have got it made when it comes to power tools,us here in the uk can expect to pay 2.5 times the amount of any tool you can come up with.
Was looking at a porter cable router on that home depot site and its 3 times the price in the uk of the american price.
have got it made when it comes to power tools,us here in the uk can
Most of that is a function of your VAT. On top of that add the cost of conversion to euro-electric power configuration, exporting costs, etc.
Your right about the VAT this is what cripples the price. And the import duty is a leading second.
There's a lot of cheap imports flooding the market in the uk particulary Taiwan and Germany. Although these goods(power tools) are dirt cheap I still can't figure out how they mange to make the stuff and import it and still make a profit? we know Taiwan is basically a cheap labour country, but Germany?
Big guest worker program?
Don't add up... The VAT is around 18-20% in moste european countries that I know of. Most of the tools are made in the far east, the only difference often beeing the motor voltage. The Hitachi M12V is a good example, costs around USD150 on Amazon. Where I live I would have to pay over USD600 for it... Other examples are Bosch tools that cost 2 or 3 times the price in the US.
The real reason is that the market accepts the prices...
That was unnecessarily harsh, but I might be encouraged to do some gun running (tool running) into a neutral port for, let's say, a weeks stay at Bath.
Regards,
Tom Watson
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
I wonder just how difficult it would be to import directly from China/India/Mexico for such purposes? It's necessary to consider how many units using xxx voltage you'd have to buy, landed in the U.S., to be able to retail them for the equivalent of $50, plus VAT and duty, in Edinburgh or Bath or London.
And you'd have to run some kind of test program to make sure the tools were even worth 50 bucks US. Some of the stuff I've seen in various stores I would take if they paid me.
Taiwan is not a cheap labor country - 20 years ago yes but not anymore. Today, there is little Mfg in Taiwan. Most operations have moved to China except higher end items. Footwear, clothing, bicycles, most computer items, and a whole host of consumer items have disappeared over the past decade.
Wasn't meant to be harsh, so I must be missing something? Last time I was in Germany there was a guest worker program of some magnitude, and these programs are not known for utilizing an expensive labor force.
Shortly after 9/11 I sold a Hilti powder actuated nail gun with magazine on eBay. The guy who bought it was in England. He told me that it would have cost him 3 or 4 times as much if he bought it in the UK. The tool got stopped at customs and he had to get a gun dealer license of some sort so he'd be able to bring it into the country. He was asking me for all sorts of personal information to fill out his forms which really bothered me. I now travel with the idea that I might be on some stupid international arms dealer list because of that. Made a nice bit of change from the auction, though...
R
How IS the duty handled if you order something and it's shipped in-country??
We're moving to Mexico and have not quite figured out that part yet... the prices in stores like Home Depot seem to be the same or a bit less than in the states, but if something is ordered from a vendor and has to come into the UK, how is the duty assessed and how is it charged/added to price, etc.??
Mac
Sorry Swing. I thought you were making a joke.
(Looks like I'm the one who missed something).
Rather then say what something cost in $ or Yen or whatever, how about hours of work to obtain an item? A gallon of gasoline is X min. of work, using...say a skilled pay scale. Here in Tx. we make much less then Calif. or NY, but living expenses are much higher there.
I'd suggest having someone here get one and mail it to you, but there's the problem of different voltage.
The kind of pricing you describe really sucks. It's definitely discouraging for a woodworking hobby.
£229.00 for the Hitachi M12V in the uk,thats 435.60$.
Using this as a guide as its the first site in the us I came to selling the m12v,there's probably cheaper but it was just a senario to put across.
My impression is that there are a limited number of big name places on the internet that sell tools in the UK and that prices tend to be pretty much the same at all of them for any given item. Also, there are fewer options to choose from. As an example, some time ago I wanted to find a polisher with a water feed for polishing stone and concrete. This was very difficult to source here over the internet, though I did eventually find one place carrying a model by Porter-Cable which did what I wanted (at ~1.5 x the US price). I buy the diamond polishing disks in the US!
If you do have 110V tools from the US (I brought a number over with me when I moved), they seem to run well on transformers (I use a 3Kva transformer with heavy duty US extension cord with a rewired plug). In particular, I haven't noticed any performance degradation due to the frequency difference.
One other thing I discovered is that at some shops, the price you see is not always the best price at which they will sell to you. I've bought several tools from places in Newcastle where I have got some very good prices by discussing what they will take. This also goes for non-tool items as well. For example, at Crosslings (a big plumbing store) they will sell radiators at 70% lower than the SRP, with deep discounts on most other things as well if you ask for it. Certainly the prices in this case are much better than over the internet or at the large DIY places like B&Q.
Michael Dritschel
What part of Texas are you in. I have just moved to Texas from Califonia and I agree with you to a certain extent. The real estate prices are way lower in TX and the gas is about $.30 cheaper. Aside from that, everything costs the same, and some items such as certain kinds of lumber are more expensive.
At least this is what I have discovered after being here 6 months.
I'm just outside of Tyler by the way.
Gary
Even though almost everything is made in China?
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