i did not follow those case as obviously furniture prices in Australia are not news-worthy here.

there might be more reasons for that specific product being so much cheaper in the US like a fire-sale because of a change of sortiments, but i can't say anything for that.

one thing is for sure though. they would not charge that much, if it wouldn't be a competitive price. so let me ask you: how much do their Australian competitors charge for a similar product? do they have American prices? 

There is no effective 'competitor' so they charge as much as they can until purchasers say..."fair suck of the sausage you thieving scum...it ain't worth it"... and go without.

That's the simple reason for their pricing...not value...just what they can get.

No, it wan't dissimilar products....dissimilar sales/whatever....same product...same shop/company...different price.

The exact same situation exists with Nike.  Again there is no LEGITIMATE  reason for their shoes to be twice the price in Australia than they are in the US ...they come from the same factory.

Difference is... I can buy a dozen pairs here in Oz...or I can fly to America myself...buy a dozen pairs...and fly back again....

WITH CHANGE.

That is simply wrong, and is under threat of extinction as a practise as more and more people simply buy via the Net...

But that's the very definition of value: 'what they can get'.  Just look at your average NBA or NFL player, as an extreme example.  It's not rational to apply our personal value judgments to what the market will support.  Certainly we are all entitled to our personal opinion of the value of a thing or person, but we shouldn't begrudge the value the market ascribes to it or them, or begrudge it or them for accepting it.

Also, the Australian consumers set those high prices too since they were the ones buying them at such a markup.  As soon as the Australians stop buying overpriced shoes and furniture, the prices will start dropping.

IKEA has 7 stores in Australia, their competitor Fantastic Furniture has more than 60.

i had a short look and the prices look pretty much the same. quality seems equally crappy. IKEA's stuff has better designs though.

i wonder why Fantastic Furniture doesn't have cheaper prices then, especially as Indonesia is so close?

and why is Billabong at least as expensive as Nike?

what i forgot when mentioning cultural differencies: prices in some countries are fixed (by law), while in other countries the are open to negotiations. even sales periods can be regulated by law.

moshi....give up.

I didn't realise you were such a fan of IKEA that you must cook up as much argument as you can in their defense.

If they hadn't been screwing the AUS customers they would not have bowed to the backlash of public disgust and magically lowered the prices.

Again, the difference in pricing of the IDENTICAL product from an IDENTICAL source was 300 percent.

There IS NO reason for that other than to ensure IKEA's founder remains one of the richest people on the planet.

no, actually i'm a fan of the local carpenter. only bought at IKEA when i was at university.

i dislike all those chain stores that make every inner city (or malls in the US) look alike. 

the only thing that i think is weird, is that in a country one of the world's highest standards of living, one of the cheapest stores gets hate for being to expensive. if costumers get screwed in your country, your local companies are worse. they set the price level before IKEA entered the market.

Yikes!

In the PC I have that has a UEFI Mobo, the UEFI is not accessible from Windows. Only at boot.

Its just an enhanced interface for otherwise keyboard only Bios, or basically I can use a mouse...which, in itself, is better.

I love it though, lots of features, and plenty of variables to tweak.

SS

Who made the MOBO?

Now finally the 'Microsoft is trying to destroy their competition in illegal ways' FUD can stop.

...not that it will, but it can.

This weekend, the Linux Foundation finally released its way to boot up Linux on a UEFI secure boot system, which Windows 8 uses. The files were launched late on Friday on the blog of James Bottomley, who has led the development of this project. The plan was actually announced in October, but technical issues had kept the files from being released until this weekend.

http://www.neowin.net/news/linux-foundation-releases-its-solution-to-boot-linux-on-windows-8-pcs