Comment could local laws contribute to this? (Score 1) 206
I don't know about the laws in your country but I know that this contributes to high prices in many countries. Many countries restrict or ban the international megastores in an attempt to protect small 'mom and pop" stores. In many cases the megastore can sell an item at a price equal or lower than the small retailer can even buy it. In these cases tyhe government (and theoretically the public) has decided that local ownership is more important than the citizen's standard of living.
Unless a retailer has a local presence in you country, it makes no sense for the retailer to refuse to sell you something. They are greedy bastards and would not hesitate to sell another unit if they could legally do it. If they won't sell it to you, it is because someone else is making it illegal or contract breaking to do so.
I used to buy books from Canada because the Canadian publishers edit the books better. A few years ago my vendor notified me that they could no longer allow me to buy Canadian books because of new government regulations concerning intellectual property rights. It seems that the US publishers objected that the Canadian versions were violating copyright laws protecting US publishers.