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Comment by stigi | Hacker News Reader

I don't know how they do their math, but they advertise it for 299USD but when I open the store it's sold for 349EUR which today converts to 380USD... That's a 30% difference that hurts.

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Prices in the US generally don’t include VAT, and maybe there’s some exchange or import fee on top as well.

And often there's also an invisible consumer rights 'tax' on top. Since online purchases and warranty are quite heavily regulated in Europe, sellers often add some margin to cover the extra costs this might bring.

Likely this. 349 EUR is 17% VAT on 299.

Gonna pick this up in Portland on Friday. $300 out the door

They can charge more because the synths are so complicated!

The $299 don't include VAT.

Thanks for the pointers everybody. They make sense. The frustration of seeing a 299 price tag and then being hit with a 349 price after one click on the store link is bad.. Didn't stop me from buying though :D

Looks like the price for Europe is always 349 Euros VAT included, whatever your local VAT is (it goes from 16% to 27%).

Rest of the world is always $299, no VAT applied.

Shipping is always free.

Speaking in general, prices tend to differ between regions away from just basic exchange rate math, since shipping costs means you don't get proper arbitrage pressure, which is what would pushes prices toward (lowest advertised price) x (exchange rate).

Welcome to most of the world outside of US. I can drive 3 hours and pay 20-30% less for everything including exchange rate.

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