Photoshop is a rip-off on Amazon... why!?

MoP · Jun 2006

The Amazon USA site, selling Photoshop CS2 for $580. That's under £400 after tax, at the current exchange rate.

The Amazon UK site, selling Photoshop CS2 for £615. That's over $1100 after tax, at the current exchange rate.

So, er, what the hell is going on here? Why would someone in the UK have to pay nearly twice as much for an identical piece of software?

Why would ANYONE buy Photoshop from Amazon UK? I've found CS2 online in the UK for £450-ish (from here), but that's still a good £50-100 more than buying it from Amazon US. Also, that's just Amazon. I found another place selling it for $543, which works out at under £350 after tax ... half price!

So what gives?

kat · Jun 2006

I use CorelDraw and although not nearly as bad as that, there are some discrepancies between UK and rest of the world pricing. I've only ever really noticed this with creative software.

rooster · Jun 2006

hey, whats coreldraw like these days? I started on it years ago before I even knew what photoshop was

danr · Jun 2006

eh? You mean people actually pay for the thing?

MoP · Jun 2006

well we just found the reason why they don't

Neo_God · Jun 2006

Well it may be because technically Photoshop is an import for the UK. Imports naturally cost more.

MoP · Jun 2006

neo_god: I'd agree, but last time I checked, we don't pay 40% import tax. I could buy the US version, have it shipped to me in the UK, pay import duties, and it would still cost over £100 less than buying it from the UK site.

Toomas · Jun 2006

Software costs more in Europe, its the manufacturers policy.
Maya, Max etc. cost more in Europe just because they think we should pay more, naturally Amazon has to go along with it like all the other retailers.

kat · Jun 2006

I'm still using version 9 (which is about 5 years old) but have been pretty impressed with a demo of the latest (v13 I think).. although it still has problems trying to run photoshop plugins and such like so things like the nVidia normalmap plugin don't work which is a real set back.

Illusions · Jun 2006

Can anyone in the US even access the UK Amazon.com? I keep getting a Page Not Found error when using IE, and a blank page when using Firefox. Just making sure they aren't using a javascript or something to block people from buying outside their zone.

Toomas · Jun 2006

[ QUOTE ]
Can anyone in the US even access the UK Amazon.com? I keep getting a Page Not Found error when using IE, and a blank page when using Firefox. Just making sure they aren't using a javascript or something to block people from buying outside their zone.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very doubtful, i can access all amazon sites like .com, co.uk, .jp, .de, .fr.

hawken · Jun 2006

luckily prices for hardware or software are the same here as in the USA

in the uk we often pay double for tech

SHEPEIRO · Jun 2006

its infuriating
everythings just so expensive here, next time i update im buying from the US still on 7 does me fine

TomDunne · Jun 2006

America > Angle Land, of course. On the other hand, I do get good service from Amazon UK when ordering books and the like not published in the US.

CrazyButcher · Jun 2006

that adeobe rips off europe has been so for long... I dont know how they can justify the costs for the same language version (english). While it's true its for max and maya similar, the increase in price is nowhere near what adobe does with photoshop.

kite · Jun 2006

autodesk charge double too, it's like they don't understand that the dollar and pound are two different currencies or something. Still, at least they don't skimp on the packaging.
gnnngh

Photoshop is a rip-off on Amazon... why!?

Replies