Amazon FR Vs. Amazon USA BD Price And Currency Comparison

[discking]

The prices charged by Amazon.FR are, in my opinion, obscene. There's been a lot of chat about this before, with some general talk about AMFR having "rare" titles and all that, so it's OK, and besides they can charge for being in France. Fair enough.

But, here's a head to head of various titles available on both Amazon US and Amazon FR, with the US prices translated into Euros at today's bank rate of $1.42 per Euro, and the Amazon FR prices in Euros translated into dollars.

Yikes!

The ONLY consolation is that Amazon FR is an aggressive discounter by French standards, and FNAC and Virgin charge prices that are outright predatory extortion by comparison. Still you have to feel sorry for the poor French BD fans, even with the wealth of more cultural titles available.

It would seem that just as users in Region A want Region Free or AB players in order to get some of the more sophisticated Region B goodies available in France and the UK, that users in France and other Region B countries probably have a business going buying Region Free or Region A layers to get at the vast library of BDs in the US that are, by French standards, priced like DVDs.


Taken............ Amazon US $22.49 = €15,89 | Amazon FR €19,95 = $28.25
Unforgiven....... Amazon US $ 9.49 = € 5,70 | Amazon FR €29,49 = $41.76
Casino........... Amazon US $14.00 = €10,59 | Amazon FR €25,99 = $36.80
Kill Bill V1..... Amazon US $15.99 = €11.30 | Amazon FR €25,99 = $36.80
Dark Knight...... Amazon US $21.49 = €15.19 | Amazon FR €19.99 = $28.31
Tell No One...... Amazon US $15.49 = €10.93 | Amazon FR €19.95 = $28.31
5th Element...... Amazon US $15.99 = €11.29 | Amazon FR €19.99 = $28.31

[jw]

different strokes for different folks....
Price match Amazon.jp to Amazon.com, now thats a travesty

Also Kill Bill and Casino are SteelBooks unlike the US.
Taken is also region B locked

[discking]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

different strokes for different folks....

A fine argument if you assume that disposable income is infinite for all parties, that markets that reward inefficiency are no big deal, and that it is a badge of honor to pay the highest price...

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

different strokes for different folks....
Price match Amazon.jp to Amazon.com, now thats a travesty

Also Kill Bill and Casino are SteelBooks unlike the US.
Taken is also region B locked

But you know, I actually find some of the price on Amazon JP, at least in terms of some anime titles, a helluva lot better than most other other import sites....that ain't the bad part.

The part that'll kill you w/ Amazon JP is their freakin' shipping charges!! 22 bucks to ship to the US?? And the bad thing is they don't even offer any other shipping option but 'Express'.....talk about highway robbery. Man, I tell ya that takes any bit of joy out what 'deal' you thought you were getting once that damn shipping is tacked on. That effectively halted me from get that Blood: The Last Vampire of blu.

[Mr Hand]

I don't think the mere €/$ translation is relevant : the dollar is historically weak, and I dont' know if this situation will last long. Remember that a few years ago the situation was exactly the opposite.

To compare prices, I consider a "scale of prices" between US and Europe that is roughly the same with 1€=1$. In this system, the USA are almost always cheaper, reason one being there is virtually no tax such as VAT in most US states, but the difference is not so massive.

However, I agree with you that, in the end, French (and European) prices are still higher. Companies have always been very gifted to find excuses for this, number one being there are expenses for adapting languages. Also, for films at least, distributors are often still limited to national territories. Even big American studios have one branch per country, often in joint venture with local distributors, which adds to the overall cost. And finally, "brick and mortar" stores take outrageous part of the price when it's not a new release anymore.

One thing that strikes me : consumers are not respected as much as in the USA. For example, European consumers are baffled when they see operations like Warner's HD-DVD replacements with BR, or even massive operations of disc replacements when there are minor defaults. Such things don't exist in Europe. Consumer associations are also weaker.

But, in the end, the price drop for BR is quicker than it was for DVD. I remember buying my first DVDs for 30€ the first years, and there was no promotion applied whatsoever for years. Now, for example, there is currently an offer at Amazon.fr where you can buy BR for less than 9€, a little more than one year after the format's victory ! "Ice Age" was on summer sale fot 7€ a few days ago, TF1 (one of the most expensive distributors) is doing a "buy one, get one free" operation, and so on. Whatever the country, you have to monitor such deals and build your collection accordingly.

[morganb]

Your comparing apples to oranges. For one thing , there is 19.8 % sales tax is France and that is included in the price. Amazon.com does not include taxes. As others have mentions, Europeans are paid in euros, not dollars and prices in France are based on spending power of French salaries. Keep in mind there is extra expense in the creation of French blu-rays. English language films are easily transfered for the english language market. For the french market, French tracks are required as well as special work for the extras and menus. Keep in mind that the French market is MUCH smaller so you simply aren't getting the economics of scale that you get for the US market.

