Miktar's Meanderings online!

Azimuth said:
I can't remember when last I even took the NAG disc out of its packet. :P
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You wouldnt have to :p all the stuff is stored on ur servers there at ur work and stuff so you can just sommer stick ur hands into it and grab whatever u feel appeals to you :p :D
 
Uhm you do know azi doesnt work at the NAG office but rather for the publication. Meaning she doesnt stay in jhb where office is but rather somewhere else and sends stuff in.
 
Yeah, phant1m's right there. I live in Cape Town, and work from home. I've occasionally dropped by the NAG office when I'm in Joburg, of course, but I make use of that time to raid the game cabinet instead.
 
There was this idiot writing for NAG that i think lives in the arsehole valley called America. Can't remember the poepols name but he used to go on about how we as consumers are being ripped of by the importers and pc retail shops.

I am in the pc business about 19 years now and know we are sometimes being ripped of by the importers/wholesalers. There is also pc shops that milk the customers for every cent they can. Sometimes those shops close but sometimes they manage to hide their outrages pricing with flashy adverts/promotions etc. and actually grow in to big retail chains.

Anyway back to topic, this idiot thought he was the centre of the universe. BUT guess what? I can't even remember his name....
 
JackBauer said:
There was this idiot writing for NAG that i think lives in the arsehole valley called America. Can't remember the poepols name but he used to go on about how we as consumers are being ripped of by the importers and pc retail shops.

I am in the pc business about 19 years now and know we are sometimes being ripped of by the importers/wholesalers. There is also pc shops that milk the customers for every cent they can. Sometimes those shops close but sometimes they manage to hide their outrages pricing with flashy adverts/promotions etc. and actually grow in to big retail chains.

Anyway back to topic, this idiot thought he was the centre of the universe. BUT guess what? I can't even remember his name....
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Actually, we really are totally ripped off on PCs and PC components in South Africa. I spent a few months in America a while back, and the stuff over there literally costs half what it does here. We're not the only country getting screwed, though - the UK is mostly just as expensive as here.

You might've been in the PC business for 19 years, but have you ever been shopping at Best Buy in the States? Judging by your comments here, I'm guessing not. I think you'd be quite shocked.

Also, I'm not quite sure why you're being so belligerent about it. The guy had a good point.
 
Azimuth said:
Actually, we really are totally ripped off on PCs and PC components in South Africa. I spent a few months in America a while back, and the stuff over there literally costs half what it does here. We're not the only country getting screwed, though - the UK is mostly just as expensive as here.

You might've been in the PC business for 19 years, but have you ever been shopping at Best Buy in the States? Judging by your comments here, I'm guessing not. I think you'd be quite shocked.

Also, I'm not quite sure why you're being so belligerent about it. The guy had a good point.
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I get my stuff from my dads boss's ex wife so I am paying nothing for my stuff. Got my amd black edition quad-core last year and paid R1200.:D
 
Azimuth, our costs are mostly so high because of insurance/shipping. I saw an invoice from an importer and the shipping cost and the insurrance. Most of them has a much smaller profit margin than you think.

Crime in the shitty country of hours is a HUGE factor. Ok granted, nearly everywhere. The stuff that they do ripp us of, is mainly new and sought after items. (Graphics cards mostly)

What you also have to remember is that warrenties and stock losses (staff stealing, warehouses being burnt down, etc.) all have an influence on the pricing. Soz for the grammatical errors. Boerseun afterall.
 
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JackBauer said:
Azimuth, our costs are mostly so high because of insurance/shipping. I saw an invoice from an importer and the shipping cost and the insurrance. Most of them has a much smaller profit margin than you think.

Crime in the shitty country of hours is a HUGE factor. Ok granted, nearly everywhere. The stuff that they do ripp us of, is mainly new and sought after items. (Graphics cards mostly)

What you also have to remember is that warrenties and stock losses (staff stealing, warehouses being burnt down, etc.) all have an influence on the pricing. Soz for the grammatical errors. Boerseun afterall.
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I'm not disputing this. But it doesn't change the fact that buying from America is much cheaper. So again, why such a belligerent response to the article? The article wasn't about shipping costs and profit margins and stock losses for local retailers, it was about importing from the States because it's cheaper.

