weaveworld said:
It was not implying, it is a fact that companies do not make money on the ps3, neither in America nor in Europe. It just happens that someones precious dollar isn't worth anything anymore... Oh yeah, and it is absolutely impossible for Sony to track what their American importers are actually doing with their consoles???? come on!!! |
I do not dispute the fact that retailers do not make money on the PS3 - if that's the way it is, then that's the way it is. I just noted that there are possibly many other layers of costs in Europe that may not be present in America. Examples such as tariffs, duties, language translation, distribution channel differences, freight charge differentials, etc.
It is very likely that Europe in general has much higher prices on everything compared to the USA due some if not all of these reasons.
Also, of course it is possible that Sony can keep track of American importers selling consoles to Europe - but is it feasible? Business is very flexible and always looks to maximize profit.
For example: If a smaller European importer purchases electronics from a USA distributor and wants to add 25 PS3s to their order (along with TVs, computers, etc.) - then is it not possible for the distributor to fulfill their order? Also, is it feasible that Sony can track all these small orders? The answer is most likely not. It is not economically feasible to track this type of transaction in our global system.
Next example: If you buy thousands of PS3s as a European importer for the equivalent of US$500 but you know (definitely you will know if you are in the business) that US distributors buy their PS3s for $350 - what would you do? What would a rational business do? Basically you would try to negotiate with Sony to drop the price because it doesn't make sense that you are paying that much more for the same item.
So the more likely scenario is that wholesale prices are not that much different, certainly not 50% different.
