Meh. Stupid government :-\
Anyway, I'll bypass the retailers/government and import stuff myself.
I feel bad now for posting in this thread as I *DO* like EVGA and it wasn't MY intention to flame them to death about this, I can't speak for others however...
It's just unfortunate that stuff down here has such a stupid markup. Especially now that I have the money to spend, lots of (expensive ) hobbies, and I'm earning it myself, I really do want good value for money.

I just had a thought though, why can't evga sell to us directly? Not financially worthwhile? Or logistically impossible? I guess what I'm saying is that I wish I could go to the US site, place an order, wait a few weeks, recieve the parts. I've done that with Sidewinder for my watercooling setup and it was a painless process.

PS. Move to America? No way.... no offence >.>

warthorn

I decided to look around some Australian e-retailers to see if there was any merit to your argument. Here is an example, scroll through the pages and compare EVGA prices to every other manufacturer:
http://www.shopbot.com.au...=search&kw=gtx+260

Just like in the US and anywhere else, EVGA prices are right in line with every other Nvidia manufacturer. There are a few cheaper prices from the less desirable board partners (i.e., Leadtek)... Just like in the US.

If you dislike EVGA prices, either buy one of the unreliable brands, or pay the premium like the rest of us. If your problem is with inflated prices on all imported electronics from Nvidia (and others?) in general, then take it up with your government, or if it is so incredibly important to you, move to the US. What you are doing right now is trying ("trying") to drag a company's good name through the mud for doing something malicious and greedy -- when in fact that company is doing nothing of the sort.

There is simply no logical or rhetorical way you can wiggle around the fact that the other board partners are charging the same prices as EVGA. There must be other factors that lead to the pricing you see.

Thank you.. +1!

i dont know if this helps any but this is about the only evga etailer that will do international shipping that i know of if you want to cut out the middle man.http://www.ewiz.com/index.php

EVGA Australia works exactly the same as EVGA Europe so your not the only segment/market getting a "bum deal" by EVGA, only those in the US/Canada and possibly 1 other part of South America enjoy the real EVGA experience.

The European website does the exact same thing, it links to the US website for the most part.  The worst thing is even if an EVGA Office opens up in your market segment EVGA US has no control over them what-so-ever, just because EVGA US does something doesn't mean the EVGA in your market/segment will offer the same.

I would contact your representative , or government official, and complain about VAT, as it seems like the biggest value of the value added Tax, is the revenue the government makes, off the backs of it's citizens, even the taxes placed on the manufacturers, just get passed onto the consumer, as well as shipping charges. I would be willing to bet that EVGA could give better prices in both Europe and Asia, If you could convince your government to allow those products to be sold Tax and Duty Free, I would also imagine, you could get a lot more vendors to carry the product, if the government would pick up the shipping fees. I would assume that the cost of manufacturing the board would be the same regardless of destination, as the board itself cares not where it is sold, and I would imagine that the profit margin, or mark up is the same.( although adjusted for currency exchange ), so all that leaves is the cost to provide the product. which would be beyond EVGA's control. 

I know where your coming from, and feel your pain, I picked up a bottle of Purtorican Rum in Rosy Rhodes, for $2, that same bottle down the road at my local package store is over $8, a large bottle of Canadian Mist was <$20 at the duty free border crossing, but is over $45 here. I stayed in a decent hotel in Cambodia for $10 a night, a similar room down the road is $45. I wanted to send my wifes brother a $600 laptop, but Fed EX wanted $423 to air mail it to him, even sending him the cash through the bank was $45. I ended up letting A uncle take it when he went on vacation, and the airlines charged $100 for additional baggage. 

What comes out of your pocket, is directley related to how many people have their hands in it.
  

could someone link me to evga australia this must be fairly new thanx

http://www.evga.com.au/

5thduke

thanx xray im a bit confused on a google search it says shadow entertainment but there site is messed up then i read they went broke lol

 

                                                                 

XrayMan

5thduke

thanx xray im a bit confused on a google search it says shadow entertainment but there site is messed up then i read they went broke lol

 

                                                                 

lol I'm thinking that's not right...

tuaamin13

Seriously, currency conversion only applies to when you purchase something with one currency that's priced in another.  That's the only time it applies.

