Unless comparing exact like with exact like, I don’t really think that there’s a strong case for what you are suggesting, Jollywag. What you need to find is how much identical subs would cost in each country, and then there would be a stronger foundation for your idea, although I still think you need to look at more items to make a case.
It always pays to shop around, and undoubtedly you can always find bargains (although personally, a plastic shark that costs over 200 anythings still sounds like a jolly expensive bargain to me!), but even just looking between Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com at a range of Tintin items, it still seems like more “bargains†are on this side of the pond. Further variance occurs when you factor in the “marketplace†sellers, who advertise through Amazon, often undercutting the main site, but then you can lose out on postage and packing, which puts the price back up.
When you bring high-price items in from abroad, you also risk having to pay import duty and other taxes, so you’d need to figure that in (from experience it seems that books seem to get through without trouble, but new, rather than second-hand DVDs and CDs could be subject to excise and VAT payments; I’m not familiar with what happens when you get into items costing hundreds of pounds, but I suspect that they may come in for attention too…!).
I’m not saying that you’d never find it cheaper to import something, just that you need to keep an eye out
all the time to find things at prices you want to pay; as
was noted in another thread Amazon are notable for how much their prices can go up and down from day to day, as promotions, offer and sales come and go.
Still it’s certainly something worth keeping an eye out when making a purchase!
