Nvidia prices in Europe skyrocketing absurdly?

Using EVGA since it's usually a good benchmark.

When the 970 was released last September the official prices from the official european shop were in the range 320-360 euros.

This one model:
http://eu.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=04G-P4-3975-KR&family=GeForce 900 Series Family&uc=EUR

Launched with a price of 335 euros or something very close to that.

Then I think around February there was a sudden price spike (probably due to dollar/euro fluctuations) and the price of that card jumped straight to 385 euros.

Today, there was another enormous price jump, that card is now sold for 452 euros! It's insane.

With the current exchange rate the price for that 970 is $477. The exact same model is sold on newegg for $100 less in the US.

So since release the price of any 970 went up by more than 120 euros ($126) in just 6 months. The older it gets, the more it costs. And it's literally impossible now in Europe to get decent hardware with accessible prices.

To not even consider the 980. The basic model with Nvidia fan is sold for 724 euros!! That's $765.

 

Friendly advice - dont buy it through evga store... their prices will change according to dollar vs euro fluctuations.

Buy it in a local shop instead, there the prices should be more or less steady.

970 prices has been around 2800 DKK since launch in Danish stores, and still is

 

I WISH. As I showed, the US shops sell the same card for $100 less. That's calculated using the current exchange rate, the price as it is updated. In the old exchange rate the price should be $130 lower.

The fluctuations can account for that $30 dollar variation, they don't account for a +100 euro price hike.

They are worse. If you're lucky they only update with a few days of delay.

I've checked prices in Italy and Germany and they are aligned. Wait a few days and this new +50 euros price hike will spread across Europe as it happened for the previous hikes.

 

This is a site that compares prices from all the Danish retailers - in the bottom you can see the Price fluctuations over time.

http://www.edbpriser.dk/grafikkort/evga-geforce-gtx-970-4-gb-id-8897541.aspx?q=970

I cant see any fluctuations worth mentioning.

Mind me asking what country you live in ?

 

This is something that happened in the last couple of days.

There was a sudden price hike around January/February where the cards moved from 330 euros to 380. Today there was another bump from 380 to 440.

If it happens as the last time expect prices across Europe to be updated within the next week or two.

For prices not in euros/not UK I have no idea.

That Danish price is equal to $388. That card was originally sold for $330. So you are also aligned to the price hike of January. For the jump to 440 just wait a few days

 

Price was never cheaper than 2800 DKK in denmark - but perhaps we got screwed over in the start

 

Tbh, I think European prices are always a bit higher than e.g. in the US. That's because they can charge us more, and that's what they do. I think it's outright insolent, but that's the way they make their money.

So you can either buy or not, but there's little way in changing it. Try to order on amazon.com, and see a card being in your cart cost 550$, with 200$ of taxes and shipping, until it coincidentally quite matches the price in the Euro zone.

 

I'm not sure who you are referring to by "they can charge us more" but exchange rate, VAT, import taxes and shipping costs associated with importing the hardware from the US are the reason for any price difference.

 

That would basically be normal if I order my stuff from the US, that's perfectly logical.
But shouldn't it behave different with parts like mainboards, as Asus is not an US based company? Basically all the hardware is cheaper if checked in US stores, and not by a margin explainable by dropping Euro rates.

I'm not sure I grasp why stuff is more expensive in Europe, but it has always been like that, and since I can't change it, I never gave it much thought tbh.

 

Items may not be made in the US but they are traded in USD. The USD exchange rate against the GBP and EUR is very high, ideal if like me you get paid in USD but live in the UK or Europe but not if you are buying products in those currencies.

 

Lucky you

 

At under 1.50 now yes, not so when it was 1.75 last summer. Plus I also cant spend more than 90 days at home a year.

 

Well depending on your Family situation, id say you got a win / win situation going on there...

 

Well, prices were not exactly low either when the EUR/USD exchange rate was favourable to the EUR.
But that the items are not traded in the currency they're actually sold, I wasn't aware of that.

 

Well, that's the point. European prices being inflated is NOTHING NEW.

The 970 was released in the US for $330. Sold in EU for 330 euros. That was in a time where the price should have been way lower. Like 280-290 euros.

So the 290->330 was the screwing up that Europeans always got all along. But now that card that was priced 330 euros in September is NOW 452 euros!

The prices have almost DOUBLED. And for hardware that now is even 7 months old.

That's insane. It's something we've never seen happening in the last 25 years. It's completely unprecedented.

 

Well as I'm taking the 970 MSI gaming for example, it was launched at €350 - €360 around here, now the cheapest offer is €385. That's basically about 10% of a raise, give or take as you don't always can or want to go with the cheapest offer. On newegg the 970 MSI costs $349,99. As of right now, this would be €332, or a little bit less.

Does that 16% difference come from different tax rates? Tolls? Or is somebody just making money off it? I'm not sure what to think about it, since 15% more is certainly being felt when building a gaming rig, for 150$ more you could buy a 980 instead of a 970, I guess...

 

Asus is based in Taiwan. That actually doesn't mean anything. When they ship products into the EU, they still have to pay all those additional taxes and fees.

In the interest of "maximizing profits", companies will charge as much as they believe the market will permit.

I was at the local Bestbuy last night. GTX980 was $600. GTX970 was $390. R7 250 was $180, R7 240 was $160. All of those prices are higher than they were my last trip to Bestbuy by $50-$70. The R7 240 was only $90 when I purchased it 9 months ago. It's not just the UK that's seeing higher prices.

 

You know how it is guys.

Higher oil prices = higher cost due to "transportation yada yada."

Lower oil prices = "higher cost due to transportation yada yada."

Point beeing it doesn't matter how the reality of things actually are, it will always translate to higher cost for these corps.

Only balancing factor is if people stop buying them at those prices, or someone else undercut.

 

Completely true and the basis for any company wanting to maximise income. A trade-off between demand and profit.

Plenty of factors can effect demand, a monopoly for instance or having the 'must have' product.
Michael Korrs for instance can charge £400 - £100 for a leather bag and know they will sell everyone they produce, they are the in thing.

 

Ha ha ha, not exactly but its nice to have 35 days solid at home at a time, even though im then away for 110.