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Okay, the $ to £ currency exchange has become much more forgiving to those of us on the west side of the Atlantic. In fact, AICN pointed out that the current rate is the equivalent of FW having a 20% off sale. This being the case, I picked up a couple a "big books" and some chunks of fancy resin and I was happy. Then curiosity got the best of me and I started comparing prices between GWUK and GWUS. What I found surprised me. I had expected the lower £ to make prices on the UK site a bargain as they did the FW site. Sadly this was not the case. Most of the time the price difference was negligible. A few units actually cost more in the UK.

So, has anyone done any checking to see if it might be worthwhile to purchase from UK discounters at all?

There are shops selling on eBay for usually 15-20% off the normal £ price.

Remember that prices quoted in the UK contain the 17.5% VAT markup. That probably accounts for the lack of price differential you are seeing.

Some sellers will deduct the VAT for sales to the USA. They need to be VAT registered to do this, so it's worth asking though can't be guaranteed.

Also, unlike FW, GWUK and GWUS have set prices that don't always relate to the exchange rate. The prices are more set to the price point of each individual country.

Ozymandias, King of Kings

Ozymandias wrote:The prices are more set to the price point of each individual country.

I guess it's just counterintuitive to see a relatively quick 20% drop in the value of the pound against the dollar on the currency market and yet not see it when comparing price tags.

If you see a price marked in Sterling it will cost you 20% less on dollars now, than if you had bought it a few months ago. You would notice the change when your credit card bill arrived.

Breotan wrote:

Ozymandias wrote:The prices are more set to the price point of each individual country.

I guess it's just counterintuitive to see a relatively quick 20% drop in the value of the pound against the dollar on the currency market and yet not see it when comparing price tags.

Could you imagine the headache that would ensue if GW had to change prices due to currency fluctuations? That's just rediculous.

There is considerable stickiness in cross-border price changes because of exactly that reason.