Price of the Freerunner published?

[Stroller]

On 20 Mar 2008, at 13:24, Flemming Richter Mikkelsen wrote:

> On 3/19/08, thomasg <thomas at gstaedtner.net> wrote:
> ...
>> you have to pay the 19% even if you import by yourself (the 19%  
>> are also on
>> the shipping fees).
>
> That is not correct (at least here in Norway we do NOT pay VAT for the
> shipping fees)

Conversely, in the UK we do. I guess it depends where the importer is  
based.

To add my two pennies to this conversation, I don't like getting the  
shaft any more than anyone else does - here in "Rip Off Britain" we  
seem to get it worse than most Europeans (for instance I may consider  
buying an ATX server case from Germany, as it may well be cheaper,  
even with the currency exchange & shipping, than buying locally).

But we must remember that an importer has to tie his own money up in  
stock (money that could otherwise be earning interest for him) and  
gamble with the currency exchange rates. If he buys when the dollar  
is at  1:X and the exchange rate changes disfavourably to 1:Y, then  
he has to swallow the difference on all his existing stock. A  
reseller generally provides customer convenience - it's easy to order  
online from someone local - support and so on, and has to make a  
profit (otherwise he might as well go close his business and go work  
for someone else).

I can't believe that ZZZZ Phones will be the only place to buy a  
Moko, so if you don't like it, go shop somewhere else. Maybe if we  
find in 6 months time that there's no way to buy in Europe without  
paying 50% more than the dollar price, that's a time to complain, but  
IMO it's a bit early for whinging.

Stroller.