Nationalism in Audio Products?

Thom, a thought...
The 17% VAT is not applied unequally to imported products. There may be other import duties I am unaware of but the VAT by itself is embedded in the price of the local products already, the way your products will have the VAT in the price when your new customers buy boatloads of them :^) There is no home field advantage there... There may be increased shipping costs, and because imported products tend to have distributor layers more often than do domestic products, one could generalize that this indeed adds a cost (in general; though because distributors in many cases cover light warranty work, it's like they take care of the 'insurance deductible', making those units more profitable for the home country manufacturer assuming similar cost to distributor as to dealer who wouldn't cover that 'deductible').

I agree with the idea of the possibility of cultural tilts. Some of these manifest themselves with style of listening, taste in sound reproduction colorations, and some even in taste in listening material. But I as I think about it, I realize that there may not be enough samples to actually determine whether those tilts are really there or not. An example: Jadis owners might disagree with the assertion that the French tend towards 'etched' sound.

And on the subject of GTOs and Camaros, look what's happening these days... A early high-spec GTOs and Camaros are going for ridiculous bucks these days and as more baby-boomers become affluent and yearn to relive their youth, the bubble could spread to their TTs. Get your US-made mid 60s TTs now while they're cheap (load up on wooden consoles and record-stackers?)!

Cheers,
Travis

Travis, you are right to point out that the 17.5% VAT is applied equally to imports and home production. However, some product/country combinations do attract additional import duties, levied in relation to "the tariff" at customs.

VAT is applied to the total landed cost - i.e. invoice total, plus freight charges, plus insurance, plus handling agent's charges. These are not trivial and it is fairly normal for UK retail prices for official imports from the US (including all taxes) to be 80-90% higher than the US price.

Hi Travis, Flyingred

Thanks for clarifying what I meant to say - that VAT is applied equally, but that there are added VAT charges for exporters - with VAT being applied to shipping, insurance, and handling.

More significant is the distribution layer, which taken in combination with this can come close to doubling a product's price on a foreign shore. This is not to debate the role that a good distributor plays, as they may well earn their money in support, etc. It still has an influence on price however.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

I expect that a lot of the mark-up when moving across borders has to do with distributors, or of manufacturers doing the same job. I am not sure, and I am sure that there are many different ways of pricing to different avenues, but it could be that manufacturers may charge domestic dealers and international distributors the same price. This could lead to distortions in international pricing for a few reasons; 1) in the domestic market, the mfr may take care of routine servicing/warranty work, advertising & promotion (CES & equivalent), set-up in customers' homes for high-end items on his own dime whereas in international markets, the distributor usually takes care of all this, which certainly adds a cost. 2) foreign exchange volatility/drift means that prices may have to be set higher than 'normal' simply to avoid having to raise them 3% every time the dollar take a tumble, 2a) there is a mark-up based on cross-currency forwards when US mfrs sell in most overseas markets where short- to medium-term interest rates are lower than U.S. interest rates. In some countries this can turn into a decent mark-up when considered over the life-cycle of the product (discussed by me in a previous thread), 3) distributors may have to finance inventory (and shipping to get it there).

That said, there may be some mark-up simply because the market will bear it.

Aball:

My Koras are fast with a particular affinity for details and clarity and an underlying impatience

:) Yup, that rings a bell: "precision & rigour". The invariable complaint of French professors in Engineering and Law schools when discussing their students' performance....
"Your (inadequately written) paper typically lacks precision and rigour, Mr X. Fail. Please resubmit."

I remember listening to an outrageously expensive and meticulously set-up system at a dealer in Paris. I was young and inexperienced and felt that music coming out of the system paled before all the detail emanating -- as if you couldn't hear the music for the amount of detail hitting the ears. I turned to a chap sitting next to me and commented on this. He answered s/thing like: "this is a precise and rigurous rendering of the medium being played (it was a LP). I you want music, go to a concert -- many free concerts every night you know!"