[discking]

Originally Posted by morganb

Your comparing apples to oranges. For one thing , there is 19.8 % sales tax is France and that is included in the price. Amazon.com does not include taxes. As others have mentions, Europeans are paid in euros, not dollars and prices in France are based on spending power of French salaries. Keep in mind there is extra expense in the creation of French blu-rays. English language films are easily transfered for the english language market. For the french market, French tracks are required as well as special work for the extras and menus. Keep in mind that the French market is MUCH smaller so you simply aren't getting the economics of scale that you get for the US market.

All of that is incidentally true. But the real issue is that French retailers operate in a protected environment that discourages competition. All kinds of manufactured goods, even if from China and the same as sold in the US, frequently cost 100% more than the same item and brand in the US. The same approach that causes a tiny 200ml bottle of mouthwash to sell at a French pharmacy for the same price as a liter sells for at Wal-Mart also ramps up the costs of everything else. To walk through BHV and note the prices is to risk a coronary and cause one to invest in large suitcases to haul lots of things in from the US.

[morganb]

I agree that some things are much more expensive in France but not all. I am in France now and the fruits, veggies, cheeses and fish are far less than in Dallas, Texas.

I also agree that there is little competition due to legislation around sale dates and such.

BHV is pricy period. You should try the larger retailers like Carrefour, Auchan etc.

[Kynch]

Living in France, I also call out the outrage that are prices in retail stores. Most new releases (even catalog titles!) are priced 29.99€ which is supposedly the cheapest price you'll find movies at.

But being the consumer, sorry for the expression, we just bend over and take it...

Thankfully, some stores like Planète Saturne (a.k.a. Saturn) have lower prices on most of the movies they sell (sometimes the same prices as what one would find on Amazon.

[discking]

Originally Posted by morganb

I agree that some things are much more expensive in France but not all. I am in France now and the fruits, veggies, cheeses and fish are far less than in Dallas, Texas.

The famous French agri system is of course one of the joys of living in France, and Paris markets of course. However, just to make my point another way, via food and wine: I can buy many French wines cheaper in the US than I can in Paris. A bottle of Mouton Cadet, just to name a well known common wine brand, costs about $10 at Publix in Florida, but 11 Euros (!!?!) in Paris. Likewise, a tiny jar of American peanut butter, $1.89 at any US supermarket, is about $7.00 at the current conversion rate at Monoprix.

They pretty much have you by the short hairs anywhere in central Paris, and you are correct that some of the hypermarkets in the suburbs have better prices. But that's the rub, getting out to the suburbs from central Paris. Oh well.

The flip side of all this is that a foreigner, like an American, can get common health care procedures and medicines for vastly less in France than in the US. Everything that I have said about French retail prices can be reversed and said about American health care, double, and probably for the same reasons.

Still, back on BDs, no one does custom special edition DVD packaging like the French. I have bought several films in France, that I already had copies of, just to get the gorgeous packaging.

Don't get me wrong. I love France. I am not promoting the idea of a Wal-Mart in central Paris, or anywhere else. Still, the pricing for some things in France does seem almost predatory sometimes, to someone raised on the wild west of competitive American prices and products.

[Kaminari]

Being French, I tend to agree

And I don't think being paid in euros has anything to do with the differences in the cost of life (talking about entertainment products here). And we're not exactly sleeping on gold mounds. I still remember ten years ago -- despite the dollar being 1.25 euros, I did all my DVD expenses at Amazon US because any disc would cost twice or three times more here (after conversion).

In France, DVD didn't really take off before 2001/2002, and then it was still considered as a luxury product -- while I was buying movies in the States by the dozen each month.

With the arrival of BD, the situation hasn't changed much. I was looking yesterday at Band of Brothers on Amazon US/UK and comparing with our local Amazon prices: €32 (SH included) versus €50! I almost popped an anevrism.

Is it then a wonder why France is the worldwide leader in Divx downloads?

[discking]

Originally Posted by Kaminari

Being French, I tend to agree

In France, DVD didn't really take off before 2001/2002, and then it was still considered as a luxury product -- while I was buying movies in the States by the dozen each month.

I think you may also have hit on a key element: the French love of luxe. Despite thick veneers of socialism and social equality, France is still a fundamentally elitist society, that venerates status and the aristocratic impulse. Although this has been profoundly diffused by social changes over the years it's a stylistic trait that runs deep. This is not a bad thing. It helps make France the way it is, which is what many like so much about it. The anti competitive price environment, inconvenience aside, also makes France the way that it is, which so many like about it, especially foreigners.

However, it does tend to make certain types of goods levitate into Suburban Sun King pricing, or lead the sellers of certain mundane goods to imply that they are somehow "artisanal" and worthy of subsidy from the buyer.

A tour through BHV will show this over and over. Take the lowly electric fan. Go looking for one when the Paris summer collides with the Parisian lack of air conditioning. On a display of available fans you will have two models, both from China, but about the same as actual fans, side by side. One is plain and practical, 30 Euros. The other has a little chrome, a few Centre Pompidou styling touches, and may even be impractical in many ways, 90 Euros.

BD players and discs are suffering from this a bit, in France, I think. But, relieving these imbalances is what makes international trade possible, and of course creates a thriving business for Region Free players...