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Rip-off Britain...

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Stop complaining :) In Norway we have 25% VAT, highest in the world...

 

hey hey!! here in denmark we too have 25 % vat me thinks!

so im also shaking my head at all the whiners.. you think it's expensive in GB?

Just come over here to sunny denmark or norway and buy it then!

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hey hey!! here in denmark we too have 25 % vat me thinks!

so im also shaking my head at all the whiners.. you think it's expensive in GB?

Just come over here to sunny denmark or norway and buy it then!

 

Or here at Finland. :)

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some of you make me laugh sometimes, you moan becuase you are ages 13-16 and dont have jobs and cant afford a Wii......

 

it launches 8th December..... + 17 days = ?????????

 

Commence whinning to Parents for Wii for Christmas, and because it also appeals to Aldults.... its a good bragging point to make them buy it for you

well why shouldnt i complain though? obviously nintendo are appealing to a younger market (most of the time). so we have reasons. and i wont beg for christmas because its too expensive and dont want my parents wasting money on expensive controllers

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Well, my point is, WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WITH NO MONEY?! I'm pretty sure most gamers are useless poor slobs like me.

 

LOL

 

Nintendo, like every other business on the planet, is certainly NOT targetting people with no money

 

Heres another thought, if games are $10 cheaper on the Wii, this 'rip-off price' will eventually pay for itself in software savings.

 

And finally, it sucks that you guys have to wait 2 weeks extra for the Wii, but im actually surpised Nintendo is managing such a tight launch, i would have expected a delay in at least 1 territory

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Not always. There are ways around that, some sites use those methods.

 

If you get a Wii and even iff they mark it as a gift they will still sting you, games you can get away with on certain sites a console no you will be paying for it, thats one way MPs have nice houses and cars - they do bugger all work and get paid to say 'well we are looking into it'

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Ive thought up a kind of solution:

Is it really so bad only playing one-player at the start? If your playing red steel or wii sports your not gonna care if they cant play with you. You have a Wii!

Also, some games will have internet play so it will be multiplayer anyway.

 

Just stick with one nunchuk and wiimote to start with. Then if a 3rd party makes wiimote's or nunchuks cheaply then buy those.

 

can i just say: the bundle isnt a wii plus 1 free game. a wii is £150 plus wiisports £30

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Once PS3 is released in Europe and Australia Nintendo will suddenly be able to drop the price by 30% and still make a profit...

 

I want region free so at least I can get real cheap games off ebay from USA.

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can i just say: the bundle isnt a wii plus 1 free game. a wii is £150 plus wiisports £30

 

Damn right!!! That's exactly the thing people seem to be forgeting. :nono:

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Swedish prices on the Wii range from £180-199 from what I've seen on preorder places, so scandinavia in general gets the business end of the gun. :)

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Damn right!!! That's exactly the thing people seem to be forgeting. :nono:

 

I'd rather not get Wii Sports with it,and I wouldn't even pay £30 for Wii Sports alone.

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I'd rather not get Wii Sports with it,and I wouldn't even pay £30 for Wii Sports alone.

 

same here, I'd rather pay the 180 for a wii plus zelda

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I'd rather not get Wii Sports with it,and I wouldn't even pay £30 for Wii Sports alone.

 

I would and I would, plus I work my ass off and have loads of money so I don't care in the slightest that it's a paltry £180 rather than a platry £150 :grin:

 

Can't belieive people are whining because it's slightly more than people thought it would be - Which would have been a crazy price IMHO, which I seem to remember people saying at the time. If people hadn't parrotted the £150 figure so often, I don't think everyone would be throwing their toys out the pram at the moment.

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I would and I would, plus I work my ass off and have loads of money so I don't care in the slightest that it's a paltry £180 rather than a platry £150 :grin:

 

Can't belieive people are whining because it's slightly more than people thought it would be - Which would have been a crazy price IMHO, which I seem to remember people saying at the time. If people hadn't parrotted the £150 figure so often, I don't think everyone would be throwing their toys out the pram at the moment.

 

I don't mind the price,i'd just rather have a different game.

