[Jordan]

This really irks me! I see some great press on the Mini overseas especially around some of the BTO options and I check Apple's site in Australia just to find that yet again, Apple Australia is using this as an opportunity to rip off local buyers.

For example, in the US you can get bluetooth for $50, Airport for $79 or both for $99 a saving of 30%. However in Australia, the option is A$79 for Bluetooth, $119 for Airport and, you guessed it $198 for both, a saving of 0%. That's 53% above the US cost!!!!

But wait there's more! The starting cost of a Mini in the US is $499 whereas in Australia it is A$799 which converts to $615 US or 23% increase. That's certainly a healthy hedge to take on a currency especially when they are made in Asia so shipping is not the factor!

Here's a quick summary!

Item USD AUD diff above US
Mini 1.25Ghz 499 799 23%
Mini 1.42Ghz 599 949 22%
512Mb RAM 75 120 22%
1Gb RAM 352 520 13%
SuperDrive 100 155 19%
Bluetooth 50 79 20%
Airport 79 119 15%
Both wireless items 99 198 53%
Wired keybrd & mouse 58 100 32%
Wireless kbrd & mse 99 198 53%

It's a shame that we can't upgrade this ourselves otherwise I would order the bluetooth and wireless kit from the US. Instead, I'm going to get the whole thing from the US on my next trip. Hey, I might even get two or three extra and sell them on eBay locally. Now unlike Apple, I'm not going to be too greedy. Maybe just a 10% or 15% margin...

Anyone got any recommendations here? I'll try writing to Apple locally, but it doesn't appear they are too interested in the local market....

BFN,

Jordan

[tooki]

*yawn*

This was covered shortly after the mini's release, just as the price discrepancy gets covered every single time Apple releases any product.

tooki

[curmi]

The Mac Man in The Age tells me he is going to talk to his sources at Apple Australia and ask about the situation (especially on the BTO options). So we may see some action in the near future.

[Dog Like Nature]

The Oz prices you are quoting are inclusive of GST, whereas the US prices are exclusive of sales tax. Of course this doesn't make up for the BT/Airport bundle price oddness, but it's not as grim as you make it out to be!

Example as of todays exchange rate:

Price of base Mac Mini in US store (before tax) US$499 = A$648.
Price of base Mac Mini in Oz store (before tax) A$726 = US$558.
Actual difference 11%, not 23%,

Chance to get a new Mac so cheaply.... priceless!

etc, etc, etc, etc,


(Apologies to those who don't get the MasterCard commercials in their locale...)

[slapdash]

I remember how this felt. I lived in the UK for almost 3 years and bought three machines whilst there, two of them Macs. Now if you do the currency exchange, which at the time was as bad as 1.9 for a while there, I was paying an extortionate amount for Apple hardware. It doesn't matter to those who live in Britain and make sterling income, but my income was US dollars so it hurt me really, really bad.

Currency exchange is a bummer, but it's all relative to where you live and what the currency market is like at any given time. If your income is native to the country you live in, you shouldn't really complain about currency exchanges. However if you're making US dollars and the US market is doing poorly yeah, it hurts.

As for taxes, that's another story. VAT sucked the big one; I lost thousands each year to it. Now I'm in the US, people here complain about the 6% sales tax, I just smile and pay it; anything beats paying the 18% I used to pay

[Jordan]

Originally posted by tooki:
*yawn*

This was covered shortly after the mini's release, just as the price discrepancy gets covered every single time Apple releases any product.

tooki

Hmm, how about staying awake long enough to read the posting properly!

I have checked out the different sites around the world and in every site except Australia, you get a discount for bundle bluetooth and airport together, and you get a discount for bundling the bluetooth keyboard and mouse together.

Yes, there is an unreasonable hike on the price for the exchange rate, but this is unrelated to that. This is ripping off customers...

[tooki]

Originally posted by Jordan:
Hmm, how about staying awake long enough to read the posting properly!

I did read your whole post before I posted, and I just re-read it to make sure, and I still don't see anything in it that's unique. Every time Apple comes out with something, they screw non-US buyers in at least one way, and usually more. Is it aggravating? Sure. New, novel? Not in the slightest. And most certainly it's been discussed amply in the month since the mini was announced.

tooki