cant believe sony increase on the exline

[Jim Stamos]

on oct 27th, sony is increasing the xdcam /ex cams anywhere from 5-19%. im guessing they want to get a run on fast sells before then . thats at least 400.00 on the ex3 which i was strongly considering. maybe theyre throwing in a 32gig card with the new prices.not sure why they would do this

[Andrew Stone]

It is based on currency patterns. The US dollar has not been doing well against other major currencies for quite a few months now. The consensus in the financial community is the US dollar will be around these levels for a while.

[Robert Young]

Originally Posted by Andrew Stone

It is based on currency patterns.

Absolutely.
All foreign manufacturers, no matter cameras, cars, or hula hoops, are going to have a difficult time holding their U.S. prices due to the low value of the dollar.
The U.S. authorities do not consider this to be a problem for the U.S. The low dollar improves the U.S. export status, and is a consequence of monetary policy considered necessary to navigate the U.S. through this recession. The fact that we are going to be paying more for EX3 cameras is definitely not keeping those guys awake at night.

[Russell Heaton]

Sony are milking both cows with this. The USD has fallen against other currencies and a correction is probably warranted, but the Aussie dollar, (AUD) has reached new heights against the USD (around a 20% increase in value over the last year) without a downward correction in prices by Sony. They can't have it both ways. What am I saying? Of course they can have it both ways...how stupid of me.

Cheers

Russ

[Bill Koehler]

In setting $AUD pricing, the Japanese aren't going to care about shifts in $AUD vs $USD, they are going to care about shifts in $YEN vs $AUD in setting $AUD pricing - How has that changed? It's just like what they care about in setting US pricing is the change in $YEN vs. $USD. $AUD wouldn't enter into that.

It has been widely reported that Mr. Tim Geithner has been doing what he can to talk down the value of the dollar to spur American exports and rebalance the trade deficit. Among other things, that means a very intentional increase in the price of foreign goods so Americans don't buy so much of them.

[Russell Heaton]

I take your point, Bill, but if the AUD and USD are at parity, then all things considered, they are the same value in Yen. Yet despite this and EX1R camera in Australia, purchased from a reputable (non grey-market) dealer will cost between USD $1600.00 to USD $2000.00 more than it would from a reputable US dealer.

It just doesn't compute! I contacted a well known dealer here in Oz and they insist that the margin that they make on these cameras is a pittance and that their buy price (in US Dollar terms) from Sony is considerably more than US retailers are selling the same cameras for. So, while the USD may have lost ground to the Yen and the AUD has gained 20% on the USD, the disparity in pricing remains.

It is not confined to Sony though. Canon and Panasonic have similar price anomalies - but not to the extent that Sony does.

It is almost tempting to buy "grey-market" and just get a Mack warranty to cover the absence of a Manufacturer's warranty.

Cheers

Russ

[Garrett Low]

Russell, there is a fault in your logic. To my knowledge the AUS$ and US$ are not connected in any real terms or agreements, and in any case the important thing is to look at the trend of AUS$ vs. Yen. Looking at the past year it appears up till around April the the AUS$ was weaker against the Yen. Then it took a jump sometime late April but has since dropped to hover at the current 80 AUS$ to 1 Yen rate.

The parity you speak of for AUS$ to US$ actually reinforces the point that there should not be any adjustment to the prices in Australia. All that means is that for the fist time in 27 years the AUS$ and US$ hit a 1:1 trade rate. That would indicate the weakening US$ on the world trade, US$ to Yen and US$ to AUS$. So in fact, the cost in US$ for goods sold in the US from foreign manufacturers should be going up and the cost in AUS$ for the same product should be steady. Think of it this way. If you were to be traveling to the US and bought a camera in January, it would cost say $100 US or $120 AUS$ (assuming a 1 US$ to 0.80 AUS$ trade rate). Now you come to the US ans the camera has been increased to $120 US$. You use your AUS$ and it would still only cost you $120 AUS$ because now your AUS$ is trading at a 1:1 rate US$.