If you'll excuse my presumption, it sounds like you're pissed off that someone pointed out that buying internationally is a better option than buying locally. And that's hardly a good reason to denigrate the writer and call him an idiot.
 
@JackBauer

I don't understand the complexities of running a pc shop, along with import duties and everyone trying to screw us for pc parts.
If you can perhaps try to explain to us why it's so much more expensive here we can try and understand the predicament in this country?

@Azimuth

Perhaps he's not calling him an idiot for pointing out buying internationally is cheaper. But perhaps calling him that, because he doesn't know how hard it is to compete here locally?
Just a thought.

P.S. I imported a HD5970 from Canada for R5799. Very much cheaper from overseas compared to local pricing :)
 
Gradius said:
@Azimuth

Perhaps he's not calling him an idiot for pointing out buying internationally is cheaper. But perhaps calling him that, because he doesn't know how hard it is to compete here locally?
Just a thought.
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But that's completely irrelevant, isn't it? As I already pointed out, the article wasn't about the difficulties local retailers experience (and why should it be, anyway). The article was about buying stuff from overseas to save money.

Calling the writer an idiot on it would be like pointing to an article about the PS3 and complaining that it's not about the Xbox.

Newsflash! Consumers don't care about the complexities of local distribution and retail. They care about how much cash stuff is going to cost them.
 
Azimuth said:
Newsflash! Consumers don't care about the complexities of local distribution and retail. They care about how much cash stuff is going to cost them.
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That's too true. Consumers don't want excuses, they want solutions. Something along the lines of "don't make your problem my problem." I think anyone who's ever worked in the customer service industry will have come across this at least once.
 
And people would rather by the bigger brands than a relatively unknown one which can be just as good and cheaper.
 
Ok maybe i should have written that the guy is an idiot cause he just is....

Back to the pricing. You all are correct in regarding our mad pricing in SA but it is not just pc pricing but everything. Ja our food may be cheaper and a few other things. BUT check what we earn per person per year and work out how we are so much worse off than most other countries in the world.

I have a few friends who buys their pc stuff in America. Good for them. I don't have money to burn but i still would rather support the local economy. And Azimuth, who pissed you of? So kwaai......
 
I'm not pissed off at all. But as a writer who gets her own share of haters, it's kind of frustrating to see how quickly - and on what flimsy pretexts - readers will dismiss you as an idiot. And then go around telling everyone else that you're an idiot.

I mean, I'm all for calling someone out as stupid for saying something stupid. But I just don't see how this particular person was doing anything wrong.
 
Azimuth said:
But that's completely irrelevant, isn't it? As I already pointed out, the article wasn't about the difficulties local retailers experience (and why should it be, anyway). The article was about buying stuff from overseas to save money.

Calling the writer an idiot on it would be like pointing to an article about the PS3 and complaining that it's not about the Xbox.

Newsflash! Consumers don't care about the complexities of local distribution and retail. They care about how much cash stuff is going to cost them.
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I'm not arguing about the article or with you.
I'm asking why he said and what his reasoning was.

shadowfox said:
That's too true. Consumers don't want excuses, they want solutions. Something along the lines of "don't make your problem my problem." I think anyone who's ever worked in the customer service industry will have come across this at least once.
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I want to understand why.
 
Gradius said:
I want to understand why.
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I'm not sure I can explain the why very well - I'm not sure there is one. As you're a member on this site and active in the discussions I'm sure you are aware of all the various ways prices are increased.

However, if you think about the average Joe - he most likely doesn't think that far. And when someone tries to make excuses about shipping and importing, that'll be all he hears. Excuses. He'll want to know why he's paying so much when his friend Bob in the US pays half that.

It's a psychological thing. When you're telling someone something he doesn't want to hear - he's only going to hear his own interpretation ie. "We're ripping you off ... but we're throwing techobabble at you so you lose interest and buy the damn thing."

Mind you, places like IC do honestly rip you off. And they have even better excuses.

[EDIT]

I just went through the thread ... wow ... did we go off topic :D Or are we still on topic? Dunno?
 
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How is any of this discussion about Miktar's Meanderings? I know it started out as a comment about one of his articles but now it's hanging perilously on the derail.
 
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