Comment Re:are you free market? (Score 1) 233
Hi,
Yes, but in this case, you misunderstand how the free market works.
Think about grey market imports - people are still willing to import from overseas, even if they have to ship back to another for warranty, or may not have any warranty at all. They put up with that, because the price difference is so incredible.
And in many of these cases - e.g. TV shows or game catridges - there's no good reason to stop import. It's a fungible item - it's not like a US computer monitor is somehow different to an Australian computer monitor...
If people are willing to ship from overseas to avoid your price gouging - then you've screwed up your pricing.
Any attempts to argue out of it are just flimsy excuses.
If there are price differentials in support costs, then the fact that somebody has to ship to an overseas support centre would cancel that out.
And further - the fact that individuals can ship it, and still save money is another nail in your argument - companies can ship in bulk, using a container for *much* cheaper. Heck, think about it - most products are made in China anyhow - so the shipping costs from China to the US, versus China to say Australia is basically negligible.
Cheers,
Victor