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Ive thought up a kind of solution:

Is it really so bad only playing one-player at the start? If your playing red steel or wii sports your not gonna care if they cant play with you. You have a Wii!

Also, some games will have internet play so it will be multiplayer anyway.

 

Just stick with one nunchuk and wiimote to start with. Then if a 3rd party makes wiimote's or nunchuks cheaply then buy those.

 

can i just say: the bundle isnt a wii plus 1 free game. a wii is £150 plus wiisports £30

 

Wait I thought the point of a bundle was to get things cheaper than if you bought them seperately, also what if people were not interested in Wiisports, they are forced to pay more just because they bundled a game they dont want.

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Who says the Wii alone is £150, thus Wii Sports is £30? There's no way of knowing because there is no gameless UK Wii to buy. Who's to say without a game the Wii wouldn't be £175 in the UK? Like I say, the £150 figure was pulled out of someones ass and repeated and repeated on places like here until people believed it.

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Who says the Wii alone is £150, thus Wii Sports is £30? There's no way of knowing because there is no gameless UK Wii to buy. Who's to say without a game the Wii wouldn't be £175 in the UK? Like I say, the £150 figure was pulled out of someones ass and repeated and repeated on places like here until people believed it.

 

Very good point!!

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I know i was just saying that wii sports is probably added onto the overall cost, not just included.

I was only saying £150 to give a figure. I could have said £10, but that would sound stupid.

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Just one little thing, mainly about the title: if the Wii was £200, I would not call it a rip-off. I would call it way over-priced, but still not a rip-off...

 

If you want a rip-off, look at the PS3 in the UK...

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Just one little thing, mainly about the title: if the Wii was £200, I would not call it a rip-off. I would call it way over-priced, but still not a rip-off...

 

If you want a rip-off, look at the PS3 in the UK...

 

Again if you read the post, I'm not moaning at the price,it's the fact that it costs more here than anywhere else in the world!!! This is not a go at Nintendo, this is a comment about living in Britain...

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Again if you read the post, I'm not moaning at the price,it's the fact that it costs more here than anywhere else in the world!!! This is not a go at Nintendo, this is a comment about living in Britain...

 

But then to be fair, most things cost more here than anywhere else. So complaining about it is like complaining about the weather being crappy, or coke being watered down in pubs. Its commonplace.

 

But I understand the need to vent.

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can i just say: the bundle isnt a wii plus 1 free game. a wii is £150 plus wiisports £30

 

Don't be rudiculous, the price we pay is £179 for the Wii with Wii Sports included. You cannot buy the Wii for £150 on it's own so you cannot make that comment. If Nintendo told us that, they'd probably get more flack by forcing people to pay for a game that they may not want.

 

Many had £150 in mind only because Nintendo kept banging on about the Wii being cheap and affordable appealing to the mass market and casual gamers. £180 is not that price with or without Wii Sports. Also, with Nintendo saying the Wii would not cost more than $250 in the USA, which by simple conversion is a little over £130. Matt at IGN got well worked up over that price when he heard it initially. And this was when we thought it would also play dvds.

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Well, I've been away for the weekend; had to leave, on Friday, before they could be bothered to actually squeeze out the date and pricing. A friend texted me the details, I think I can say I'm not pleased by it; it's not unaffordable, but it's definitely overpriced compared to other regions.

 

I actually sent out an e-mail, to Codestorm, NoE PR Enquiries and The Sun (because they like covering Rip-Off Britain stories) before seeing this thread:

 

To whom it may concern,

 

I am writing to express my disappointment with Nintendo of Europe's decision to price-gouge the UK market, with the announced release details of the new Wii games system, by charging £179. I will state, before going further, that I will almost certainly still be buying the new system; however, this decision is the difference between me doing so happily and begrudgingly. I have been a videogame player since the mid to late 1970's, I have seen a lot of changes in that time, but the recent "progress" hasn't seemed to deserve that term; the Wii has changed that, to say the least, I have become bored and I was looking forward to seeing whether my excitement could be re-ignited.

