Why is nothing being done about the Great British Rip-Off?

The headline for this month’s Which? Magazine is ’The Great British Rip-Off : How we’re being wrung dry when buying tech goods and digital downloads’. The Daily Mail follows this up with ’The great gadget price rip-off: How Britons are still paying hundreds of pounds more for the same products as American customers’ and ’Flat pack it in: Ikea accused of ’ripping off’ British customers by charging them up to THREE TIMES as much’

Over the years most British consumers have grown used to having to pay more for consumer goods than both their surrounding European neighbours and their American cousins. The universal pricing model seemed to be largely based on something that retailed in the US for $100 was on sale in Europe for €100 and in the UK for £100 - which is patently unfair based on the strong pound and exhange rates over many years.

Consumer electronic prices have always been a rip off in the UK, as if you went to the United States, you could pretty much buy everything 20-30% cheaper. As an extreme example, a Samsung UE65H8000 LED curved screen TV retails for £2,544 equivalent in the US (including taxes) while the UK price is £755 more at £3,299 - a massive 30% difference. For the main IKEA example - a set of Falster table, bench and chairs retails for £213 equivalent in the US, £215 in Sweden and yet £315 in the UK - again a difference of near enough 30%.

These companies argue differences in local distribution facilities / logistics / taxes, culture etc. but it’s quite evidently profiteering. There are lots of companies that make an effort to have fair, universal prices around the world - companies like Zara and H&M, even Netflix charges UK customers £6.99 vs $8.99 for US customers - so it can be done. How can Microsoft for instance justify charging UK customers £154 more for Microsoft Office Professional - a downloadable software, which retails in the US for £236 and yet £390 in the UK???

I myself am very much an International shopper - I buy things in regularly from Europe, US, Hong Kong and Japan. I am often astounded that it is cheaper for me to buy something from overseas, including fast delivery, for significantly less than that same product is available in the UK. Kenzo France is a great example of this as is Parajumpers Italy. Lots of mainstream brands though seem to be actively trying to cheat the system by fixing higher level exchange rates, and thus reducing the buying power of the pound.

It used to be that if you sought out particular products, you would find them cheapest in their home country - so say you were buying Michael Kors, New York would be cheapest, Prada go to Milan, Chanel go to Paris etc. Except for say UK brands like Burberry and Mulberry, where it’s more expensive for Brits to buy their own local brands in their own domestic market?

This seems to have been going on for way too long now, even Amazon supposedly rigs prices for its UK customers. I love the Amazon service, but I still shop around on price - Amazon is not always the cheapest, and frequently it feels like retailers are trying to catch you out. One of the major reasons I love being part of Europe is that I do have access to universally priced products which I am quite happy to buy in Euros. The only exception to the rule of universality should be the motorcar which has to be modified versus most of the world to drive on the left hand side of the road. Brits would see car prices tumble if they could drive the same cars as everyone else.

For electronic devices, universal furniture and software though this is blatant profiteering and discrimination. The EU forced me out of my former bank Lloyds, yet they do nothing to enforce fair and universal pricing for us Brits. This apathetic government has sat on the sidelines for too long also - I don’t know who’s feathering who’s cap here, but this surely has to stop now. The fact that no one is doing anything about it makes us all look like spendthrift morons...