Or you could just get a VPN for $10 and buy Photoshop online from the US website.
Are you allowed to do that? Or to put it another way, if you got raided by the BSA, would they have a problem with that?
It is cheaper to fly to US than buy Adobe software in Australia
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Re: It is cheaper to fly to US than buy Adobe software in Australia
#12Or you could just get a VPN for $10 and buy Photoshop online from the US website.
Dunno if that would work. Adobe (unlike Amazon) would require your credit card billing address to be in the US. Not sure if it has changed now, but a few years back i tried buying Adobe Lightroom from the US site and was unable to do so.
My workaround was to buy the retail box from Amazon, ship it to a friend in the US and have them email the license key to me.
Re: It is cheaper to fly to US than buy Adobe software in Australia
#13Can someone explain why tech stuff in general is quite a bit more expensive in Australia comparatively?
People are willing to pay more, so companies charge more.
There is also higher cost of operating, higher wages etc. But I think all that is besides the point, companies want to maximize profits and if they can charge a higher price and still get a similar amount of sales to a lower price (as in Australia) they will charge high.
Re: It is cheaper to fly to US than buy Adobe software in Australia
#14Can someone explain why tech stuff in general is quite a bit more expensive in Australia comparatively?
Two main reasons.
1. Australia is a small market, so for a lot of things there are poor economies of scale and/or cozy oligopolies.
2. Exchange rates.
Then along came:
3. Artificial market segmentation.
Region encoding, per-country versions and so on. There's no technical reason for this, it's done simply because (thanks AUSFTA) it can be done.
The artificial segmentation didn't used to be a big problem until the AUD shot up against the USD. Now that our dollar is at approximate parity with the American, it's very easy to compare prices.
Mix in the fact that retail prices have remain steadfastly fixed in place in spite of the change in exchange rate, and consumers have correctly deduced that retailers and distributors are simply taking a windfall and running with it. That nobody is aggressively undercutting goes back to 1.
Re: It is cheaper to fly to US than buy Adobe software in Australia
#15Or you could just get a VPN for $10 and buy Photoshop online from the US website.
You need a US credit card that can be address-verified.
Re: It is cheaper to fly to US than buy Adobe software in Australia
#16Its not only Aus. Example: price of Creative Suite® 6 Design Standard is USD1,299 versus GBP1,227, despite the fact that the exchange rate is around 1.55. For some stupid unknown reason, Adobe will usually charge the same unit price in GBP as they do in USD. They will quote "cost of operating" is higher in the UK, but 55% higher? Bullshit.
VAT and corporate taxes are higher in the UK than the US.
Re: It is cheaper to fly to US than buy Adobe software in Australia
#17Its not only Aus. Example: price of Creative Suite® 6 Design Standard is USD1,299 versus GBP1,227, despite the fact that the exchange rate is around 1.55. For some stupid unknown reason, Adobe will usually charge the same unit price in GBP as they do in USD. They will quote "cost of operating" is higher in the UK, but 55% higher? Bullshit.
Don't forget the 20% VAT which is included in the British price. The US price doesn't include any tax.
Re: It is cheaper to fly to US than buy Adobe software in Australia
#18Or you could just get a VPN for $10 and buy Photoshop online from the US website.
Are you allowed to do that? Or to put it another way, if you got raided by the BSA, would they have a problem with that?
how would they differentiate from someone like me, who has software bought in the US, while living in the US, but who now lives in the UK?
Re: It is cheaper to fly to US than buy Adobe software in Australia
#19AFAIK the basic cost of living and salaries are higher so is this really a problem?
Its the opposite of people moaning that people in some 3rd world countries earn so little but this isn't usually a problem as every day essentials are actually much cheaper.
Re: It is cheaper to fly to US than buy Adobe software in Australia
#20Or you could just get a VPN for $10 and buy Photoshop online from the US website.
It would still be breaking the terms of the license agreement. Presumably that'd be just as bad as getting a bootleg copy.