 

Instead, this has dampened my enthusiasm, by deciding to just see us as a cash-cow once more. It's odd, I was under the impression Nintendo are supposedly following a new marketing strategy; Blue Ocean advocates charging only what is necessary, at product launch, not what you feel you can get away with.

 

So, let's see what Nintendo are trying to get away with, here. I will use the current exchange rates, as of time of writing.

 

Japanese Price:

 

I believe that Nintendo still have the policy of including sales tax (5%) in their quoted prices, which means that 25000Â¥ is 105% of the base price; this works out to 23810Â¥, when rounding up. Either way, I will compare the price using both of these.

 

25000¥ = GB£112.85 + VAT @ 17.5% = GB£132.60 a difference of GB£46.40

 

23810¥ = GB£107.45 + VAT @ 17.5% = GB£126.25 a difference of GB£52.75

 

USA Price:

 

Well, I at least know that USA prices are quoted without sales tax, so let's just work from the US$249.99 price.

 

US$249.99 = GB£133.26 + VAT @ 17.5% = GB£156.58 a difference of GB£22.42

 

Euro Price:

 

This is the baffling one, for me; Nintendo of Europe's recent history has shown a sensible € to GB£ conversion, usually choosing a "psychologically" rounded price, to find a price which seems reasonably close to the straight conversion, even if it means a slight loss on occassion.

 

€249 = GB£168.09 a difference of GB£10.91

 

Why on earth is the UK price not GB£169?

 

Australia Price:

 

I'm not sure if Nintendo include 10% GST in the quoted AU$399.99 price, after reading up the matter indications are that it should be, but I'll work on both possible values; the base value would be around AU$363.63

 

AU$399.99 = GB£160.20 + VAT @ 17.5% = GB£188.24 surprisingly, a difference of -£9.24

 

AU$363.63 = GB£145.82 + VAT @ 17.5% = GB£171.34 a difference of £7.66

 

Would someone, at Nintendo of Europe, care to explain the reasoning for charging more for the Wii in the UK than everywhere else in the world, barring the slight possibility of Australia?

 

Yours

 

Adam Gurney

 

Codestorm reply:

 

Dear Customer, thank you for your e-mail.

 

I am sorry that you feel disappointed but Nintendo have no control over the amount of import duty that is imposed, the sales tax (VAT) that is imposed, the transport costs to get product here from Japan, the distribution costs to individual retailers or the amount of profit margin demanded by them. These have to be paid by someone and unfortunately it is the customer

 

Kind regards,

 

Your Nintendo Team

 

My reply:

 

Hmmmm, I'm not quite seeing this.

 

You're asking £10 more for the system in the UK, when VAT equivalents in the rest of Europe range above and below the UK's 17.5%. The UK, as part of the EEU, surely follows the regulations that control unfair import duties above and beyond the rest of Europe, the whole idea is that it is a single trading market.

 

Are you also telling me that the retailers in Japan do not have distribution costs and profit margins to be met? I can accept the extra shipping costs to the UK, but have trouble seeing it being around £50 per unit, somehow. Under that economic model international trading would have ceased to exist before it even got started.

 

I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific with your details, with genuine examples, before I can believe your statements, I'm afraid.

 

Yours

 

Adam Gurney

 

Codestorm reply:

 

Dear Customer, thank you for your e-mail.

 

The import duties cover the whole of Europe and this is why it is a European wide price. This is the price that has to be paid for bringing products in from outside of the EEC. The transport costs cover everything from source to retailer including warehousing, distribution and marketing within Europe itself. You make no reference to the profit margin demanded by retailers (strange, I could swear I did, even if not a huge comment) and this is higher in the UK than almost everywhere else but it has to be costed somewhere. As I am sure that you are aware, the VAT has to be paid on everything and the higher the original price the more the VAT goes up being a percentage of course.

 

I am sorry that you are unable to accept my statements at face value but I am not prepared to provide more detail or specifics in this matter. If this is unacceptable to you, then I apologise again but that is as far as I am going with this subject.

 

Kind regards,

 

Your Nintendo Team

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