How is this even possible?

drhax

drhax

drhax

Associate
Joined
27 Oct 2010
Posts
150
I always knew that mainstream shops rip you off but seeming I have been looking for a new pc, I thought I would compare the prices. Seeming I cant put the link in here Ill tell you the specs,
Intel® Core™ i7-920 Processor(2.6)
5870x2
6 gig ram
windows 7 64 bit
dvd rw
etc
Now thats a good pc but its priced at £2,199.99 and at a quick check, its ripping you off by atleast £600. I know its aimed at people who are clueless but these prices are insane, Im not expert on trading laws but how can they get away with these insane prices.

BTW im not thinking of buying thos or spending a lot but the prices are insane.
 
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Probably a far better spec.

HIS ATI Radeon HD 5870 iCooler V 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £299.99
(£255.31) £599.98
(£510.62)
Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £219.98
(£187.22) £219.98
(£187.22)
Asus Rampage III Gene Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £189.99
(£161.69) £189.99
(£161.69)
Samsung P2450H 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black £169.99
(£144.67) £169.99
(£144.67)
Corsair Dominator 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Triple Channel Kit (CMP6GX3M3A1600C8) £139.99
(£119.14) £139.99
(£119.14)
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-00765) £116.31
(£98.99) £116.31
(£98.99)
Antec 900 Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £74.99
(£63.82) £74.99
(£63.82)
Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI) £72.99
(£62.12) £72.99
(£62.12)
Logitech Wireless Desktop MK300 (920-001633) £29.62
(£25.21) £29.62
(£25.21)
Sub Total : £1,373.48
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £19.10
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £243.70
Total : £1,636.28
 
Sadly the markets will charge what the punters will pay.

I had my bike serviced the other day, and the first place wanted to stitch me over £100 for it, and then told me the earliest it could be done was in three weeks. Say WHAT? Not ten minutes up the road anther bloke did the same service for £25 and could do it the next working day. The £100 lad had no shortage of custom mate - while I was talking to him three other people booked in for a full service. Crazy.
 
They are adding value by putting it together and offering support after purchase. I completely agree that £2.2k is well over the odds for that machine, but most people wouldn't know how to chose the right components, assemble them correctly and identify hardware problems as they crop up. This extra money pays for that. Also, as its a business they need to make some profit.
 
Could somone actualy work how much they are ripping you off for that comp. You think there would be trading laws to stop overpricing that extreme tbh. £2,199.99 lol
The guy above thats bull****what you mentioned , sites on the internet give support and build it etc but dont ripp you off, there making a profit and then theres completely ripping you off.
 
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If I was building to that spec, without the benefit of bulk buying, I would add at least 10% for my end say £200 and if support was required, would charge commercially so it it is not too far over, possibly another 10%. In summary the machine I would build would be about £1999 incl support for a year, if i was building 10 or a 100, the price would be less.

PS, I got the mobo wrong, it should be a full ATX, but would not change price by much.

andy
 
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drhax said:
The guy above thats bull****what you mentioned , sites on the internet give support and build it etc but dont ripp you off, there making a profit and then theres completely ripping you off.
Click to expand...

Seriously, they can charge what ever they want. They are selling a non-unique product in a heavily competitive market with a massive mark-up.

To me this doesn't sound like a good way to run a business, but perhaps the company offers a unique selling point which entices customers to buy. If not then they won't get many customers and may end up losing money until they change their strategy.

Since what they are doing is not anti-competitive or price fixing then I don't see what trading laws can (or should) do.

For example - do you know how much it costs to produce a bottle of shampoo/wine/bottled water etc.? The markup on these items is MASSIVE (seriously, well over 100%) but its fine because people don't want to make it themselves and will pay the price. Similar situation here - and there are MANY alternative retailers who would be happy to sell you a similar spec computer for much less money.
 
1Day said:
Sadly the markets will charge what the punters will pay.
Click to expand...

Isn't that how capitalism is supposed to work? plenty of people want a high end rig, but don't have the time or knowledge to put it together themselves. They also want backup if it goes wrong. This is what pre built systems provide, so they come with a price premium. If someone is charging too much people will buy from someone else.
 
