This comes up a lot. Maybe a sticky or wiki entry etc with some info about the differences in US and rest-of-the-world prices would be helpful.
TL;DR: nobody except for G66 and Fractal knows the exact numbers but a lot of the difference is due to VAT, extended EU warranty, customs, and handling costs.
Here's a rough breakdown of why the EU price is different:
- US prices are usually given without VAT. Thus the Axe FX III price of $2099 equates to $2498 with 19% VAT (G66 is based in Germany so for EEA cutomers german VAT is applicable).
- EU law reqiures a 2 year warranty for consumer products. Fractal by default offers only 1 year warranty with a paid 2 year extension for $199 pre-VAT or $237 incl. 19% VAT. In the EU you're always getting this warranty extension.
- Import duties. I've read here before that duties for the Axe are 3.5% but I don't know if that's accurate.
- Shipping costs (from Fractal to G66, as well as from G66 to the customer).
- Add any costs G66 have for logistics, customer support, the box of chocolates you get with your order, etc; as well as the actual profit G66 makes from the Axe.
- Additionally, some price differences might be because discounts may take a while before they arrive in the EU (my assumption is that G66 need to get rid of their stock bought at pre-discount prices first). Time-Limited sales in the US store might also not be matched in the G66 store.
Ignoring shipping costs, discounts, and the fact that G66 have bills to pay and also want to earn something, that means the base price of an Axe FX III in the EU is at least $2735 plus duties. Google tells me that's €2230, which leaves 300€ for all remaining duties and costs and G66 profits. This does not seem egregious to me. Of course, it might not be the end of the story for the UK because of any potential post-brexit shenanigans as well as exchange rate differences, no idea how much of an effect this has on the final UK price.
The above calculation also assumes that G66 buy the units from Fractal at close to the regular price. While they might get a cheaper price I doubt that this amounts to a significant difference per unit, as otherwise Fractal would take a hit to their margins on every EU purchrase.
