The US Samsung Store is Way Better Than UK Shop

[RXM]

I'm not just talking about prices and deals, but I can get to that. It just has so much more to offer. You can trade in two items instead of one on a product that has trade in (was up to $900 off max for S22 Ultra via 1 or 2 items, $1000 through some verison deal). They have a dedicated, though limited, certified renewed section which is something Samsung should attempt to expand if they truly are wanting to be more green, I have my doubts they do. You can also enter more than one code at checkout as at the top at checkout it says "Enter Promo/Referral code(s)". 

Why I find the two codes thing to be a good idea is because I have everything in settings for my account and specific apps set to receiving marketing/promotional information but everytime I receive an email it's for £50 off the S21 Ultra or £60 off the S8 range, but I can usually get a 10% code so if I could use the code I signed up for that would make it more worthwhile. Now I'm just wondering why I even have the option turned on everywhere at all (other than 15% birthday discount which is pretty good).

Anyway I'm not mad at the pricing, we have 20% VAT added, theirs doesn't include sales tax/state tax (usually 5-7%, can be up to 9.55% or nothing). It's the deals. If I was to splurge I'd go for Green Ultra 512GB and the Tab Ultra 256gb. We get 5% autosaving. 

In the UK this year there is free Buds Pro and Disney+, which I don't want or need either as I got the buds already over a year ago with the S21 Ultra pre order and the Disney+ will be tied to your account and I don't watch it so has no real value to me. If you truly want the buds you can get them for under £80 brand new inc. delivery from eBay due to the crazy cashback offer recently where you could get the Buds Pro half that price under the right circumstances, I can only see them going lower now. Besides lumping products together to incentivise the launch, it just devalues the free item from too many people reselling to bring the cost down or just people who don't want the item making the RRP too expensive afterwards also more waste/environmental impact. Last year I got my S21 Ultra in a big Samsung box, with 3 more boxes inside (phone, buds, tag) , then for the charger I had to buy it afterwards which took another delivery and another box within a box. Hense why I don't believe the environment claim. 

So in the USA this year, the S22 Ultra has a free memory upgrade from 128GB to 256GB and from 256GB to 512GB too, $200 free store credit just some free months worth of subscriptions for Spotify/YouTube. Much less waste. More towards making the product you want cheaper if you want to buy another product or increase your storage. On the next page additional products to combine at a promo discount. There was the Tab Ultra 256GB model being offered for a 25% discount with the purchase of the S22 Ultra, which after taking the $200 credit off the price took the total of the tab down to $699.99 and that includes the free keyboard cover too which I do want. 

Comparing price then we get the two products + free stuff for £2373.05 in the UK (remove the 20% VAT we get £1977.54). 

Same two items in US + free stuff. $1999.98 or £1471.20. I hear a lot about the cost being down to trade deals/VAT but here is VAT removed and the UK has a free trade deal just like the US. The Buds Pro cost Samsung very little to manufacture so hard to add it into the cost other than the resale value to a current consumer which is £80 and with these two items you get 13 months total of subscription services free in US vs 12 here, yet £420 difference? 

My main point is I wish Samsung would just offer the products cheaper or with deals that make the products you actually want cheaper and not default to adding extra products on top. And to offer all the little additional extras the US page has. With a dash of give us a slightly better deal (but I understand the US is a market you wish to grow in due to Apple dominance). 

Just late night thoughts to tire me out. G'nite. 

[Pugs1957]

It's not that simple. What you don't mention is Americans pay additional taxes on top of the listed price of items. You have not considered labour costs and raw material costs wil differ between the 2 countries. You haven't mentioned exchange rates, all of which affect prices. You did mention a free trade deal but no such thing exists between the UK & US.

