Damn! Why Are Electronic$ $O Expen$Ive?

[Lost in Buenos Aires]

Why are PCs and (cell) phones here so blasted expensive? Is there still a moratorium on them as back in 2001?

 

[IABhutto]

Not just electronics... everything

 

[Lost in Buenos Aires]

Not just electronics... everything

True. But I know some folks that bring in iPhones from America and resell them here for a tidy profit. Have also heard of a guy that does something similar with netbooks, but not to the same degree.

 

[Napoleon]

Electronics are like Diabetes...

An affliction of the rich.

CFK is saving you from brain cancer. (Only partially kidding.)

 

[Montauk_Project]

Don´t read the news much?
21% IVA on everything
plus import tax
plus import restrictions.
It could be worse, you could be in Brazil. Electronics even more expensive.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

That "tidy sum" may be disappearing. Most of my Argentine friends who used to put in orders with me for my trips when the Dollar was 3:1 have stopped mainly due to the exchange rate(s) / devaluation of the Peso. My daughter just asked for an iPhone. I told her the best exchange I could give her was the light blue rate. LOL.

Many of the ads you see on Mercado Libre for electronics are just trolling. A new unlocked iPhone 5 now in the US is at least $600US. That means at cost the phone runs A$R 3,180 (official), A$R 4,200 (light blue), or A$R 4,800 (blue). Then you need to add your margin.

 

[Gringoboy]

We recently bought a Samsung LED TV/Monitor (TA550) made in Tierra del Fuego which on Amazon USA is around USD300, which what? 1800 pesos??
We paid AR$3700.
I don't understand it either.

 

[ARbound]

I was just gonna mention how everything seems to be made at plants in Tierra del Fuego (likely accompanying with a large FpV light blue "AQUÍ TAMBIÉN LA NACIÓN CRECE" sign (praise be to dear leader) and that's gotta have a part in it.

I'm actually ok with paying more if it's made in Arge, but if it's from China like a lot of electronics still are, then I really get irritated because it's a cash grab, and on non-super expensive things too like XBOX 360 controllers, forgot mine in America so I bought one here with some dollars luckily.

Anyways, here is a good meme I saw about buying electronics in Arge:

 

[dennisr]

Contributing heavily to Tierra del Fuego's high operating costs are logistical hurdles that would make corporate-efficiency experts tear their hair out. Components are shipped from Asia to Buenos Aires and then usually trucked—Argentina's rail system is in tatters, and the port in Ushuaia is often overwhelmed—the 1,900 miles to Tierra del Fuego. Trucks then carry the finished goods back north, over icy, potholed roads, to Buenos Aires. The entire process, from ordering a product to stocking it on Argentine store shelves, takes three months, says Edgardo Rodriguez, industrial manager of the Digital Fueguina plant.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204778604577239361549940608.html

 

[Gringoboy]

I'm NOT OK with paying more if it's made in TdF and it's the same damn model selling for half the price elsewhere.