reply from TIMBERLAND as to why UK customers pay twice as much...

Blacksheep1979

come on folks it's not just the tax and the shipping that adds to the cost, if a company wants to properly sell in the UK they have to set up a base of opperations here and that can be v expensive not just in terms of the building and wages etc but recruiting and training too - so for a brand new into the UK market that can add a significant bit to the price. Or do you think the company should just not charge it and make a loss?

ohmsoft

I would also add that a major fact of pricing is the market conditions. Its pure economics the company will charge a price which produces the most profit. IE Higher pice = less sales but more profit per unit, lower price = more sales but less profit per unit. The company draws a graph and picks the optimum price. Its a standard commercial decision and one which the shareholders would expect the managers to make in every country the firm opertates in.

Its a tough reality but the only way to alter the price is to stop buying the items at the higher price which will balance the graph. Utimatley however, this will not happen unless the items can be found cheaper elsewhere - otherwise the demand will remain. Theres no harm in complaining but on the same note I don't think it will do any good while folk are still happy to pay more.

Bamber19

Blacksheep is totally correct here, try actually thinking about what it will cost them. Perhaps if you were buying from ebay then VAT and customs and shipping is all you need to consider but when it's a store there's so many more costs as he/she has said actually setting up a base in a country is expensive, I'd be surprised if it genuinely wasn't costing them a figure in the same region as what they're adding to the price.

uktim29

donny_osmonds_mad_fan wrote: »

rip off britain

This is a phrase that people who have no idea about how global economies work and just like complaining for the sake of it have invented!

Are we going to have to phone Trading Standards to ask their advice on what prices we should expect to be paying as well then?

anewman

I have seen some Timberland stores in the UK close, which suggests to me they can't sell enough. I usually avoid the Timberland stores myself as everything is usually way too expensive.

I have managed to get some decent priced boots from the Timberland outlet stores at McArthur Glen etc. Last I got some trainer/shoe type one's tenner a pair. Think the last proper boots I got were about £30. They don't often seem to go down to that price though.

I don't think the quality is as good as it will have been years ago, but it is better than cheaper products.

Remember also, that many fakes pop up because the originals are way overpriced, and the fakers can make money. Ebay used to be full of them, and they seem to turn up at car boots etc.

Also think of the Demographics of their customers. In America many of the people who buy Tim's are unempoyed African-American, and have to afford a gun and bullets as well so they can survive in the hood. In the UK white rich people wear them because of the prestige of the brand.

If you don't want to pay, don't buy - get something else. Or if you're convinced there's money to be made why not set up a business grey importing the boots from the US and selling them cheap here?!