I can understand that your not just paying for the pc, I already knew this but even with all the extras its still way overpriced.
 
Blue160 said:
Isn't that how capitalism is supposed to work? plenty of people want a high end rig, but don't have the time or knowledge to put it together themselves. They also want backup if it goes wrong. This is what pre built systems provide, so they come with a price premium. If someone is charging too much people will buy from someone else.
Click to expand...

exactly, if you are not into IT then its better off to buy a package..
 
The price is wahtever the market will bear. Many people want to have a "good" computer without having to understand anything about how it works. It's a bit like paying someone to do things for you - a decorator rather than papering yourself, a cleaner etc. I wouldn't pay that price, because I know how to put computers together, but many people don't and would prefer to know that everything's covered if there's a problem and you pay for that. A company can charge whatever it wants for its product. If there's a market people will pay the price, if not the business fails.
 
I know what you mean, I walked in PC World the other day and left completely appaled. I haven't purchased anything there in years but my gf wanted to go to Hobbycraft which is next to it and I certainly wasn't going to follow her in!

What I don't understand is OcUK offers pre-Built PC's 10x better anything you'll find in a retail store and they don't even charge anything on top of the parts + overclock. How these businesses of the Dixons group kind stay in business is beyond me.
 
franco_22 said:
What I don't understand is OcUK offers pre-Built PC's 10x better anything you'll find in a retail store and they don't even charge anything on top of the parts + overclock. How these businesses of the Dixons group kind stay in business is beyond me.
Click to expand...

Plenty of people want to go to a shop, see the product, maybe have a salesman help them choose the right thing (or stitch them up :D). This always costs more than buying online.
 
drhax said:
The guy above thats bull****what you mentioned , sites on the internet give support and build it etc but dont ripp you off, there making a profit and then theres completely ripping you off.
Click to expand...

Sites on the internet don't have to pay the many costs associated with keeping a retail chain open, and have much smaller staff.

Yes, those stores are more expensive than they should be, but for many people, the ease of just being able to take the computer back to a nearby store and talk directly to someone to get service gives peace of mind that is hard to put a price on.
 
MeMeMeMe said:
Sites on the internet don't have to pay the many costs associated with keeping a retail chain open, and have much smaller staff.

Yes, those stores are more expensive than they should be, but for many people, the ease of just being able to take the computer back to a nearby store and talk directly to someone to get service gives peace of mind that is hard to put a price on.
Click to expand...

Very true, but that doesnt justify overcharging by nearly 1 grand.
 
drhax said:
I always knew that mainstream shops rip you off but seeming I have been looking for a new pc, I thought I would compare the prices. Seeming I cant put the link in here Ill tell you the specs,
Intel® Core™ i7-920 Processor(2.6)
5870x2
6 gig ram
windows 7 64 bit
dvd rw
etc
Now thats a good pc but its priced at £2,199.99 and at a quick check, its ripping you off by atleast £600. I know its aimed at people who are clueless but these prices are insane, Im not expert on trading laws but how can they get away with these insane prices.

BTW im not thinking of buying thos or spending a lot but the prices are insane.
Click to expand...
They could charge £10k if they wanted to, I doubt that many people would buy them though! ;)
 
I can not believe I am about to try to defend shops over the internet....but

The ability to go look at something, have it in your hands and walk out the shop straight away (after paying) means a lot to so many people.

Many people have asked me where to buy computer equipment and 9 times out of 10 I point them to this site, problem is that most of them find this site overly confusing.

While I might find it ok to wait a couple of days for my purchase to turn up in the post and then assemble it, so many people are not. While I don't grace the likes of PC world with my custom, there is a place for it in this world, mainly for clueless people.

I always like the large posters for £30 virus killers in the window, I am keeping to AVG thank you very much.
 
people saying they have to make some money are wrong, there are specced systems on here with the full retail prices of individual components, there is profit in each of those components so the £600 premium on top of that is pure profit.
 
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