Fly Away Empty Bring Back Loaded

Just like a Mackers Burger or a Prada handbag can be charged with varying prices around the world, so can an Apple IPhone.

Would you factor in purchases as part of your next holiday agenda? Shopping in the USA is a significant activity for sports products, clothes and accessories. Local taxes, tips and currency exchange do figure well into such decisions of buying away from home. 

There may be no need to travel as cyberspace does offer a huge convenience and discount on prices and physical delivery. Where nations require you to be a local to be entitled to those attractive prices, there are also ways and means for foreigners to pose as such locals to qualify. The meaning of market bargaining has been expanded with various strong tactics on discounts during a tight time window, bulk empowerment and cutting out on retail front costs. 

Commercialism thrives on convincing a buyer of not to miss obtaining a product, whether through the need to have the latest version, to keep up with trends or with making passé workable but previous editions of the same product. This churns turnover, vital to pump up revenue and meet performance targets to meet shareholder approval and senior executive bonuses. The world is now the endless horizon for possibilities, requiring smart play offs in pricing and availability on markets that can increasingly have higher purchasing power. 

The Technology price Index of 2017 lists an attractive average price of around $414 for an Apple IPhone in Japan, compared to $575 in Australia. Figures for Malaysia are $532, India 505 and China $471. (All US Dollars quoted). Does that mean just visiting your chosen foreign country to buy at a lower price? It can be more complicated than just this. 

There are product specs that can make technology products not so easily usable in another market or nation. Unlike clothes, barriers do exist to allow a typical consumer access to the best possible price with the most features. They can be compatibility, market protection of margins and economic factors like inflation. 

Overall, it makes for a very interesting and varied field when trying to secure your top ten most exciting personal purchases. A rare book, a motivating sports shoe, a car model or a unique orchid. The best markets to secure products usually synchronise with environments with high governance standards, more open trading conditions and more stable political climates. Where trade and commerce is encouraged, you can usually bet on your best prices for your personal pet list of purchases. Countering this is the high cost of living, unusual constraints on personal freedoms, state of civil unrest and small size of markets in the nations where you want to buy.


The greater ease of mobility, either in physical reality or in virtual cyberspace, has contributed to the consumer culture, apart from its impact on job transfers, lifestyle locations and movement of skills and labour.   One may have to fly on an aircraft to buy things under so called duty free prices, but deliveries can be made  directly to your home or other physical address.     Consumers do want a holistic retail experience,  soak into a hall with an attractive lay out and get attention from human assistance  - but  can also be lured into cost effective and good value packages of price, ease of delivery and comfort of the purchasing process.   Several products need to be examined and hand handled before making a decision to buy or not, whilst others are reliable as standard designs in any place you buy from.     It is the latter that makes it more captivating to purchase, for the risk of returns is lowered.


So if one buys from an overseas location, the policy and treatment of purchase returns can factor in significantly.   Warranty and guarantee provisions may be helpful, but what actually occurs to your consumer rights when a problem arises is all important.     Can you return the product physically for exchange in your local country of residence?   So the fun and hype of purchasing from an overseas holiday can turn into a stressful process.   The talk and practice of loading shopping stuff into new luggage on your flight home can be countered by the realisation that some of the stuff are dudes, although one may not fully get that extreme experience.  The best approach I reckon is to be realistic about what happens if you find the purchase you made is not what you thought it was when overseas  - can you let it go, can you cop the cost or can you have options for reasonable remedial channels?