That's a problem all around the world really though, not just the US

The one thing I hate most though is in fact the custom charges. £60 for a package that cost only £30 to begin with!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

EVERYTHING in Europe costs more than the USA.    Ponies, milk, bread, clothing, fuel...