As Bill said you can't look at AUS$ vs. US$ when computing the trends for a Japanese originated product. You have to look at AUS$ vs. Yen. From that you'll see that over the past year or so the general trend has been a slightly weakening AUS$ to Yen. So actually you should be glad if your prices have not been adjusted (yet?) since it would mean a price adjustment upward since the Yen did gain some strength against the AUS$. Probably just not enough to make it worthwhile for Sony to adjust the prices and anger the purchasers.

Garrett

[Russell Heaton]

Hi Garrett,

I understand where you are both coming from and I guess it is evident from Sony's announcement that they are increasing prices into the US market to account for the weakening USD, but all things being equal, the disparity in US and Aussie pricing goes beyond the actual value of the currency at any given time.

1 USD is all but a bee's fart from equaling 1 AUD right now but their is nearly 25% difference in the price of these cameras. Even if the increases in the US prices are taken into account, the US product will STILL be cheaper than here in OZ. It doesn't matter which way you look at it, if the AUD and USD are parity, then they must be the same value in Yen. Otherwise their would be a flurry of currency trades taking advantage of the disparity.

In an unrelated example, a joystick switch that I purchased from the US recently was USD $18.60 and AUD $56.50! It was made in Britain and imported to both the US and Oz and are retailed by the same company!. We see these rip-offs all the time and now that a whole new world of purchasing has opened up via the Internet, these price differentials will have to disappear if these companies wish to stay in business.

If the predictions are true and the AUD goes beyond parity (some are predicting as high as $1.07 USD = $1 AUD) then either the US is going to cop more price increases or we in Oz MUST get price cuts. The Internet has made it all too easy for people like us to see where these Corporates are wringing money out of people without cause.

Cheers

Russ

[Garrett Low]

Hi Russell,

What you're unfortunately experiencing over there is probably a combination of shipping costs to some degree but also a simple free market principal of anything is worth what someone is willing to pay. As you say however, the internet has made trade a much different animal than it was only 10 years ago.

One of the writer/directors I work a lot with is from your neck of the woods and he has made the same comments about equipment cost. Maybe that's why he moved over here?

Cheers,
Garrett

[Simon Denny]

I feel your pain. As our dollar is almost the same of the greeback we should expect a decrease in cost on Sony products. But I bet this wont happen.

Right now it makes sense to fly overseas to purchase, pay the import tax and have a small break as you do this. But I wonder how the warranty on Sony products purchased in the States transfers to Sony Australia.

For high end gear I'm looking at this as a potential option.

Cheers

[Bob Grant]

Originally Posted by Simon Ash

I feel your pain. As our dollar is almost the same of the greeback we should expect a decrease in cost on Sony products. But I bet this wont happen.

Right now it makes sense to fly overseas to purchase, pay the import tax and have a small break as you do this. But I wonder how the warranty on Sony products purchased in the States transfers to Sony Australia.

For high end gear I'm looking at this as a potential option.

Cheers

Sony incurs most of its costs in manufacturing in Yen. The AUD has lost a bit against the Yen so how can we expect local prices to go down. I'm surprised at how many Australians are ignoring the simple fact that our dollar is not going up against the USD, the USD is going down against every other currency.
Certainly I've been buying goods out of China cheaper since the USD went down however that's a rather unique case as many sellers in China tie their prices to the USD.

Indeed cameras have always been cheaper in the USA but not as much as some seem to think once you factor in freight and GST. The ratio has not changed as pointed out above. Sony is increasing its prices in the USA to offset the decline in value of the USD. The other trap is comparing retail prices in Australia to street prices in the USA. It's generally possible to knock a fair amount off retail in Australia if you bargain hard. Unlike the USA resellers here generally don't advertise their "best" price. Before jumping on a plane it may pay to play hardball at home.