Did I win?
Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:39 pmProbably not!
I seemed to be the sole protestor of the inflated prices we were being asked to pay here in Australia for Adobe products.
Specifically, a downloaded upgrade to Adobe Lightroom 4, which cost US$79 in the States, but the list price here was $98.75 (equivalent at the time to around $105). I emphasise that this is for a download, where no-one has to do anything - it is all automated and what you get in the States is what you get here.
I thought it was over the top and I said so here, and on dpreview. I also contacted Adobe and got a nonsense answer about taxes and IT surcharges. I sent an email to the IT editors of the Fairfax newspapers - all to no avail.
Now, we Queenslanders don't give up too easily. I was determined not to pay the "I live in Australia tax" as it was christened by someone here.
On 7 March I ordered an upgrade disk via PriceUSA, one of those clearing houses with a US address. I paid them AU$91 including shipping, so I only saved about $7. It arrived today.
Obviously the point of the exercise was to avoid paying Adobe their outrageous AUD pricing - not to save money, but to prevent them from getting it - if you can see that distinction. I succeeded there.
However it has taken 5 weeks to receive the disk, which is obviously significantly longer than a download, even on my BigPond cable service.
I seemed to be the sole protestor of the inflated prices we were being asked to pay here in Australia for Adobe products.
Specifically, a downloaded upgrade to Adobe Lightroom 4, which cost US$79 in the States, but the list price here was $98.75 (equivalent at the time to around $105). I emphasise that this is for a download, where no-one has to do anything - it is all automated and what you get in the States is what you get here.
I thought it was over the top and I said so here, and on dpreview. I also contacted Adobe and got a nonsense answer about taxes and IT surcharges. I sent an email to the IT editors of the Fairfax newspapers - all to no avail.
Now, we Queenslanders don't give up too easily. I was determined not to pay the "I live in Australia tax" as it was christened by someone here.
On 7 March I ordered an upgrade disk via PriceUSA, one of those clearing houses with a US address. I paid them AU$91 including shipping, so I only saved about $7. It arrived today.
Obviously the point of the exercise was to avoid paying Adobe their outrageous AUD pricing - not to save money, but to prevent them from getting it - if you can see that distinction. I succeeded there.
However it has taken 5 weeks to receive the disk, which is obviously significantly longer than a download, even on my BigPond cable service.
