Ask HN: Unfair pricing of MacBook M2 Pro 32GB/1TB in Europe

2 points by robsun 3 years ago | 3 comments

Does anyone know why Apple charges significantly more money for their products in Europe? Also why there is a such big difference between Poland and Germany/UK?

Let's take a look at MacBook Pro M2 Pro (12 CPU, 16 GPU cores) with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB storage, which I plan to buy in near future.

Poland: ~4202 USD (17399 zl), ~3442 USD without VAT

US: 2899 USD without tax

Germany: ~3724 USD (3459 EUR), ~3129 USD without VAT

UK: ~3896 USD (3099 GBP), ~3247 USD without VAT

It doesn't feel right...

elmerfud 3 years ago |

The most likely explanation is regulations, import restrictions and other such taxation to offer it for sale in those markets is likely the biggest factors. Another factor can include volatility of the currency because is it difficult to change prices on a daily basis but that's probably not a big factor.

nness 3 years ago |

Remarkably its cheaper in Australia ($3,368 post-tax, $3,060 pre-tax USD) — which is a shock as price-gouging by tech companies in the Australian market has always been a huge problem.

I would assume its a number of regulatory and supply-chain factors — but also — they'll charge what they think they can get in the market, and the more a product is considered a luxury purchase, the more they'll up-the-price.

For instance, I purchased a MBP in 2018 in the UK and it was considerably cheaper than the same product purchased in AU. I just had the keyboard customised to use the AU keyboard (wasn't a huge expense) instead of the default UK/EU keyboard layout.

Tough ask, but if you are in Poland, could you exchange to Euro and purchase the product in a neighbouring country?

robsun 3 years ago | |

I am self-employed and I can deduct VAT if I buy it in Poland.