There are other factors involved in pricing -- trade agreements, tarrifs, general market forces (I can charge $90 AUD for a game because people will pay that sort of argument).

While you pointed out Intel vs EVGA, there could be additional market forces at stake.  Where does Intel fab?  Is it getting shipped from there?  It's probably not the same place the EVGA fabs.  For instance, I believe the Core i7s are from Costa Rica or Malaysia.  There are different tariffs in place for different countries and for different types of items (electronics, textiles, etc).

With the Global Warranty that you want, you run into the issue of consumer protection laws that have to be made to jive with all ordinances.  EU laws have different requirements from US, which is why they have lifetime warranties in the US with 1 year unregistered, and EU is 2 yrs unregistered/10 registered.  http://www.evga.de/warranty/

So while it's trivial to offer warranty service for the price of postage you'll find that all prices would go up if they had to design a warranty that met every country's requirements.

That. And...
 

warthorn

I decided to look around some Australian e-retailers to see if there was any merit to your argument. Here is an example, scroll through the pages and compare EVGA prices to every other manufacturer:
http://www.shopbot.com.au/search.asp?page=1&position=search&kw=gtx+260

Just like in the US and anywhere else, EVGA prices are right in line with every other Nvidia manufacturer. There are a few cheaper prices from the less desirable board partners (i.e., Leadtek)... Just like in the US.

If you dislike EVGA prices, either buy one of the unreliable brands, or pay the premium like the rest of us. If your problem is with inflated prices on all imported electronics from Nvidia (and others?) in general, then take it up with your government, or if it is so incredibly important to you, move to the US. What you are doing right now is trying ("trying") to drag a company's good name through the mud for doing something malicious and greedy -- when in fact that company is doing nothing of the sort.

There is simply no logical or rhetorical way you can wiggle around the fact that the other board partners are charging the same prices as EVGA. There must be other factors that lead to the pricing you see.

 
That. And...
 
Now for my little take on this subject. I will make a couple points in my little talk below.
 
    EVGA is a business. Yes, they may have the best or one of the best customer services, but in the end, they are still a business. You know what successful businesses do? They go where the money goes. Right now, North America is where EVGA, along with most other businesses, see the most money, and profit margin at (ignoring the fact that America's economy is in the crapper currently). Businesses try to make the most possible money, with spending the least amount; as simple as that.
    Now you may be thinking, "what about all the super-fancy stuff EVGA makes, like the 4-way sli or the SR-2?" I will admit, those are very niche products, but those are only 2 of EVGA's huge line of products. And, even though they are damn expensive, i guarantee you EVGA is making a mighty fine profit margin on them, as well as all thier other products. Even if they lost money on those two high-end examples i gave, i guarantee the profit margin from all their other parts would more than make up for it.
    EVGA is one of many manufacturers of graphics cards and mobos. Other in this thread have clearly shown that their prices are in line with other manufacturers, no matter the region. This is called competition. To reiterate this point, if other companies like XFX or ASUS lower or raise thier prices, EVGA will too. In North America, EVGA's prices are in line with other manufacturers. Though they may be a bit more, EVGA offers superior service (obviously an opinion, but still a relevant point), for North America. In Australia, if other manufacturers price thier products high, so will EVGA. It's as simple as that. So why not complain to all the manufacturers for having high prices, not just EVGA?
    Now i consider myself a performance junkie, not an EVGA or any manufacturer fanboy. Though i have an EVGA mobo and vid cards, i feel that EVGA at this current point in time, offers the best performance for my budget. I have many other brands of cards and mobos, that i feel offer better performance than EVGA or offered better performance at the time (referencing old hardware). So i ask you this. Does EVGA offer the best service and performance for the best price for you? It all comes down to personal needs of balancing price, performance, and service. I am not telling you to shun EVGA forever, but think about this. For now, buy the cards or mobos that you deem to suit your needs, whether they be EVGA or not. Then if EVGA comes out with a branch in Australia, go back to them, and get thier products.
    My last point, i promise. Like i (and others) have pointed out, EVGA is a business. To tell you the truth, even though they may have great service and make you feel like you are important to them, you aren't. One person in their entire customer base isn't going to make a difference, and they could care less about what you think. BUT, if you get say, a couple thousand people to ask for an EVGA Australia store, and show that they would have a strong customer base, and show that they could make a good profit and overhead there, then that could, and most likely would, make a difference, and possibly get them to speed up the development of an EVGA Australia chain.
 
