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Re:PlayStation4 will cost 2,000 dollars in Brazil by devx on Thursday October 17, 2013 @01:40PM (#6566881)
What has led to this situation in Brazil? High wages? Is the situation similar to Australia?
Re:PlayStation4 will cost 2,000 dollars in Brazil by vonuebelgarten on Thursday October 17, 2013 @02:05PM (#6567064)
As a Brazilian, I see these factors (not only for PS4, but for all imported items and some domestically manufactured too):

- Insane taxation ('nuff said);

- Primitive transport infrastructure (bad roads, don't ever try to put something expensive into the postal system (it will be destroyed by mishandling or simply stolen), etc.)

- Dysfunctional economy (change rates float wildly, government manipulation, etc.).

- Inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy (Trying to open a company? Good luck. Trying to close it? Prepare for a nightmare. Needing a permit? Sit and wait, but some public servants may ask money to "speed the things up");

- People are used to pay insane prices for a lot of items (electronic devices, cars, faucets and other bathroom metals (seriously), a housing bubble building up for some years, etc.). This is a major factor, btw. Even there is no real reason for keeping the prices high, they don't fall because people still paying.

Re:PlayStation4 will cost 2,000 dollars in Brazil by sanoli on Thursday October 17, 2013 @01:57PM (#6566999)
Def. not high wages. As somebody pointed out above, the minimum wage in Brazil is about R$650 (about US$300). These high prices are caused by very high import taxes.
Re:PlayStation4 will cost 2,000 dollars in Brazil by jhhn on Thursday October 17, 2013 @02:50PM (#6567374)
The final customer pays about 100% with everything needed to receive the product at home if bought from US (ebay or whatever) for example. The importation taxes and handling costs alone does not explain this difference. We are gonna see all PS4 consoles coming here from Paraguay as usually.