[Elecraft] Yamaha CM500

[Jim Brown]

On 11/18/2010 5:04 AM, Svend Spanget wrote:
> Yeah - for 65$.....
> 73 de Svend, OZ7UV
>

My XYL just bought $200 worth of fabric to use in her artists workshop 
from a distributor in the UK. The selection was great and the prices 
were good, but when she added the cost for shipping, customs, and 3% to 
Mastercard, it was pretty close to what she would have paid from a US 
vendor.  The difference was selection -- the US vendor didn't have what 
she wanted.  She didn't save money, but she got what she wanted.

Manufacturers OFTEN play games with respect to what products they sell 
where, apply multiple model numbers to the same product to allow certain 
big retailers to get higher markups, etc. These decisions are based on 
things like their whether they distribution and marketing for that sort 
of product in a given region or country, the competition they will have 
there, the tariffs, and whether they think the people in that region 
want enough of their product for it to be profitable.

It costs a lot of money to sell in a different country from where goods 
are manufactured, both because of trade costs, and because you've got to 
have marketing and support in that country.  It costs more to acquire an 
Elecraft product outside the US, and it costs more to EU products (like 
microphones from Sennheiser, Neumann, AKG, Beyer, and Schoeps)  in the 
US. Added to all of this is the matter of currency. I don't know, but I 
suspect, that radios made in Japan are more expensive here than there.

73, Jim K9YC