Cost of C8

So why is the Hubitat C8 $149 in the US and yet is £189 in the UK when the exchange rate is $1.25 to the £. Seems to me like someone is taking the ****!

I always assumed it was some VAT nonsense the UK is adding to the base cost?

When I go to the UK for work is seems like everything costs in pounds what it costs in dollars in the US. You're right though that in this case it is MORE in pounds, which is a bit odd (not knowing the realized costs to sell anything there).

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You just got a price break.

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Yes from the US but by the time postage and import tax is taken into account!

This is as low as it goes for UK residents

Obviously the difference in cost is accounted for somewhere/somehow.

But are you implying they are price-gouging certain geographic markets and simply pocketing the profit?

It seems most likely they are passing on the cost increase they themselves incur by marketing and distributing the hub in different regions of the world.

I think it’s unlikely they’ll publicly provide a detailed breakdown of what it costs them, on a per-hub basis, to sell hubs in the UK.

They probably wouldn’t publicly admit it if they’re just sticking it to the Brits, either :slightly_smiling_face:. But again that seems unlikely to me :man_shrugging:.

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If only Britain had stayed in the EU - they could take advantage of purchasing within the EU from ultrasmart.pl ….

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Just had the same thing and shopyfi is doing a conversion on the rate to £106 which is not ideal either. I spoke to Bobby about it but it's automatic and it's nothing that they can change. Although I think there may be a setting in there account they can adjust from my research.

Either way no matter what, we get stung. That's why I waited for the deal this time it's the only way to make it more reasonable.

Currently it's £127 then plus import duties will end up about £160 I would say.

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If we'd stayed in the EU we'd be in an even worse state as a country than what we are now. Just take a look at Germany for example, I won't even start talking about the other members of the EU (France I'm looking at you):wink:

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Vesternet are currently showing the hub at £189.
I wonder how much it's costing them to purchase it from source.

I would imagine the cost of getting goods into the UK may have changed recently...

Whether that is true or not... there are so many variables (I expect) when selling on the international market, I would expect it is likely harder to maintain a constant profit margin without having sale prices fluctuating wildly, so there are likely swings and roundabouts on both sides of the equation...

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It’s just life! Different countries, exchange rates, tax systems etc.

Here in Australia, it just cost me $249 AUD for a c8 delivered. Normally it’s about $295 AUD due to our exchange rate and the cost of shipping to our very isolated country.

You answered your own question

Postage and import taxes are (I assume) added to the base price for the UK model. Not an explanation for the difference in the base price.

Is it just me, or is this thread becoming pointless?

I paid £147 delivered from the USA to UK in October, no duty to pay on arrival, mine came in less than a week.

It would be £126 in today's sale inc £21 FedEx delivery.

No import duty to pay as it's under £135 (excluding delivery)

On the subject of US/UK price differences. I always thought tax in the USA was calculated at checkout based on what State you are in, as each State has different taxes. So the US price is likely to be higher than stated. I remember buying some trainers from the Nike store in San Francisco and the price on the shelf didn't have tax included!

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Yeah, I paid a similar price with no duty as it's included in the carriage charge last year (probably the memorial day sale) for my C8.

You can purchase the C8 for £134 today (black friday deal), including DHL express delivery ... not sure how Vesternet can justify charging £189!

Correct. Oregon for example, has no sales tax at all.

Now that other UK residents have chimed in with the actual cost the OP will pay if they order at this good sale price, you are correct.

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If that was the case why don't we see the same for other goods from the US like xboxes etc.

Microsoft operates on a slightly different economy of scale than Hubitat does…

What's going on is that our e-commerce platform now does local currency purchasing outside the US. The price shown includes a currency conversion fee. This fee would be incurred no matter how a purchase is made, but wouldn't normally be visible at the time of purchase (it's baked into the price now, not separately shown). Hubitat is not adding to this or biasing the price in any market in any way.

Whether or not duty is collected on any particular shipment has nothing to do with this, and is totally beyond anything that anyone can control. Some shipments are charged duty and taxes, and some seem to skate through without that. Interestingly, in Canada the postal service doesn't usually collect duty and taxes, while the carriers like UPS, DHL and FedEx ALWAYS collect it.

We pass shipping costs directly to the customer worldwide, with no added charge or bias. You see these costs at checkout, again with a baked in currency conversion cost applied.

Our approach to this has always been to present pricing to international customers that are identical to the prices offered to US customers. But, realistically, since we are shipping internationally from Arizona to wherever, shipping costs are considerably higher for non-US customers, and duties and taxes vary by country and delivery method. In the US, some customers pay very high sales tax (required by law in their state), and some customers pay no sales tax at all.

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