Stealing

[Mr. Zombie]

It's Over 4.000!

My brother was watching a video on YouTube some days ago, and it caught my attention. After that, I went looking for more information about it, and it turns out that the PlayStation 4/Vita will cost R$4.000 (4.000 Reais, Brazil's currency), which is about 1.800 dollars.

The alleged reason for such a high price was the transportation taxes, which is, according to Sony, about 70% of the total price.

Now, wait a second: the PS4 costs U$399 in the U.S., right? Let's make a simple calculation here:

U$399 x 2.17 (the price of 1 U.S. dollar in Brazil's Real, as of today) = R$865.83 + R$605.50 (which is 70% of R$865.83) = R$1471.33.
So, the price should be R$1471.33. Sony's price? R$3.999!

Wha?

Even if it had all the taxes involved, it would cost R$1471.33, right? Right?

What really makes me wonder is (and makes Sony look even worse): why didn't Sony produce the console here, since they have a factory in Manaus, where they produce the PS3?

Perhaps uncle Gates secretely bought Sony and wants to destroy it!

The price for the Xbox One here in Brazil? "Only" R$1935.12, or U$891.76!

Microsoft products had to deal with the same taxes, yet, its console has about half the price of its rival!

I mean, the fact that it's cheaper to take a flight to the U.S., buy the P$4K, and come back with enoough money remaining to buy an Ipad 4 is absurd.

The minimum wage is about R$680 (313.36 american dollars) per month here, and most people get paid that amount. Now let's assume we don't have to pay electricity, gas, food, renting and public transportation (I don't have a car, mind you), it would take 5 to 6 months to be able to get the damn "PlayShitation".

And then people say: "piracy is stealing". Well, not more than Sony is trying to steal. Of course I understand consoles are more expensive outside the U.S., but this time Sony deserves a medal!

So, what do you think about it? Would you, american, scottish, british and friends of other nationalities, buy a console for $4.000 of your currency? Or even half of that?

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

you find that with a lot of things. coke is bottled in the uk, but it's still cheaper for retailers to import coke from the middle east that was bottled here then exported out.

 

[iSmiff]

you find that with a lot of things. coke is bottled in the uk, but it's still cheaper for retailers to import coke from the middle east that was bottled here then exported out.

The economy in a nutshell. Wow.

 

[AuronX]

I've heard so many stories like these, and yes it's outrageous and seemingly dumb (I say 'seemingly' simply because I don't claim to be an economic expert in any way and so I at least allow for there to be some legitimate reason behind pricing) but at the end of the day all you can do is choose to participate or not participate. And by 'participate' I mean 'purchase something'. But I say 'participate' because if you purchase something you feel is unreasonably priced, you are lending legitimacy to that pricing, and directly participating in fueling the continued sale of goods at such prices.

In other words: speak with your wallets.

What matters to you more: gaming on a certain console, or a fair price for it? It's easy to say the latter, but when faced with enough advertising and positive feedback from other customers most people that are financially able will cave in and buy the console. Sellers know this and so they charge more than necessary, yes. But honestly, that's more good business than it is stealing. Most of the fault lies on the shoulders of people who'll actually pay the higher price. If you want lower prices, don't be one of those people. We've had some really good examples of this principle in action recently. Nintendo cut the price of the 3DS to actually take a loss so that they could make profit on software instead of hardware. Microsoft cut features from the Xbox One because preorders were declining. It may take a while, but eventually companies pay attention.