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Comment by grecy | Hacker News Reader

Most goods sold around the world aren't priced in relation to what it costs to make them, they're priced based on what a given market will pay for them.

There's a reason it's cheaper to fly from Australia to NYC for a weekend to buy a MBP and fly back than it is to just buy one in Australia.

Same reason the top of the line Johnny Walker Whatever label is 1/4 the price in South Africa.

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I wonder if there's any sites that makes these comparisons e.g. I specify my home country then it lists popular products I can cheaper from elsewhere including cost of travel

Customs duty is a thing in most countries. You're only getting it for cheaper by breaking the law (gray area that it may be for some)

Err, I'd like to factcheck that. How much is the new Mac Book Pro 13 in the US? If I visit the US website it says its $1299 USD.

In Australia it's about $1400 USD ex GST.

You can't fly to the US for $100 USD

Well... I just checked and a fully decked mini here in Ireland is about US$600 more expensive than in the US. Import tax evasion ignored, it's possible to visit the US for US$600.

If you go for a top 16" MBP it'll be about US$3000.

Well as another example, it's generally more expensive to buy a new macbook in China than it is in the US, despite the fact that's where it's made.

I'm pretty sure when people make these comparisons they assume you'll illegally not declare the GST (tax)...

I thought it was more expensive in Australia because they have really good consumer protection laws so Apple just includes AppleCare in the cost of all their laptops

You Australia example is invalid though (the Australian Consumer Law is a very strict law which leans heavily to consumers' rights and because of that most goods are priced higher relative to other markets).

i always thought everything being more expensive in australia (i'm most familiar with game licenses) is just tradition, i.e. nobody really knows why but they're buying anyway, so there's no incentive to actually lower prices.

> Most goods sold around the world aren't priced in relation to what it costs to make them, they're priced based on what a given market will pay for them.

Is there some reason this isn't a large arbitrage opportunity? Why isn't Walmart buying Macbooks by the pallet in NYC to sell in Australia?

You have to pay customs duties when you import goods. Compliance with this is very high.

Technically, when you buy a product out of state you are expected to pay use tax when you come home. Compliance with this is very low.

So, for a business, there is no arbitrage opportunity.

What duties would Walmart be paying that Apple wouldn’t?

Based on my extensive 5 minutes of googling... There are many methods used to evaluate the value of goods used to determine customs duties. There are rules around which methods you are allowed to use. Presumably Apple is able to pay duties on the cost they pay to Foxconn which is substantially lower than the retail price. If Walmart had to instead pay duties on their actual cost i.e. US retail, that would be substantially higher. It appears that some methods (Transaction Value Of Identical Goods, Transaction Value Of Similar Goods, Computed Method Of Valuation) could allow Walmart to pay lower duties than their cost of goods, but I'm not a customs attorney so I don't know if they are applicable.

They would pay the same duties, which is why there wouldn't be an arbitrage opportunity

Some people did this for textbooks importing from asian countries like india where a book was sold for $5 compared to $100+ in the US. They were sued by the us publishers irc

Because we don't have Walmart in Australia :^)

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