PlayStation 4 to Be Ridiculously Expensive in Brazil

[Victor Marconi]

I'm from Brazil. Although brazilian import fees are high, its around 80%.
That means the right price would be near $720 (R$1800,00).

Other imported products arrive in Brazil much cheaper than that. Just compare a with a (also overpriced) MacBook, IPhone, etc...

When Sony says 4K, it isn't the resolution... it's the pricetag: R$4K

 

[SteelCity1981]

6marck1001 cite a source for xbox one being half as much.

 

[makaveli316]

....and we whine about our european government or the u.s one.
Those countries are really and a regime is still going strong.

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

Send me 450 bucks I will buy you one and ship it to you! 400 console, 50 shipping. That is ridiculous almost 2000 dollars...

 

[Alejandro Cisneros]

I believe that high price in some countries in south america is not coneccted with the fact that the market is small or anything else, all its goverment politics and taxes, here in Chile PS4 will cost 659 usd ($329,990)

 

[mynith]

"In any case, it might be cheaper for Brazilian gamers to fly to the United States, buy a PS4, and then fly back."

Might be, but I reckon these things will be region-locked. Also, what makes you think you don't have to pay import taxes when you bring that ps4 back with you? A friend of mine brought back an iPod for me when he was on vacation in America (Apple thinks a euro is about equal to a dollar for some reason, also the volume limiter on European models is set too low for relatively high impedance headphones) and I've had to pay 80 euros import tax. If import tax is indeed higher in Brasil importing a PS4 yourself is going to cost you a pretty penny.

 

[hugonxs]

Taxes are to blame only partially, this is entirely Sony's fucked up policy.
The XBox One for instance is going to cost R$ 2.199,00 (roughly US$ 1.015). So while we do pay a huge taxload, the prices they charge in here are mostly out of corporate greed.
The taxing part would be at most (the aliquot varies depending on the state it's being imported to) this:
Retail price for the PS4 in the USA - US$ 400 (Sony's profit is already in here by the way);
Freight and insurance - US$ 80 (estimating a maximum cost for a single unit, obviously if you do it in bulks, it will be cheaper);
Total cost to get the console to Brazil - US$ 480;
Importation tax (federal) (60%) - US$ 288;
State tax (varies) (25%) - US$ 120; (I considered the absolute maximum aliquot here)
Misc customs fees - US$ 69 (absolute maximum value aswell)
TOTAL - US$ 957 (already including every possible tax, cost and remember the PROFIT for Sony was already there).

That's nowhere near the US$ 1.850 they're charging, even if they wanted to add a premium for going through all the hassle of selling the console here, the markup is simply retarded.

 

[hugonxs]

Also, for as long as brazilians keep swalloing this "blame it on taxes" bullshit, companies will keep fucking us up as they please, since they'll be shame-free.
Taxes in here are high indeed, but they're not why prices are retarded.
Profit marings in here are huge and it's absolutely impossible for a big company to lose money unless they do really stupid management.

 

[geirlk]

As I am from Norway, we're traditionally a "high cost country", with taxes and fees etc. But also some customs barriers for a few select products like cheese, milk, fish + + +, with up to 400% taxes.. Alcohol and tobacco is also priced in the extreme. One 0,35l (12Oz) bottle of vodka costs about 240,- NOK (~$40), where about 210 of those are taxes.

On top of that, since we have such high salaries and in general earn more money per capita than in most other countries, some companies exploit that to the maximum.
One example of that is Adobe. Where they charged the equivalent of 17000,- NOK for the Creative Suite 5 Master collection in the US, they charged about 38000,- in Norway. As we have 25% VAT on software and goods, the price should have been under 22000, the rest is pure profit for Adobe.

That should put prices in Norway in some perspective.

But for some reason, hardware is quite cheap in Norway. So the PS4, including 25% VAT will be about 3899,- NOK (~$660). That is a lot of money, but "cheap" for a Norwegian.It actually looks like the Xbox One will be about $15 more than the PS4 for some reason =)

It looks like neither will be available before January in Norway

And to my South American friends, I am sorry you are getting f**ked over like that :-\

 

[salgado18]

That is just half the story. When asked about the insane price, Sony officially sai its is because of 70% import taxes. So, U$400 plus 70% equals U$1900? And more, they said their goal was to have the same price as in the US a few months ago.

