The UK HMRC charges no customs duty or import duty on imports of computers, but does levy 20% VAT (sales tax).
Using today's exchange rate of 1.6149, here are the UK like-for-like premiums for several Apple products in the UK:
7.6% - ipad 2
13.4% - ipod touch
14.4% - mac air 11 64gb
12.1% - mac air 11 128gb
13.9% - mac air 13 128gb
13.5% - mac air 13 256gb
12.1% - mbp 13
21.1% - thunderbolt display
Note: these premiums compare the US price excluding sales tax to the UK price excluding the UK 20% VAT sales tax.
Therefore, the UK premium is much larger when you consider that in some US states there is no sales tax, but the entire UK is subject to 20% sales tax.
Also note that VAT is only a sales tax on items for personal use. Business users do not have to pay the VAT (they reclaim it).
Here therefore are the premiums comparing US states with zero sales tax to the UK:
29.1% - ipad 2
36.1% - ipod touch
37.2% - mac air 11 64gb
34.6% - mac air 11 128gb
36.6% - mac air 13 128gb
36.2% - mac air 13 256gb
34.6% - mbp 13
45.3% - thunderbolt display
Lesson: go on holiday to the US, buy your Mac in a state without sales tax, and you're still ahead when you pay 20% tax on the import when you arrive back in the UK.
The Thunderbolt display is somewhat different - I believe HMRC count displays with digital inputs as 'video displays' instead of 'monitors' and subsequently levy a 14% customs duty:
I think Apple are actually being far too greedy, one of the reasons I don't buy Macs is the premium you have to pay...I don't like being ripped off quite so explicitly.
The UK is known in the industry as "Treasure Island" because they know that they can charge more here and get away with it.
E.g. Bose QC15 noise cancelling headphones: 25.2% premium excluding sales tax, 50.2% premium including sales tax comparing a zero sales tax US state to the UK.
True, to be honest I had a spell of checking the difference for products before buying them and if it was too high I'd give the product a bad review on Amazon. Felt good :P
Out of interest are you aware of a site that does this sort of comparison?
Using today's exchange rate of 1.6149, here are the UK like-for-like premiums for several Apple products in the UK:
Note: these premiums compare the US price excluding sales tax to the UK price excluding the UK 20% VAT sales tax.Therefore, the UK premium is much larger when you consider that in some US states there is no sales tax, but the entire UK is subject to 20% sales tax.
Also note that VAT is only a sales tax on items for personal use. Business users do not have to pay the VAT (they reclaim it).
Here therefore are the premiums comparing US states with zero sales tax to the UK:
Lesson: go on holiday to the US, buy your Mac in a state without sales tax, and you're still ahead when you pay 20% tax on the import when you arrive back in the UK.