/rant

[HazMatt]

xxrabid93
To tell you the truth, even though they may have great service and make you feel like you are important to them, you aren't.

/rant

Sorry to burst your bubble, but EVGA is still expanding as a company.  Compared to other major system and hardware manufacturers, they are small. And they do their best as a growing company in the US to expand globally.  Doing this requires many many years of a slow progression, especially during times of slowing consumer activity. 

They are just beginning to gain momentum in the EU front, but are still doing their best in the APAC region, and it's not as easy as it sounds.  Like AU customers have complained, it's very costly to import, which means less product and less drive to buy it.  And while people in the EU complain about additional taxes, this has nothing to do with EVGA at all - it's the polices of their own countries. 

Do you want to know why these bigger companies can have huge stocks of products at lower prices in all of these regions?  Because they have the resources to do so.  They have the factories in all of these regions, and they are huge.  And the trade-off of that is, you are treated more of a statistic - an Account Number, not a customer.

I ask this question to all of you in this thread:

If you honestly believe that EVGA does not care about it's customers to do it's best at expanding globally, beyond North America, while retaining it's unmatched customer service, then I challenge you to contact Dell, HP, or ASUS, just to name a few, and see for yourself if you can get that same treatment - not someone halfway around the globe reading off of a script. 

Australia has a huge customer base, and that's awesome!  But any growing company getting a footprint in a overseas country does NOT happen overnight. 

If any AU members have an issue with EVGA service in their region, contact EVGA_DuaneB

Point duley taken. I agree with you completely about the expanding part, and how EVGA is a smaller company. But the way you quoted me, it makes me look very harsh, which in that sentence of mine you quoted, i guess i am. I probably should have worded it differently. "EVGA cares about its customers, but one, or even 10 people complaining about lack of support in a region isn't going to get EVGA to setup a branch there." Which, relates back to my saying:
 

xxrabid93
BUT, if you get say, a couple thousand people to ask for an EVGA Australia store, and show that they would have a strong customer base, and show that they could make a good profit and overhead there, then that could, and most likely would, make a difference, and possibly get them to speed up the development of an EVGA Australia chain.

 
I am not saying EVGA won't set up an Australian branch, or isn't trying to. I guess this relates to what you said HazMatt. EVGA won't setup an Australian branch in 1 day, even 1 month. It does take a long time to setup a branch in a whole new region, like you and many others have said.

Pala22

dwoodward

Darron

Thats my point Halo the 4 way SLI is way over the top to be realistic
$830 I saw I advertised for in Australia its priced at $500 US I did the calculation and $500 US is $566 AU thats a $264 differance and I get no stepup now I don't know about you but that kind of markup is ridiculous.

Have you never heard what it costs to ship a 500 dollar item thru borders? That's like 150 dollars in itself. Plus the cost of the shipping could easily be 100 dollars... Don't blame EVGA, blame greedy governments and the shipping companies.

In my opinion that is no mark up at all.

Quote from another forum with this same discussion  "Yeah I had the exact same thought earlier this week. I'm in the same boat as not knowing anyone in the US. Placed an order for a GTX470 yesterday through sabrepc.com, they charge ~$74 for Fedex postage. Counting postage and the (current) exchange rate its working out a saving of over AUD130.00!!"

And from the Australian Customs website "All goods (except for tobacco products and alcoholic beverages) may be imported duty and tax free if their value is $1,000 or less."


EDIT: After reading up on import costs for most items when over the AUD1000 it is a Duty of 5% and G.S.T of 10% and that does not add up to the $130 gap in the price of the 470

Maybe you forgot that no company would be stupid enough to ship only 1 board at a time. They would of course ship batches of 20-30 minimum. That is well over 1000 value.

thanks for the rundown on the costings duane,

http://forums.ncix.com/fo...gcount=0&subpage=1

I got a complainer in the NCIX forum as well. I told him what its all about though.

Duane? I have a 9800gtx that needs to be RMAed. I got it from Pccasegear at launch. I just haven't bothered yet to do anything about it. What would the rma procedure be for that ?