Seriously, this is not the gov's fault in any way. This is pure greed on Sony's part. I really hope it sells a total of two units in the country, or that the Xbone is a massive success.

One guy in a local forum said this is probably Sony going against the gov, that they tried lowering taxes and stuff (currently equivalent to those applied to firearms, which are forbidden) and politicians didn't care. If that is the case, this is an extremely dangerous strategy

 

[Charles Bundy]

I remember about 25 years ago, you could go to south america and retire and live like a king on 20k. Whatever happened?

 

[brazuka331]

One does not simply, import electronics from the US to Brazil. Customs will make you pay the taxes on it or if you choose to not tell them and they find out, they will just take it.

 

[spookybuk]

I'm Brazilian and our taxes are roughly the same price as the product. So if you buy it at Ebay for example - let's say paying $100 for shipping - even with the taxes you console will cost around US$ 1k. It's not taxes, and our market is not bigger PRECISELY because games and consoles are too expensive here. Believe me, there's A LOT of people in Brazil, and we love games. Seems to me they just look at us and think "Those guys? Pff... Screw them!"

 

[ceps]

Just normal stuff, same happens in Venezuela, price is not announced yet but something like an S4 lets say $600 can be bought at around Bs.F. 25000 (around $3968) and yes I didnt make a typo, IT IS that stupid, its close to 10 times a regular salary...

 

[gboado]

We Argentinians are used to be robbed by our governments. Every piece of technology is at least twice and as much as four times as expensive than in the States. We pay U$S5000 for a Samsung LCD 50" Smart TV, or U$S1000 for a low end I5 laptop. This was the same during the last 60 years. No matter the political sign of the government, all of the spoiled the people´s pockets. And the customs are most likely the most corrupt government agency (and it is the same for as long as I have memory).

 

[medievalknight]

There's no need to be complaining about the price. Just import from US and you'll end up paying half of the price. If you don't have a international credit card, just get a pre-paid card at neteller or any other company and be happy.

 

[brazuka331]

There's no need to be complaining about the price. Just import from US and you'll end up paying half of the price. If you don't have a international credit card, just get a pre-paid card at neteller or any other company and be happy.

Customs will hold the items until someone pays for taxes on it. Not that simple medievalknight.

 

[Reta]

I am Argentine. Let me clarify some facts. Hardware´s import tariff is 35%. Add a 21% VAT. That is US$ 624. The rest is for import cost, Sony Argentina´s operational cost and income.
You can pay a lot less by importing an American console, which is what a lot of people will end up doing. It just won't have the same warranty as an official Argentinian model. You are allowed to exchange our currency for us dollars if it´s justify by your self-assessment of the income tax. Or you can use a credit card outside our country paying a 20% tax that is deductible from income tax.

 

[marck1001]

I don't wanna blame on Sony, really, but it's hard on this case.

PS4 - 3,999 Brazilian Real
Xbox One Limited Release - 1.979,10 Brazilian Real

I honestly hope this is a mistaken news or else Sony one major less point for you - the potential next generation gamers in a 200 million population country will stick with Xbox (if they are smart).

 

[marck1001]

Import is cheaper, flying to the US and buy one is also cheaper, but if the damn thing brakes, u're screwed - no warranty babe!! Stick to what I have said before, boycott Sony - prices will drop eventually. But then everybody will already have an Xbox One.

As I said it's just 200 million ppl, don't think Sony needs a market like that. Oh, may I also add that's the 5th world economy today - check wikipedia, the economist, whatever. It's a lot of ppl with money today, but not up to get robed by Sony.

 

[Krazeee]

I can relate, Consoles here (Not South America) are double the price, games cost 50% more and it was just morally abusive when I was a kid spending my money.

Now I've bought a computer and I can buy what I want and when i want for waaaay cheaper with Steam <3

 

[juanoxx]

yeah pay all that couse amazon doesnt exist...

 

[juanoxx]

yeah pay all that couse amazon doesnt exist...

 

[fat_panda]

Brazil have more problems than just high price of PS4 and Xbox One.

 

[antilycus]

There are services all over the world that will allow you to buy a product in country X and then have it shipped to your real house. So if Im from Brazil I have it shipped to my FL address for 400 and then pay 50-75 dollars to ship to my place, problem resolved.