[Oakleyspatz]

What's with the pricing of the Infocus Screenplay 4805?? In the States it retails for $1499 ( about £940) yet sells here for £1300!!!
On the other side of the coin, the new Optoma H57 retails in the States for $4995 ( about £3122) yet sells here for £1899!!!
The Sony HS50 ( HS51 in the States) retails for $3799 ( about £2375) yet sells here for £1899.
The Panasonic AE700 in the States is $2999 ( £1875) yet retails here for around £1300
and finally the Sanyo Z3 retails in the States for $2495 ( £1560) and sells here for approx £1350
So basically EVERY projector sold in the States can be bought here cheaper EXCEPT the Infocus range. I would have thought with the exchange rate as it is, we should be picking up the 4805 for under a grand!!
Any thoughts?

[theritz]

Hint: Infocus is an American company.......


S.

[russ123]

At current exchange rate $1499 is more like £810!!! Exactly why I plan to get one in the US.

[Paul Williams]

This isn't a particular Infocus issue - all US products on sale over here seem to be on a $ = £ basis. If you talk to the distributors they'll tell you if you take the basic exchange rate; add transport, UK delivery, support.......and so on, you'll end up with the true cost to sell in the UK.

russ123, so you're going send your order in and have it materialize in your home? If you were not getting someone to bring it back what would be the true cost? Support issues also could cost dear in the long run - now I think Infocus make superb and reliable PJ's but would pay extra for piece of mind.

Paul

[homeagain]

Actually Oakley, the Sony HS51 can be preordered for $2700 in the US which is £1452 versus £1800+ for a UK preorder. My wife's going back home to California for Christmas and I'm having a hard time deciding if I want the HS51 @ that price and hope there's no need to return it under warranty !
Cheers, Rob.

[drbob]

Originally Posted by Paul Williams

This isn't a particular Infocus issue - all US products on sale over here seem to be on a $ = £ basis. If you talk to the distributors they'll tell you if you take the basic exchange rate; add transport, UK delivery, support.......and so on, you'll end up with the true cost to sell in the UK.

Which is still only around £1000 if you import it yourself! (you can bet with bulk shipping they pay less per unit than you or me to import the projectors from the US)

Unit $1499
+ $100 p&p
= ~£860

+ VAT (17.5%)
+ customs duty (currently zero for digital projectors, but when charged is on top of of total price with vat+postage)
+ £25 customs handling (post office rip off)

= £ 1035.50

The UK list price (£1299) is artificially inflated at current exchange rates. There must already be a profit margin in the $1499 US price and the UK price adds at least £250 ($464) to that. I would never pay UK list price for the infocus 4805 with no extras. You don't find it below list, as the AV shops can't reduce the price if they want to stay part of the infocus dealer network (somthing which in itself may be against competition laws). However many will throw in a projector mount and component cable or a cut price screen if you negotiate.

Buying from the US may be cheaper but I would buy from a local dealer. You'll get better support and peace of mind. If they include a few free extras then the price differential is suddenly much less.

regards,

drbob