[RXM]

I'm not talking about importing it and I did mention taxes, if there's something I didn't get right about the taxes then please help me correct it. Also because the US website displays without taxes I deducted VAT from UK retail price then converted the US price into GBP to get a no tax added cost comparison. For currency it would be more perhaps Samsung making a prediction on the strength of a currency to project for rises and falls throughout the year, I don't see exchange rates causing huge variances so I never mentioned it as again I'm not talking about people buying in the UK from the USA for import. I know I had to leave some stuff out because I'm not writing a thesis and don't need to hit every nuance of cost variabilities. I've hit the world limit on posts twice before on this forum so I'm mindful not to write too much (never works, as you can tell).

Phones for Europe and the US are manufactured in Vietnam predominantly. Not sure how raw material costs come into the equation as they will be purchased in bulk and used in the same countries to manufacture the same phones albeit the chip. The materials used and the manufacturing doesn't take place in either the US or UK. Also there's no way the Exynos chip cost Samsung more per unit to build than it cost for them to purchase the Snapdragon chip which is in the US version. Samsung manufactured the Qualcomm Snapdragon variant this year. If they turn a profit on the Snapdragon production then I'm sure they produce their own cheaper. But who knows since they got involved with AMD but I don't know the details so I'm calling it even. This is why I didn't bring any of this up as I don't see it making a difference.

If you are talking about Samsung stores in the UK and US, maybe labour costs are higher in UK for lower paid retail workers but middle/upper managerial salaries will definitely be higher in the US, not enough to increase a phone by a huge amount per unit in either country, negligible factor. Probably spent more on advertising in the US, highly likely in fact. Any who, it was really the tablet (which is the same in both markets) that was the heavily reduced item at 25% discount there and 5% here, and instead of Buds Pro they get $200 store credit to reduce the price of a second item, which literally reduces the amount they take by $200 in pure profit, whereas the Buds Pro would be the total overall cost which is maybe $50 to manufacture + additional expenses (total guess).

It was the deals which were my gripe, the RRP prices are comparible and not the issue (well I take issue with the RRP of the Buds Pro at £219 as they're over 1yr old, been given away as freebies multiple times, but I digress). The variety of trade in items you can trade in (not just an Apple/Samsung tablet available to trade in towards the new Ultra but several brands of tablet & non tablet items, the fact you can trade in 2 items there and here just 1, the certified refurbished section, the discounts on other top line items when bought with the phone such as the new smartwatches and not just discounts on accessories here, that two codes of some description can be used for discounts there on the checkout page, the entire website is better for the consumer. It even shows quite clearly on the pre order page, so it's hard to miss, that there's discounts available to students, 1st responders, military etc that isn't clear in the UK and would be something you'd have to look out to find. Shipping, also free in America from Samsung (excluding express delivery/large appliances) would that not cost more overall due to the size of the US and the huge distances/lack of diversified infrastructure to (on average) get goods to a customer than the comparatively small and densely packed UK?

I just feel like we're being a tad ripped off here is all. Happy to be proved wrong. I don't know everything. Feeling ripped off doesn't mean I am, I'd be happy if someone could break it down for me and show me im wrong.

[RXM]

If anyone is wondering, that post below is the limit. Its 4000 characters.

[Pugs1957]

Have a look at this https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22868787.amp
This deals with local and county sales tax in the US https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States

BTW I do realise you are not referring to an imported item. What I was trying to point out is that US prices do not include a sales tax. Their tax system is different to the UK, in that respect.

[RXM]

I know it doesn't include sales tax, I wrote about sales tax in both the post and the reply. That's why I did a comparison which compared the US cost against the UK cost (-20% VAT) then converted the dollar value to pounds. That was a no tax added cost comparison for both US and UK. The BBC article pretty much proves my points, we're seen as a market where they can charge more. Except in the BBC article the disparity is miniscule. I'm taking about a £400+ disparity which is significant.

[Bojan_SLO]

I totally agree. The US page has all kinds of deals, you can get S22 Ultra for 200 USD if you trade-in two items, we in Slovenia rarely get any kind of deal. It would be excellent, if there would be a general Samsung page with all their deals and when you decide for the purchase, it would take you to your local store. But now the Americans get everything and we are second class customers (no deals, exynos processor,...)